Charles Dumont, singer and composer of Edith Piaf, died at the age of 95

“This song is going to go around the world. She will never leave you again. She will follow you all your life”. The little Piaf, with her incredible artistic intuition, immediately understands that by composing for her No, I don’t regret anythingCharles Dumont will give a boost to his career, and better than that, leave an indelible mark on the art of French song.

More than sixty years after this incantatory melody, written to the words of Michel Vaucaire, this artist who throughout his life repeated with humility that without Piaf, “we are nothing at all”this musician who composed nearly forty scores for this little woman who thrilled Carnegie Hall in New York, died peacefully at his home at the age of 95 on the night of Sunday to Monday, as a result of a long illness.

Charles Dumont was born on March 26, 1929, in Cahors, in the town of Clément Marot, favorite poet of François I^is. In his memoirs, No, I still don’t regret anythingwritten in 2012, the singer will see it as a sign of destiny. Because throughout his life, he will strive to make people sing, in the manner of this master of the pen, beautiful words of love to his 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. Louis Armstrong becomes his model. He takes trumpet lessons to try to imitate him and above all to understand his unique gesture. At 18, his talents as an instrumentalist were recognized and he obtained a medal at the Toulouse conservatory. He doesn’t know it yet, another sacred monster of jazz, Duke Ellington, will take over No, I don’t regret anything– No regrets in the language of Shakespeare – a sort of homage to this jazzy musical sensitivity that he had cultivated so much during his years of training.

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A trivial tonsil operation turned his life upside down for the first time in 1949. He was only twenty years old and he knew that he would never be able to play the trumpet again. The dream of following in the footsteps of Louis Armstrong and his Wonderful World flies away forever. It’s a disaster for him, but a lucky star protects 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 found 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 and this optimistic person by nature saw it as a sign of encouragement. The singer Danièle Dupré, future representative of Luxembourg in the 1957 Eurovision contest, received the Édith-Piaf prize in 1952 for her interpretation ofOfferingfor which he wrote the melody. The time of lean cows, tunes composed anonymously for stars of the time like Tino Rossi, Dalida, Gloria Lasso and Luis Mariano will soon end, but Charles doesn’t know that yet.

Everything in life is about encounters, happy coincidences. Charles 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, the lyricist’s wife in the city and the creator of the Dead leaves by Prévert and Kosma. In 1956, they laid their jewel, No, I don’t regret anything. It remains in a drawer for a while. To make these words and this music with sacred accents vibrate, they think of Môme Piaf, the singer with a capital C. The greatest of all, they are sure… Their chaotic meeting, in 1960, now belongs to the legend . The singer begins to reject the young composer three times. October 5 finally arrives the big day. Piaf is unwell but still deigns to receive Dumont and Vaucaire. Charles, the shy one, takes up the piano. He presses forcefully on the keyboard. He hums No, I don’t regret anything. The rest is known. With his infallible instinct, “the bird of Ménilmuche” immediately understands 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 ended abruptly on October 10, 1963 with the disappearance of the incomparable singer. Unhappy at having lost the one who revealed his talent, he experiences a short journey through the desert. However, it would be unfair to summarize Charles Dumont’s career in the forty or so little jewels that the composer offered to the woman he always called with immense respect “Madame Edith 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 and 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 love…

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 then remember the formidable premonition of Edith Piaf who, eternal Pygmalion, had 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. » And from now on, protected by the spirit of La Môme who continued to watch over him from heaven, he will never regret anything again..