Charles Aznavour, one of France’s most eminent singer-songwriters, is still touring, and it’s been announced that on 3 November he’ll be playing at the Royal Albert Hall, The List reports.
Aznavour will be performing a selection of his greatest hits, and with his back catalogue of a staggering 294 albums it’s not like he doesn’t have a choice of them.
The singer’s longevity is remarkable; he was first performing at the age of nine, and was given his first break by none other than Edith Piaf. He’s also a fine actor, turning in a lovely, bittersweet performance as Charlie, the misfortunate title character of Truffaut’s gleeful 1960 homage to film noir, Shoot the Piano Player.
Born Shahnour Varinag Aznavourian in Armenia in 1924, he moved to France in the 40s but he’s a hero in his mother country; in the wake of the devastating Armenian earthquake of 1988 he set up a charity, Aznavour for Armenia, and besides being the Armenian ambassador to Switzerland, Aznavour is Armenia’s permanent delegate to the UN in Geneva. Staunchly anti-racist, he ralled support for Jacques Chirac against Jean-Marie Le Pen in the 2002 French elections, and his 1976 song ‘Ils sont tombés’ (‘They fell’) is about the Armenian Genocide.
