Charles Aznavour wasn’t his real name
Charles Aznavour was born Shahnour Vaghinag Aznavourian on May 22nd, 1924, into a family of artists in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris. His parents were Armenian immigrants who fled to France to escape the Armenian genocide.
The Aznavourians ran a small restaurant in rue de la Huchette, which had become a hangout for actors and musicians. Effectively raised by performers, the young Charles dropped out of school at the age of nine in favour of a life on stage.
Proud of his heritage, Aznavour was a lifelong supporter of and advocate for Armenia. He raised funds for the country following the earthquake in 1988, and became an Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Armenia to UNESCO, as well as being on the Armenia Fund International Board of Trustees. In 2008, then-President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan signed a presidential decree granting citizenship of Armenia to Aznavour whom he called a "prominent singer and public figure" and "a hero of the Armenian people".
He also wrote a song about the Armenian genocide that his parents had fled, Ils sont tombés (They fell)
He was a Resistance hero
In 2017, Aznavour and his sister Aida were given the Raoul Wallenberg Award for rescuing and protecting people persecuted by the Nazis in World War II.
“The Aznavours were closely linked to the Missak Manouchian Resistance Group and in this context they offered shelter to Armenians, Jews and others at their own Paris flat, risking their own lives,” then Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said at the ceremony.
He was impressively multilingual
Aznavour spoke French, English, Italian, Spanish, German, Russian, Armenian, Neapolitan – a Romance language of the Italo-Romance group spoken in Naples – and Kabyle, which is spoken by the Kabyle people in north and northeast Algeria.
Big break
In 1944, he and actor Pierre Roche began a partnership and performed in numerous nightclubs.
But his big break came when he opened for a certain Edith Piaf. She helped him develop that distinctive ‘chanson’ voice.
5 things to know about 'chanson française'
Singer-songwriter … and movie star
Aznavour is sometimes referred to as France’s Frank Sinatra – which, frankly, does a disservice to both of them. But the pair duetted together, and Aznavour wrote songs for Ol’ Blue Eyes.
In fact, he wrote or co-wrote more than 1,000 songs for himself and others, and sold some 180 million records – including 51 studio albums in French, another 41 in other languages, and 23 live albums.
He also starred in 90 movies – and voiced Carl Fredricksen in the French-language version of the animated movie Up.
The list of singers who worked with Aznavour includes (deep breath): Piaf, Fred Astaire, Sinatra, Andrea Bocelli, Bing Crosby, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Dusty Springfield, Sting, Liza Minnelli - who said Aznavour “changed my entire life” - Mia Martini, Elton John, Serge Gainsbourg, Josh Groban, Petula Clark, Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, José Carreras, Laura Pausini, Roy Clark, Nana Mouskouri, Peggy Lee and Julio Iglesias.
Taboo topics
In 1972, his album Idiote je t'aime… came out. The song Comme ils disent (as they say) was a direct challenge to prevailing attitudes towards homosexuality. It was re-released in English as What Makes a Man.
In English
Aznavour is best-known in English-speaking countries as the singer of She, which topped the charts in the UK in 1974. The song was re-recorded by Elvis Costello for the Julia Roberts-Hugh Grant comedy Notting Hill.
A Paris garden is named after him
Paris named a garden near Champs-Élysées and Place de la Concorde Jardin Charles Aznavour on the 100th anniversary of his birth.
There’s also a statue of him, in a square named after him, in Gyumri, Armenia; another of him in Varna, Bulgaria; while another built in front of the Charles Aznavour Culture Center in Stepanakert, in the breakaway Artsakh Republic which was destroyed in an invasion by Azerbaijan in 2023.
State funeral
Aznavour died, aged 94, at his home in Mouriès, Bouches-du-Rhône, on October 1st, 2018.
Four days later, he was honoured with a state funeral at Les Invalides in Paris. President Emmanuel Macron delivered a eulogy in which he said Aznavour was one of the most important “faces of France”.
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