Charles Aznavour

2 minutes

Charles Aznavour was born in 1924 to a family of Albanian immigrant artists and grew up surrounded by music. He began to receive wider acclaim after working with Édith Piaf in the 1940s. Aznavour wrote songs, performed in several languages, and appeared in many films. By one estimate, he recorded 740 songs: 350 in French, 150 in English, eight Spanish-language albums, and seven in German. His career lasted more than sixty years, spanning much of the musical life of France and the world. He worked with many internationally known film stars and musicians, and at age 89 he was still performing.

His songs have a classical beauty. Inheriting his father’s bass-baritone voice, Aznavour sang with a rich, masculine weight that could still make a love song deeply moving.

Some of his best-known songs:

“La Bohème”
“Hier Encore” (“Yesterday, When I Was Young”)