News: Legendary French Singer Charles Aznavour Dies at 94

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The French-Armenian singer, lyricist, and actor Charles Aznavour passed away in the French Alps where he resided, according to his spokesperson Vincence Stark. He was 94.

Aznavour, dubbed as France’s Frank Sinatra because of his “rousing, mournful style,” is best known for his songs She (1974), Hier Encore (English: Only Yesterday, 1964), and Comme Ils Disent (English: As they say, 1972). Aznavour wrote his own songs which often aimed to break taboos, may it be about “marriage, homosexuality, and men talking about their emotions.”

Aznavour was way ahead of his time, singing about homosexuality years before it was accepted socially in his song Comme Ils Disent. The song sings the story of a man who lives alone with his mother, who dresses up at night to do female impersonation shows in a cabaret. Comme Ils Disent was written not in a mocking way as the norm at the time but rather with sadness about having to harbor a secret feeling toward a beautiful –heterosexual- guy, beautiful like a God. A guy he will never be able to love. Interesting how Aznavour was able to write such a beautiful and poignant song about being homosexual, even though he was not. It is hard to translate his poem in english but here is a try:

When the new day is born / I go back to find again my lot of solitude / I take off my eyelashes and my wig / like a poor miserable clown in lassitude / I lie down but I don’t sleep /I think of my loves without joy / so ridiculous, of this boy / beautiful like a god / who without doing anything, has set the fire to my memory / My mouth will never dare tell him my sweet secret / my tender drama / because the object of my torments, passes most of his time in bed with women / No one has really the right to blame me, to judge me / and I specify that this is very well the nature, that is solely responsible that / I am a man, a homo.

Reportedly, Aznavour’s long and fruitful career spanned 8 decades wherein he sold more than 180 million records, wrote 1,000 songs, and recorded around 1,400 songs in total. In 1998, CNN named him “Entertainer of the Century” because of his “immense global popularity.” In 2017, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Thank you, Charles Aznavour, for sharing your talent with us. Your legacy will live on through your music. May you rest in peace.