{"id":22439,"date":"2018-10-01T16:45:47","date_gmt":"2018-10-01T16:45:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/?p=22439"},"modified":"2018-10-01T16:45:47","modified_gmt":"2018-10-01T16:45:47","slug":"charles-aznavour-the-frank-sinatra-of-france-dies-aged-94","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/?p=22439","title":{"rendered":"Charles Aznavour, the ‘Frank Sinatra of France’, dies aged 94"},"content":{"rendered":"

Singer best known for ballad She sold 100m records and had parallel acting career<\/span><\/p>\n

The French singer Charles Aznavour \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009c often hailed as his country\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s Frank Sinatra \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009c has died at the age of 94.<\/p>\n

Aznavour, who was born Shahnour Varinag Aznavourian in Paris to Armenian parents, sold more than 100m records in 80 countries and had about 1,400 songs to his name, including 1,300 he wrote himself. He was sometimes described as the French Sinatra because of his stirring, melancholic style.<\/p>\n

He left school aged nine to become a child actor and went on to have a successful parallel acting career, most notably appearing in Fran\u0569\u0083\u0539\u00abois Truffaut\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s new-wave classic Tirez Sur le Pianiste (Shoot the Piano Player), Claude Chabrol\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s Les Fant\u0569\u0083\u0539\u0532mes du Chapelier (The Hatter\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s Ghost), and the 1979 Oscar-winning film adaptation of G\u0569\u0083\u0539\u0536nter Grass\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s The Tin Drum.<\/p>\n

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\"Charles <\/picture><\/div>\n
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Charles Aznavour with Nicole Berger in Truffaut\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s Shoot the Piano Player. Photograph: Allstar\/Astor Pictures<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

His singing career was forged in occupied Paris during the second world war, performing in cabarets as his parents secretly worked with the resistance, hiding Jews, communists and others in their apartment. \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093French is my working language but my family language is always Armenian,\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d he said in 2017.<\/p>\n

Aznavour opened for \u0569\u0083\u0549\u0080\u055bdith Piaf at the Moulin Rouge and the popular singer was an early adviser \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009c and flatmate. \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093I brought her my youth, my madness; she loved my whole jazzy side,\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d he told the Guardian in 2015<\/a>. She advised him to have a nose job, only to declare, \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093I preferred you before\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d after the surgery.<\/p>\n

He is one of the most celebrated exponents of the French \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093chanson\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d form \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009c easy-listening songs with vivid lyrics, rich in storytelling, emotion and humour. One early song, 1955\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s Apr\u0569\u0083\u0539\u2014s l\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7Amour, was banned on French radio for its depiction of a couple basking in post-coital happiness. 1972\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s What Makes a Man, meanwhile, is sung in the persona of a gay man who faces down homophobia to declare: \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093Nobody has the right to be \/ The judge of what is right for me.\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d He became perhaps best known for his gloomier numbers \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009c the director Jean Cocteau once quipped: \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093Before Aznavour, despair was unpopular.\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d<\/p>\n

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