No Regrets

Starred review from December 6, 2010
Following her biographies of photographer Lee Miller and poet Mina Loy, Burke offers this eloquent embrace of the famed French singer-songwriter, Edith Piaf. As a child, Piaf (1915–1963) grew up in a Normandy brothel run by her grandmother, then led a vagabond life, touring as a singer with her father's acrobatic performances. A Paris street singer in her teens, she gave birth in 1933 to a daughter who lived only two years. When she brought her "velvety vibrato" and interpretations of la chanson réaliste, the tradition of gritty, slice-of-life song-stories about the downtrodden, into an elegant club in 1935, "it was as if a guttersnipe had invaded the inner sanctum where sophisticates... sat drinking champagne," yet the audience was "electrified by her voice." An overnight sensation on radio a few days later, Piaf followed with recordings, films, and concerts. Tracing her rise to international fame, Burke details her tragedies and her triumphs, her marriages and her music, and her conquest of America from Carnegie Hall to the Ed Sullivan Show. As Burke links the singer's lyrics and life in this evocative portrait, raw emotions emerge, etched with Piaf's "poignant mix of vulnerability and defiance."

December 1, 2010

Another sharp, culturally resonant biography from Burke (Lee Miller, 2005, etc.)—this one an empathetic depiction of the French chanteuse as famed for her love affairs as for songs like "La vie en rose."

Edith Piaf's life (1915–63) was as turbulent as the gritty existences she chronicled in such early songs as "L'Accordéoniste." She was raised for a time in a brothel managed by her paternal grandmother, and she began singing as a girl on the road with her father, an itinerant acrobat. Burke evocatively re-creates the raffish milieu of Piaf's youth, particularly the Paris quarter of Pigalle, where she sang on the streets and in seedy music halls. Her lovers were often crooks, and her lifestyle was dissolute. Yet Piaf's steely ambition led her to a series of mentors who improved her diction, gave her books to read and helped hone her craft so that her wholehearted emotional delivery gained the sophistication required to move into better clubs and recording studios. Though she took the traditional la chanson réaliste to a new level of complexity in such mature works as "La Foule," the public displayed special fondness for songs that reflected her personal experiences. As is almost inevitable in the biography of a performer, the book's second half is mostly a catalogue of concerts and recordings, along with the health crises and romances that earned Piaf an American reputation as the French Judy Garland. Burke demonstrates that she was a lot tougher than Garland, but was also careless of being surrounded by spongers who happily spent her hard-earned money and helped themselves to her belongings.

Though Piaf ruined her health and died young, this lucid, unsentimental appraisal suggests that she had the life she wanted, filled with "hectic drama" fueled by the singer's "boundless joie de vivre."

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

November 1, 2010

In her newest biography, Burke (Lee Miller: A Life) focuses on the internationally renowned French vocalist and lyricist best known for the song "La Vie en Rose." Piaf is commonly associated with la chanson realiste, realistic songs that speak to the underprivileged. Most data on Piaf are paradoxical, focused on her self-destructive qualities and relationships with men. Burke goes beyond this depiction by providing a more linear and objective narrative while debunking many myths, including some Piaf conjured herself. Burke does not idealize her subject or overlook Piaf's flaws. Her main focus is highlighting aspects of the artist that are rarely mentioned, such as Piaf's aiding Jews during World War II. The author is at her most engaging when she reproduces the lyrics of Piaf's songs in both French and English, demonstrating the singer's resounding impact around the world. VERDICT Burke's contextual detail and attention to research will appeal to scholars, and her masterful storytelling will engage readers. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 10/1/10; three-city tour.]--Karen McCoy, Fort Lewis Coll. Lib., Durango, CO

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2011
Introduced here as one of the greatest vocalists of the twentieth century, iconic French singer Edith Piaf is accorded a perceptive, supportive, even definitive biography by seasoned biographer Burke (Becoming Modern: The Life of Mina Loy, 1996; Lee Miller, 2005), who had access to previously untapped Piaf documents. For the singers fans, its a generally well-known fact that Piaf grew up, and grew up singing, on the streets of the shady side of Paris. With a natural, raw technique (which, as she gained both fame and new friends with experience in this regard, underwent definite degrees of refinement) and an equally natural, ingrained empathy with the habits and plights of ordinary working-class folks, Piaf gradually moved her act off the streets and into bigger and more noticed performance venues, a chronicle of events documented here with an emphasis on separating truth from legend. Piaf certainly made some unfortunate love and lifestyle choices, but Burke refuses to see her as self-destructive. Piaf was a fighter and a learner, two qualitities that make for a compelling life story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)