From the archive: Edith Piaf and Orson Welles at Orly Airport, Paris - 1953

Edith Piaf was born Edith Giovanna Gassion on December 19 1915 and is the stuff of legend.  A legend which begins at birth with the claim she was born on a pavement at Rue de Belleville, Paris.  Her birth certificate, however, says she was born at Hôpital Tenon.

Some reports say she began singing at the age of seven, others say 14, however what is known is that Piaf was discovered in 1935 (aged 20) by nightclub owner Louis Leplée, who persuaded her to sing at his club Le Gerny and who gave her the nickname La Môme Piaf which roughly translates as The Little Sparrow.

The love of Edith's life was married boxer Marcel Cerdan who she had a two year romance with but who tragically died in a plane crash in 1949 after Piaf, lonely in America, had asked him to fly out to join her.  Edith felt that she had killed him and sought solace in drugs and alcohol.

In 1952, she married singer-songwriter Jacques Pils who insisted she undergo detox; she did and returned to work in 1953, touring France, America and Europe.  I think she must be returning from one of these trips in this photo.

Ten years later, Edith Piaf died of liver cancer in Plascassier on October 11 1963 and was buried at the Pere-Lachaise cemetery in Paris. Tens of thousands of mourners lined the streets of Paris for the funeral procession and it is claimed that more than 100,000 fans attended the funeral.

Piaf is best known for her songs "La vie en rose" (1946) and "Non, je ne regrette rien" (1960)