Charles Dumont, legendary composer of Edith Piaf, is dead

The musician Charles Dumont, composer of the legendary “No, I regret nothing” by Edith Piaf, died on the night of Sunday November 17 to Monday November 18 in Paris at the age of 95, his partner Florence announced to the AFP.

This singer-songwriter, who also collaborated with Barbra Streisand, died after a long illness at his home.

On X, the Minister of Culture Rachida Dati saluted the memory of“a sacred monster of French song”.

The career of this trained trumpeter took a major turn at the turn of the 1960s when he convinced the star Edith Piaf to perform one of his compositions, after having suffered several refusals.

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“Piaf had already fired me three times”

“No, I don’t regret anything” has since become an unforgettable standard of La Môme, known throughout the world. “My mother gave birth to me but Edith 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.

However, it was a long road before Piaf agreed to put his cheeky voice on the piece.

It was in 1956 that the notes of what would become one of the best-known French songs in the world emerged from the piano of Charles Dumont, then a 27-year-old little-known musician.

But the singer is not convinced. “Piaf had already fired me three times, I didn’t want to see her again”Charles Dumont told AFP in 2018. “But Michel Vaucaire, who wrote the lyrics, convinced me to try again in 1960. When she learned that I would be there, she screamed, demanding that the meeting be canceled. »

“We still showed up at his home. She let us in. I played the piece on the piano. And… we never left each other again”he said. “At that time, she was at her worst and this title brought her resurrection”.

Late 60s crooner

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 converted to « crooner » at the end of the 60s, abandoning his protest songs.

He then had a series of albums where love took the lion's share… The disc “Une femme » earned him the Charles-Cros Academy Prize in 1973.

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.