French music was hit by artists and titles that were very famous and are still nowadays. I believe that if I ask you to give me one French musicians name, you won’t really know what to say. That is why I am here, for you to discover something new about French culture. I have listed three French famous singers who had a real success before the sixties that you should know and listen to! I will present to you in future articles other music artists you should know 😉 so stay tuned!
Edith Piaf
Edith Piaf was born in 1915. When she started singing, she was called “La Môme Piaf”, a name given by the owner of a cabaret where she began in 1935. Several of her songs were a real success such as “La Vie en rose”, “Non, je ne regrette rien”, “Hymne à l’amour” and many more.
It is in 1936 that she records her first album “Les Mômes de la cloche” which was a success but also received criticism. It is in 1937 when she meets a composer, Raymond Asso that wants her to avoid unhealthy places to bring her to music-halls, that her success starts to grow. She sang in Bobino a famous music-hall in Montparnasse in Paris and then ABC, the most prestigious music-hall in Paris and became an immense star.
She lived a big love story with a world champion boxer, Marcel Cerdan, who died in a plane accident. Edith Piaf was devastated and started taking high doses of medicines, alcohol and drugs.
Her life was full of triumph but also knew tragedies. If you want to know more about this legend, click here.
A movie was done about her life, you can take a look at the trailer here.
Charles Aznavour
Charles Aznavour was born in 1924. His musical career started in 1940 and recorded in total 1200 songs in many languages. He is one of the most famous French singers outside francophonie (French speaking countries).
His first success was in 1953 during a tour in Morocco where he received a triumph, the show was named “Les Trois Notes”. A year after, he was hired to sing in Moulin-Rouge, a famous cabaret in Paris. It is in 1955, he started to sing at the Olympia a famous music-hall in Paris, the oldest one still in activity. During the sixties, he knew a success one after the other with the songs “La Bohème”, “Emmenez-moi” and many more.
He was involved in charity actions with the association “Aznavour pour l’Arménie”, for example. As he has Armenian origins, following a violent earthquake that happened in 1988 in Armenia, he created this association to send food and clothes to the population.
To know more about this artist you can visit this website.
Dalila
Dalila was born in 1933 in Egypt. She is from an Italian family but lived in Egypt. She was elected Miss Egypt in 1954.
She moved to France in 1954 and knew her first success in 1956, with the song “Bambino”. In total she had 700 songs that she sang in different languages and was a famous singer in France but also outside French speaking countries.
Among her famous songs, there were “Paroles… Paroles…”, “Laissez-moi danser”. She had a particular voice that allowed her to be recognized instantly.
Here is her full story if you fancy reading more about her.
Tell me in the comments what is your favourite French music artist? Feel free to share this article!
A bientôt!