Charles Aznavour, enduring French singer of global fame, dies at 94
Source: New York Times
Charles Aznavour, one of Frances most celebrated singers of popular songs as well as a composer, film star and lifelong champion of the Armenian people, has died at his home in Mouriès, in southwestern France. He was 94.
His accomplishments were prodigious. He wrote, by his own estimate, more than 1,000 songs, for himself and for others, and sang them in French, Armenian, English, German, Italian, Spanish and Yiddish. By some estimates, he sold close to 200 million records and appeared in more than 60 films.
At an age when most performers have long retired from the footlights and the brutal, peripatetic life of an international star, Mr. Aznavour continued to range the world, singing his songs of love found and love lost to capacity audiences who knew most of his repertoire by heart.
We live long, we Armenians, he said. Im going to reach 100, and Ill be working until Im 90.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/01/obituaries/charles-aznavour-dead.html
Charles Aznavour, 1924-2018.
cvoogt
(949 posts)n/t
DinahMoeHum
(21,806 posts)GoneOffShore
(17,340 posts)I remember him from the 70's when I lived in England.
His songs and voice were amazing.
He said just last month that he wanted to die on stage.
Never realized he was Armenian.
'Pour toi Amenie'
appalachiablue
(41,168 posts)The Guardian, "Charles Aznavour, the 'Frank Sinatra of France', dies aged 94, Singer best known for ballad She sold 100m records and had parallel acting career," The Guardian, Oct. 1, 2018.
Aznavour, who was born Shahnour Varinag Aznavourian in Paris to Armenian parents, sold more than 100m records in 80 countries and had about 1,400 songs to his name, including 1,300 he wrote himself. He was sometimes described as the French Sinatra because of his stirring, melancholic style. He left school aged nine to become a child actor and went on to have a successful parallel acting career, most notably appearing in François Truffauts new-wave classic Tirez Sur le Pianiste (Shoot the Piano Player), Claude Chabrols Les Fantômes du Chapelier (The Hatters Ghost), and the 1979 Oscar-winning film adaptation of Günter Grasss The Tin Drum.
His singing career was forged in occupied Paris during the second world war, performing in cabarets as his parents secretly worked with the resistance, hiding Jews, communists and others in their apartment. French is my working language but my family language is always Armenian, he said in 2017. Aznavour opened for Édith Piaf at the Moulin Rouge and the popular singer was an early adviser and flatmate. I brought her my youth, my madness; she loved my whole jazzy side,https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/01/charles-aznavour-french-singer-dies-aged-94
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(Wiki) During the German occupation of France during World War II, Aznavour and his family hid Jews and a number of people who were persecuted by the Nazis, while Charles and his sister Aida were involved in rescue activities, according to a statement issued in 2017 by the President of Israel, Reuven Rivlin. In that year he and Aida received the Raoul Wallenberg Award for their wartime activities. "The Aznavours were closely linked to the Missak Manouchian Resistance Group and in this context they have offered shelter to Armenians, Jews & others at their own Paris flat, risking their own lives."https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Aznavour
Mr. Aznavour as a pianist with a mysterious past in Shoot the Piano Player (1960), his best-known film. The director, François Truffaut, said he wrote the role specifically for Mr. Aznavour.
BumRushDaShow
(129,359 posts)THAT is a blast from the past. I didn't even realize he was still around because I haven't heard his name mentioned in years. When I saw the OP, I kept saying - why the heck would I know that name so strongly. Well just confirmed this - Way way back when I was high school, one of my classes got tickets to be in the studio audience of the Mike Douglas Show, which was taped here in Philadelphia. . He was one of the guests. Actually found entries with some details of that show episode -
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5331426/
http://www.tv.com/shows/the-mike-douglas-show/week-of-june-6-1977-1307632/
It was taped some time in May and aired something like 6 weeks later. I managed to get autographs from Don Knotts (who was an extraordinary gentleman willing to stop while rushing down a corridor outside of the studio on his way to the exit and graciously took my autograph book and signed his John Hancock)... I think I also got one from Kreskin. But when I managed to get one from Kristy McNichol - I found that she was literally experiencing complete terror from all the attention, with her handlers/managers shoving her into the middle of an "adoring" crowd and the media outside of KYW's studio that used to be at 6th & Market across from Independence Hall (now the site of the Jewish-American History Museum)... Despite the fact that she readily signed the autograph with no issues, it was to the point where from that time on, I never asked for another autograph from a celebrity again for the next 26 years because I felt so bad for her and the predicament she endured that day - we are the same age.
Anyway - Aznavour was a regular performer on that show.
Something from around that time -
R.I.P. and condolences to his family.
TuxedoKat
(3,818 posts)I saw him in concert in NYC in '14 and in Boston in '16. I brought my mother both times as she has been a long-time fan. He was great! Still in pretty good voice for the most part at ages 90 and 92. I was hoping to see him again in concert. My brother was trying to get me to go see him in Tel Aviv with my mom in January. Alas, not to be. RIP M. Aznavour.
One of my favorites that he wrote*:
Although I think it sounds best in Italian.