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She was born
Legend has it that she was born on the pavement of Rue de Belleville. Her father was Louis Alphonse Gassion a street performer. Her mother was Annetta Giovanna Maillard, she abandoned her at birth. -
Piaf's father was enlisted with the French Army, in the first world war
He took her to his mother, who ran a brothel in Bernay, Normandy. There, prostitutes helped look after Piaf. -
She recovered her sight
From the age of three to seven, Piaf was allegedly blind as a result of keratitis.The prostitutes pooled money to accompany her on a pilgrimage. Piaf claimed this was the result of a miraculous healing. -
She first sang in public
She joined her father in his street performances all over France -
Piaf met Simone "Mômone" Berteaut
A close friend. Together they toured the streets singing for earning money for themselves. -
Piaf separated from her father
She took a room and working with Mômone in Pigalle, Ménilmontant; and the Paris suburbs -
Piaf met Louis Dupont.
Piaf fell in love with him, and he moved with they -
Her only daughter was born
Child's name Marcelle Dupont Gassion. Piaf found it difficult to care for she while living a life on the streets -
Marcelle died
Her daughter died of meningitis at age two -
Piaf met Louis Leplée
He was owner of the nightclub Le Gerny and he persuaded her to sing in here despite her extreme nervousness. He give her the nickname of "La Môme Piaf" -
Leplée was murdered
Piaf was questioned and accused. To rehabilitate her image, she recruited Raymond Asso and he changed her stage name to "Édith Piaf" -
Le Bel Indifférent.
Piaf co-starred in Jean Cocteau's successful play -
She wrote "La Vie en Rose"
One of her most popular songs, and this was voted a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1998 -
Marcel Cerdan died in a plane crash
With this man she lived the greatest love story of her life. He dies on the flight from Paris to New York where he was traveling to meet her. Édith became addicted to morphine. -
A car crash
Piaf was seriously injured in the crash along with Charles Aznavour, breaking her arm and two ribs, and thereafter had serious difficulties arising from morphine and alcohol addictions -
Piaf married Jacques Pills
Her first husband and divorced him in 1957 -
She married Théo Sarapo
A Greek hairdresser-turned-singer and actor who was 20 years her junior. -
She dies
She died of liver cancer at age 47 at her villa in Plascassier on the French Riviera. It is said that Sarapo drove her body back to Paris secretly so that fans would think she had died in her hometown.
