Edith Piaf's Paris

Paris, the City of Lights, was home to Edith Piaf, a world famous cultural icon and arguably one of France's most famous singers. Any tourist to the city can trace Piaf's career from the street corners where she performed as a child, and the cabarets of her youth to the concert halls of her fame.

The daughter of a caf

A woman walks out of the house where Piaf reportedly was born in Paris. The plaque reads, in part: "On the steps of this house Edith Piaf was born Dec. 19, 1915, in great poverty. Her voice was to deeply distress the world later on." The reality, however, is more banal. Her birth certificate states that she was born at the Hospital Tenon, near the Gambetta metro stop.

A statue of Edith Piaf is seen in Paris, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2008. Not far from her final resting place, the statue, located in the square that bears her name, depicts her in her early years as a street singer.

The square in Paris that is named after Edith Piaf is seen Aug. 19, 2008. In it is this statue, left, that depicts her early years as a street singer.

A man reads a newspaper in the bar Edith Piaf in Paris, Monday, Aug. 25, 2008. The "little sparrow," as Piaf was affectionately known, still has an audience in the locals and fans who frequent the bar, which is located behind her statue.

One of the black dresses that were Edith Piaf's trademark is seen at the Edith Piaf museum, in Paris, Monday, Aug. 25, 2008. The Edith Piaf museum is made of two rooms of memorabilia in a Belleville apartment belonging to Bernard Marchois, the author of several Piaf biographies.

Marcel Cerdan's boxing gloves are seen in front of pictures of Edith Piaf and Marcel Cerdan, at the Edith Piaf museum, in Paris, Monday, Aug. 25, 2008. The affair between the singer and the married prizefighter was an international scandal, made tragic when Cerdan was killed in an airplane crash as he headed to Paris to see Piaf.

The bar "Aux Folies" is seen in Paris, Monday, Aug. 25, 2008. Some patrons come to sip a beer on the terrace and imagine Edith Piaf singing in the discount supermarket next door, where the cabaret Folies-Belleville used to stand.

A sculpture of singer Edith Piaf is seen on Edith Piaf place in Paris, Monday, Aug. 25, 2008.

People line up in front of the Olympia Music Hall for its 50th anniversary on Feb. 4, 2004. For five decades, names like Edith Piaf have been captured in neon letters above the doors of the arena. Piaf gave many concerts here from 1955 to 1962, some of which were recorded in audio and videotapes.

Piaf was 47 when she died of liver cancer in 1963. Her grave is seen here in the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, Aug. 25, 2008. While there, a tourist can also visit the graves of Oscar Wilde, Moliere, Balzac, Sarah Bernhardt, Gertrude Stein and musician Jim Morrison of The Doors.