Charles Aznavour - his music and his life
Struggle, hard times and heartbreak are often regarded as key components in artistic success stories. Paying the dues, so to speak, which suggests hardship, helps mold the artist, according to the old adage. And so it was with Charles Aznavour, a wisp of a man, of hoarse voice, and what ultimately proved to be immense songwriting skills. The writer of a major catalog of songs, many with a flavor of "A sadness and melancholy, was a child of humble beginnings. He was born Varenegh Aznavourian in May 1924 in Paris, while his parents awaited a visa to the United States. His legacy was strictly musical. His father was an opera singer, and his mother an operetta "Soubrette," both of them Armenian, who were in France having fled massacres in Turkey. While Charles and his sister Aida were raised in what was described as "an atmosphere bathed in music and poetry," grinding poverty in the immediate post-war world in France was a daily fact of life. The brother and sist...
