French singer Charles Dumont, who composed Edith Piaf’s Je Ne Regrette Rien, has died at the age of 95.
Dumont was 27 years old when he wrote this song in 1956. But it wasn’t until 1960 that he was persuaded to speak to this star who accepted with enthusiasm.
Je Ne Regrette Rien (I regret nothing) – which expresses the desire to make peace with the past and start anew – became one of Piaf’s signature songs.
It peaked in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Canada. The song became well known throughout the English-speaking world – it was very remarkable quoted in 1993 by then British Chancellor Norman Lamont.
When he was asked at a press conference if he regrets the optimistic statements he made as the economy is struggling, Lamont replied: “Je ne regrette rien”, which provoked laughter from the journalists but later a dispute arose.
In an interview he had in 2018, Dumont told the AFP news agency that he didn’t dare to talk to Piaf about this song because “he already kicked me out three times and I don’t want to see him again”.
But the singer, Michel Vaucaire, convinced him to try it four years later. Dumont added that Piaf showed great reluctance when the two arrived at her apartment, but allowed Dumont to play a song on her piano.
“Since then we have been inseparable,” he said. Dumont would eventually compose more than 30 of Piaf’s songs before her death in 1963.
Edith Piaf became an international star after spending most of her early life on the streets of Paris.
He is famous for singing ballads – including La Vie en Rose, Milord and La Foule.
Dumont went on to have a successful solo career through the 1970s.
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