W5001

Musicians

Edith Piaf - French Singer

Collins Cover Announcement 

Edith Piaf

"The Little Sparrow"

During the 1940s this diminutive singer became France's most popular entertainer. Her specialty was performing ballads of love, loss, and sorrow, and she eventually was considered the national singer of France. After the war, Edith became an international star and toured Europe and America. In the U.S. she appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show eight times and performed at Carnegie Hall in 1956 and 1957.

The post office issued this Piaf stamp as a joint issue with jazz trumpeter Miles Davis because "music speaks an international language." They were contemporaries performing in the same timeframe and Davis was very popular in France, and Edith Piaf became a household name in the United States.

My individually hand painted cachet really captures the look and mood of this extraordinary French entertainer. A magnificently colored Paris sky and the Eiffel Tower provide a superb background for "The Little Sparrow." Her tragic songs about heartbreak have been called the French equivalent to American jazz. When she died in 1963 it was noted for the first time since World War II that Parisian traffic came to a complete stop in tribute to her funeral procession. My watercolored cachet that captures the song of the French Sparrow — Edith Piaf— is now ready. Collins #W5001 at $14.00