Édith Piaf

France, 1935–1963

French singer and cultural icon, one of the most celebrated performers of the 20th century. Rising from Paris street-singing to international fame, her intense, emotive delivery on 'La Vie en rose', 'Non, je ne regrette rien' and 'Hymne à l'amour' defined the French chanson tradition.

MusicRoots documents 2 artists who influenced Édith Piaf and 4 artists Édith Piaf influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.

Who influenced Édith Piaf?

• Fréhel — Piaf began with 'Comme un moineau', a song Fréhel had created, and took the whole realist stance with it — the street childhood sung back as material rather than hidden.
• Emma Liébel — The singer at the head of the line: Liébel recorded the realist song before any of them and set the register the rest worked in.

Which artists did Édith Piaf influence?

• Jeff Buckley — Édith Piaf was a vocal inspiration for Jeff Buckley, whose dramatic, emotive phrasing echoed the intensity of the French chanson tradition — he recorded her 'Je n'en connais pas la fin' (released on Live at Sin-é), an explicit tribute to her repertoire.
• Alla Pugacheva — Pugacheva grew up listening to Édith Piaf, whose dramatic, emotionally raw chanson shaped her theatrical delivery — critics dubbed her 'Moscow's Tina Turner with a touch of Édith Piaf'.
• Barbra Streisand — Streisand admired Édith Piaf's stormy, all-in emotional delivery — the intensity of Piaf's tours de force is a model for her own dramatic singing.
• Ginette Reno — Édith Piaf personally advised the young Ginette Reno — 'you must know what you are singing and sing it with intensity' — and Reno's chanson québécoise continues the tradition Piaf defined.