Edith Piaf

she was abandoned by her alcoholic, drug addict mother as soon as she was born... her maternal grandmother rarely fed or washed her, instead put her to sleep with wine whenever she cried... she was then sent off to her paternal grandmother who ran a brothel, which came to be her home... she was blinded by keratitis from the age of 3 to 7... at age 17 she bore a child who died two years later of meningitis... she stood just 4 ft 10 inches and was rightly dubbed "Piaf" meaning sparrow in French... her career peaked during WW II... she performed for the Germans at the top luxury brothel called One Two Two Club... the Germans allowed Piaf to pose with the French POWs to boost their morale, who subsequently managed to cut out their own image to forge identity papers and escape... she battled pathetic health issues and morphine dependency and three major car accidents... but nonetheless, she was one of France's finest singer performers whose songs still rule the radio waves... this is an example of how an underprivileged, brothel-raised street girl can fight the tyrannical world of sexual abuse and emerge a glorious singing sensation... the French sky cannot exist without Edith Piaf...