Line Marsa
Line Marsa | |
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![]() Lina Marsa (pictured right), with daughter Edith Piaf (centre) and her husband Louis Alphonse Gassion (pictured left) | |
Born | Annetta Giovanna Maillard 4 August 1895 |
Died | February 6, 1945 | (aged 49)
Cause of death | Drug overdose |
Other names | Annetta Gassion Annetta Giovanna Margherita Maillard |
Occupation |
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Known for | Mother of Édith Piaf |
Spouse(s) | Louis Alphonse Gassion (m. 1914, div. 1929) |
Children | 2; including Édith Piaf |
Parent(s) | Auguste Eugène Maillard Emma Saïd Ben Mohamed |
Annetta Giovanna Gassion (née Maillard; Livorno, 4 August 1895 – Paris, 6 February 1945), was best known as the mother of singer-songwriter and actress Édith Piaf, considered France's national Chanteuse, billed as Line Marsa; she was a cabaret singer and circus performer, as an equestrian and tightrope artist.
Early life[]
Born Annetta Giovanna Maillard, on 4 August 1895 in Livorno, Italy to French parents who were on tour as part of a travelling circus troupe. Her father, Auguste Eugène Maillard, came from the Loire region of France. Her mother, Emma "Aicha" Saïd Ben Mohamed was the daughter of Saïd ben Mohamed, of Kabyle origin, born in Mogador, Morocco,[1][2][3][4] and Margherita Bracco, who was born in Murazzano, Piedmont, Italy.[5]
Career[]
Marsa was a singer, circus performer and equestrian. Her stage name, Line Marsa, was inspired by La Marsa, a port in Tunisia, according to her son Herbert. Although said to have a voice similar to her daughter's, she never achieved any success.[6]
Personal life[]
On 4 September 1914, she married Louis Alphonse Gassion, a singer and circus contortionist. The following year, on December 19, she gave birth to their first child, Édith Giovanna, who would become Édith Piaf. On 31 August 1918, she gave birth to their second child, Herbert. Édith was raised by Annetta's mother, Emma, from 1915 to 1918, when she was sent to Louis Gassion's mother instead because of Annetta and Emma's neglect of her.[7]
Annetta and Louis were divorced on 4 June 1929 because she had become a drunk and a drug addict. She did not remarry.[8]
Death[]
Annetta died on 6 February 1945 of a drug overdose in Paris. She was not buried with her daughter like Louis Gassion, at Père Lachaise Cemetery.
In popular culture[]
Maillard was portrayed by Clotilde Courau in Olivier Dahan's 2007 Piaf biopic, La vie en rose.
References[]
- ^ Arletty"Elle partageait ses repas avec Line Marsa, la mère d’Édith Piaf, Anetta Maillard, de son vrai nom, était la fille d'un directeur de cirque et d'Aicha Ben Mohamed, une kabyle, copine de La Goulue"
- ^ Monique Lange
- ^ Histoire de Piaf, Ramsay, 1979
- ^ Death certificate Year 1890, France, Montluçon (03), 1890, N°501, 2E 191 194
- ^ "Annetta Giovanna Margherita MAILLARD (alias LINE MARSA)". Geneanet (in French). Retrieved 5 February 2019.
- ^ Cousin, Roger (12 July 2014). "Marsa Line". memoiresdeguerre.com (in French). Retrieved 10 August 2019.
- ^ Arraiz Pinto, Yubirí (September 2016). "Édith Piaf: Un gorrión que conquistó al mundo con su voz" [Édith Piaf: The sparrow who conquered the world with her voice]. saladeespera.com.ve (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 August 2019.
- ^ Looseley, David (2015). Édith Piaf: A Cultural History. Liverpool University Press. ISBN 978-1-78138-257-8.
- 1895 births
- 1945 deaths
- People from Livorno
- French people of Moroccan-Berber descent
- French people of Italian descent
- 20th-century French singers
- 20th-century French women singers
- Édith Piaf
- Drug-related deaths in France
- French circus performers