Today we pay a tribute to Charles Aznavour (22 May 1924 – 1 October 2018). He was born in Paris, to a musical family of Armenian descent and started performing as a child. Charles Aznavour is considered as French musical royalty and has often been described as the French Frank Sinatra. In a career as a composer, singer and songwriter, spanning over 70 years, he recorded more than 1,200 songs interpreted in 9 languages. Moreover, he wrote or co-wrote more than 1,000 songs for himself and others.
If the youth can’t make a living through creative work, they will do something else and the artistic world will be dealt a blow… There will be no more songs, no more books, nothing at all. So we had to fight…
Charles Aznavour
His father, the son of a cook of Tsar Nicholas II, sang in restaurants in France before establishing a restaurant specialising in food from the Caucasus called Le Caucase. Charles’s parents introduced him to performing at an early age, and he dropped out of school at age nine, and took the stage name “Aznavour”.
Musical Career
During the early stages of his career, Aznavour opened for Edith Piaf at the Moulin Rouge. Piaf then advised him to pursue a career in singing. Piaf helped Aznavour develop a distinctive voice that stimulated the best of his abilities. His voice is classed as a tenor but the flexibility in his vocal range sees him equally comfortable vocalising as a baritone. On the silver screen Aznavour has appeared in more than 60 movies including the academy award winning film ‘The Tin Drum’ which was released in 1979. One of France’s most popular and enduring singers, Aznavour sold between 180 and 200 million records during his lifetime.
(Source: Wikipedia)
