"Diminutive and wiry, with mournful, beetle-browed eyes and a raspy tenor voice, Mr. Aznavour lacked the rakish sex appeal and ebullience of chanteurs such as Maurice Chevalier and Yves Montand. But he surged to fame in the 1960s, selling records on pace with Elvis Presley and the Beatles and drawing superlatives from critics for a charisma that was more implosive than explosive and for songs that illuminated the darker corners of the human heart.
Mr. Aznavour was one of the last surviving links to the mid-20th-century golden age of the “chanson française,” a song tradition blending street-wise, poetic lyrics and accessible melodies. Some of its most revered interpreters included Édith Piaf, a mentor to Mr. Aznavour, and Charles Trenet, who sang and composed songs that were reworked in English as the jazz and pop standards “Beyond the Sea” and “I Wish You Love.”
Mr. Aznavour helped push the chanson away from homages to pretty girls and whimsical odes to romance, although he put out his share. By incorporating jazz, bossa nova, tango and other languorous musical motifs, he gave the most doleful lyrical palette a sumptuous veneer."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/charles-aznavour-daring-and-adored-french-singer-and-composer-dies-at-94/2018/10/01/bf080f3e-c577-11e8-b1ed-1d2d65b86d0c_story.html?utm_term=.3c1db39ccc77
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