Dates

• Existence: 22 May 1924 - 1 October 2018

Biography

Singer, lyricist, actor and diplomat Charles Aznavour was born Shahnour Vaghinag Aznavourian on 22 May 1924 in Paris into a family of artists of Armenian origin.

Charles' parents introduced him to performance at an early age, and he left school at age nine to start his career on stage with acting and dancing roles at various venues. By 1944 he started to write music and shortly after was encouraged to pursue a career in singing by no other than Édith Piaf.

During the Second World War Charles and his family gave shelter to people persecuted by the Nazis and participated in rescue activities, which gained them the Raoul Wallenberg Award in 2017.

In spite of his enormous success as a singer, Charles continued pursuing his career in acting and from 1960 onwards he appeared in over 80 films. He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2017.

Charles continued performing throughout his life, touring around the world until his death on 1 October 2018 at 94 years of age.

Over his long professional career spanning over seventy years, he became a prolific composer, singer and songwriter. Charles sang with some of the greatest names in popular music of all times including Édith Piaf, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Dusty Springfield, Elton John, Shirley Bassey and Julio Iglesias to name a few and became one of the best-selling music artists of all time.

Found in 3 Collections and/or Records: