The musician Charles Dumont, composer of the legendary I don't regret anythingby Édith Piaf, died on the night of Sunday November 17 to Monday November 18, 2024, in Paris, his partner Florence announced to AFP. He was 95 years old.
This singer-songwriter, who also collaborated with Barbra Streisand, died following a “long illness” at his home.
The career of this trained trumpeter took a major turn at the turn of the 1960s when he convinced the star Édith Piaf to perform one of his compositions, after having suffered several refusals.
No, I regret nothing has since become an unforgettable La Môme standard, known throughout the world.
“My mother gave birth to me but Édith Piaf brought me into the world,” said the singer and pianist born in Cahors on March 26, 1929. “Without her, I would never have done everything I did , neither as a composer, nor as a singer,” he assured during an interview with AFP in 2015.
For Charles Dumont, this meeting marked the beginning of a fruitful collaboration with Piaf, which gave birth to more than thirty pieces, including Mon Dieu and Les floflons du bal.
Throughout his nearly sixty-year career, Charles Dumont also collaborated with Dalida and Tino Rossi and reconverted into a “crooner” at the end of the 1960s, abandoning his protest songs.
He then had a series of albums where love took the lion's share… The album Une femme had also earned him the Charles-Cros Academy prize in 1973.
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His last appearance on stage dates back to 2019 at the Eiffel Tower theater. “When you come back in front of an audience, who comes to see you as they did 20, 30 or 40 years ago and gives you the same welcome, then they give you back your 20 years,” he said.
