Carolyn Burke is the author of Becoming Modern: The Life of Mina Loy and Lee Miller: A Life. She lives in Santa Cruz, California.
No Regrets: The Life of Edith Piaf
Paperback
(Reprint)
- ISBN-13: 9781613743928
- Publisher: Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
- Publication date: 04/01/2012
- Edition description: Reprint
- Pages: 304
- Sales rank: 444,762
- Product dimensions: 6.04(w) x 9.06(h) x 0.69(d)
What People are Saying About This
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The iconic French singer comes to life in this biography, which captures Edith Piaf’s immense charisma along with the time and place that gave rise to her international career. Raised by turns in a brothel, a circus caravan, and a working-class Parisian neighborhood, Piaf began singing on the city’s streets, where she was discovered by a Champs Elysées cabaret owner. She became a star almost overnight, seducing all of Paris with her passionate voice, and No Regrets explores her meteoric rise; her tumultuous love affairs; and her struggles with drugs, alcohol, and illness. Piaf was an unlikely student of poetry and philosophy who aided Resistance efforts in World War II, wrote the lyrics for nearly 100 songs, including “La vie en rose,” and was a crucial mentor to younger singers such as Yves Montand and Charles Aznavour. Burke demonstrates how, with her courage, her incomparable art, and her universal appeal, “the little sparrow” endures as a symbol of France and a source of inspiration to entertainers the world over.
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"A definitive, thoroughly researched biography. . . . [Burke] deftly depicts the destiny of Piaf from her birth to her tragic death at age 47. . . . No Regrets is exhaustively comprehensive; Burke spoke with just about everyone who knew, admired or loved Piaf." —Miami Herald
"Burke proves that the 'feral' Piaf's 'short, wayward life' was more complicated and intriguing than [the] familiar narrative arc might suggest. . . . [No Regrets] fills in the blanks of a life that most readers will only have previously glimpsed in broad strokes. . . . [A] precise . . . thorough biography." —Columbus Dispatch
"Burke's terrific biography of Edith Piaf shucks the simplistic arc of self-destructive urchin to a more complex portrait that includes the singer's heroics in the French Resistance and roles as mentor, lyricist, and enduring icon." —Marie Claire
"Concise and gracefully written. . . . Burke is meticulous . . . [she] surveys all [Piaf's] mayhem with thoughtfulness and respect." —James Gavin, New York Times Book Review
"Sympathetic . . . captivating . . . highly effective." —Graham Robb, New York Review of Books
"A perceptive, supportive, even definitive biography by seasoned biographer Burke, who had access to previously untapped Piaf documents. . . . A compelling life story." —Booklist
"[An] eloquent embrace of the famed French singer-songwriter. . . . As Burke links the singer's lyrics and life in this evocative portrait, raw emotions emerge, etched with Piaf's 'poignant mix of vulnerability and defiance.'" —Publishers Weekly
"[A] sharp, culturally resonant biography . . . an empathetic depiction of the French chanteuse, as famed for her love affairs as for songs like 'La vie en rose.' . . . Though Piaf ruined her health and died young, this lucid, unsentimental appraisal suggests that she had the life she wanted, filled with 'hectic drama' fueled by the singer's 'boundless joie de vivre.'" —Kirkus Reviews
The Washington Post
The New York Times
Another sharp, culturally resonant biography from Burke (Lee Miller, 2005, etc.)—this one an empathetic depiction of the French chanteuse as famed for her love affairs as for songs like "La vie en rose."
Edith Piaf's life (1915–63) was as turbulent as the gritty existences she chronicled in such early songs as "L'Accordéoniste." She wasraised for a time in a brothel managed by her paternal grandmother, and she began singing as a girl on the road with her father, an itinerant acrobat. Burke evocatively re-creates the raffish milieu of Piaf's youth, particularly the Paris quarter of Pigalle, where she sang on the streets and in seedy music halls. Her lovers were often crooks, and her lifestyle was dissolute. Yet Piaf's steely ambition led her to a series of mentors who improved her diction, gave her books to read and helped hone her craft so that her wholehearted emotional delivery gained the sophistication required to move into better clubs and recording studios. Though she took the traditionalla chanson réaliste to a new level of complexity in such mature works as "La Foule," the public displayed special fondness for songs that reflected her personal experiences. As is almost inevitable in the biography of a performer, the book's second half is mostly a catalogue of concerts and recordings, along with the health crises and romances that earned Piaf an American reputation as the French Judy Garland. Burke demonstrates that she was a lot tougher than Garland, but was also careless of being surrounded by spongers who happily spent her hard-earned money and helped themselves to her belongings.
Though Piaf ruined her health and died young, this lucid, unsentimental appraisal suggests that she had the life she wanted, filled with "hectic drama" fueled by the singer's "boundless joie de vivre."