Edith Piaf

Her fortunes changed when the impresario Louis Leplee, captivated by her raw talent, offered her a contract and renamed her "La Môme Piaf" (or "Kid Sparrow"). From 1936 onward, she recorded prolifically, becoming one of the highest-paid stars in the world. She was embroiled in scandal when Leplee was murdered and she was questioned by police, but she survived the affair and continued to ascend. Her circle soon included the likes of writer and director Jean Cocteau. She also began writing and composing, producing over 80 songs, including her signature standard "La vie en rose." While she appeared in films, it was live audiences that sustained her, and she eventually toured the United States, winning over reluctant American fans with her melodramatic, emotive performances.

Piaf's personal life was as turbulent as her career was triumphant. She had affairs with actor Paul Meurisse, composer Henri Contet, and most notably boxing champion Marcel Cerdan, whose death in a plane crash in 1949 left her broken. Two serious car accidents in 1951 led to a morphine and alcohol addiction that ravaged her health, despite a marriage to actor Jacques Pills from 1952 to 1957. She continued to launch the careers of her lovers, including Yves Montand and Eddie Constantine, and her final husband, Théo Sarapo, was twenty years her junior. Crippled by arthritis, she made spectacular comebacks in concert and recording, but her health wasted away. Her last appearance was at the Paris Olympia, barely able to stand, and she died on October 10, 1963, at age 47, leaving many debts. Her funeral was massive; Parisian traffic stopped completely, the only time since WWII. She remains, for many, the epitome of the French singer.