Overview
'Every damn fool thing you do in this life, you pay for.'Edith Piaf was
one of 20th-century France's brightest stars, an international
sensation, and since her death in 1963 has become a legendary figure.
Her life story is so compelling that it has become difficult to separate
the fact from the fiction, thanks to a wealth of stories, plays, films
and biographies designed to lionize: her birth on the pavement of Rue de
Belleville 72 on a pile of coats; being raised in a brothel; her role
in the French resistance; the near misses with death; the money, the
men, the moods, the drugs, the fame.Shrouded by these stories, the
'real' Edith Piaf is often indistinguishable from the legend.Following
on from his two bestselling biographies of Edith Piaf, David Bret, in
her centenary year, has written an account of the singer's life which
centres around previously unpublished interviews he conducted with her
friends, lovers, colleagues and songwriters. For the first time, Bret is
in a position to reveal the material that was too controversial to
publish whilst the interviewees were still alive. This new book will
mean a significant revision to the Piaf myth.