After the success of No, I don't regret anything, written for la Môme, the composer will deliver around thirty songs to her. After the death of the singer, his friend will bounce back as a singer.
“This song is going to go around the world. She will never leave you again. It will follow you all your life. The little Piaf, with her incredible artistic intuition, immediately understands that by composing No, I don't regret anythingCharles Dumont will mark his career and, better than that, leave a mark on French song. More than sixty later, the man who wrote more than thirty scores for Édith Piaf died peacefully at home at the age of 95 on the night of Sunday to Monday, following a long illness at his home.
Charles Dumont was born on March 26, 1929, in Cahors, in the town of Clément Marot, favorite poet of François Iis. In his memoirs, No, I still don't regret anythingwritten in 2012, the singer will see it as a sign of destiny. All his life, he strived to combine beautiful texts and pretty melodies. His mother, a woman in fragile health, entrusted her education to her aunt. The child is serious at school but very quickly the passion for jazz invades him. He developed a passion for Louis Armstrong and took trumpet lessons. At 18, his talents as an instrumentalist were recognized and he obtained a medal at the Toulouse conservatory.
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Charles Dumont: “I owe my entire career to Mrs. Édith Piaf”
Music at the service of song
A simple tonsil operation turned his life upside down for the first time in 1949. He could no longer play the trumpet. A disaster for him. The person in charge of the great organ of the Saint-Ambroise church boosts his morale by introducing him to the mastery of the piano and the sense of harmony. Charles discovers his vocation: composer. From 1950 to 1960, Charles Dumont polished his keyboard, while living meagerly on odd jobs. The first success in esteem did not take long to encourage him. Danièle Dupré received the Édith-Piaf prize in 1952 for her interpretation ofOfferingfor which he wrote the melody. His destiny is in motion, but Charles doesn't know it yet.
Everything in life is about encounters. He soon crosses paths with lyricist Michel Vaucaire, a talented author who needs a composer as gifted as him. Together, they wrote for the cream of French song of the time: Lucienne Delyle, Marcel Amont, Cora Vaucaire… In 1960, only the greatest of all remained to convince, the little Piaf. Their chaotic encounter is now the stuff of legend. The singer begins to reject the young composer three times. October 5, 1960 finally arrived the big day. Piaf is unwell but still deigns to receive Dumont and Vaucaire. Shy Charles takes up the piano. He presses forcefully on the keyboard. He hums No, I don't regret anything. The rest is known. With her infallible instinct, Piaf immediately knows that she has found the composer who will allow her to make her comeback on stage.
“The jazzman of Cahors”
But this story of friendship and admiration will unfortunately not last. It even came to an abrupt end on October 10, 1963 with the disappearance of the incomparable singer. Unhappy at having lost the one who had revealed his talent, he experiences a short journey through the desert. However, it would be unfair to summarize the career of Charles Dumont in the thirty or so little jewels that the composer offered to the woman he always called with immense respect “Madame Édith Piaf”.
At first distraught, Dumont enriched his palette by composing music for soap operas (The Adventures of Michel Vaillant, Red Devil) or movies, like Traffic et Paradeby Jacques Tati. In 1967, a second talented woman knocked at the door of his artistic destiny. Her name is Sophie Makhno. A woman of many talents, song editor, secretary to Barbara and Anne Sylvestre, she gives him the strength to finally put himself forward. This subtle lyricist will write texts which perfectly reflect the sensitivity of the composer. They all talk about love and their titles are eloquent: Sleepless night in Honfleur, People who love each other, love me, Love Songs without forgetting the most famous, Your cigarette after sex…
The composer becomes a singer. The duo went from success to success until the beginning of the 1980s, collecting no less than three gold records with the famous Cigarette but also A song et Impossible Loves. The modest Charles Dumont, propelled to the rank of star singer, will remember the formidable premonition of Edith Piaf who, eternal Pygmalion, told him: “No one sings your songs better than you, you put so much heart into them, so much feeling that I am surprised myself. »
Now recognized as a star singer, the “jazzman from Cahors” will not lose his head. Always keen to bring the great story of song to life, he will record I rely on youwords by Jacques Brel written for Piaf. In 2007, he will be proud that Barbra Streisand triumphantly resumes The Wall (I’ve Been Here). Until his last breath, he will remain humble, because he knew and loved to repeat: “Personally, I owe everything to Edith. »
