Charles Aznavour › Similar Artists

Charles Trenet - 63% match to Charles Aznavour

18 May 1913, Narbonne, France, d. 19 February 2001, Paris, France. One of the leading exponents of the French chanson, Trenet’s mixture of light-hearted comedy and nostalgic romanticism continued to endear him to his countrymen long after most of his contemporaries had passed away. After studying art at the Académie des Arts Décoratives in Paris, Trenet fo Read more

Yves Montand - 62% match to Charles Aznavour

Ivo Livi, 13 October 1921, Monsummano Terme, Pistoia, Tuscany, Italy, d. 9 November 1991, Senlis, Oise, Picardie, France. Montand’s Italian parents moved to France where his father became a leader in the French Communist Party. Yves was also later a member of the party until the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. As a young man he worked in Marseilles, France, a Read more

Dalida - 60% match to Charles Aznavour

Yolanda Christina Gigliotti, 17 January 1933, Cairo, Egypt, d. 3 May 1987, Paris, France. On winning a Miss Egypt beauty contest, Gigiotti, who was born to Italian parents, moved to Paris, France where she spent several fruitless months seeking work as a film actress. Driven to sing as an intermission act in La Villa D’Este club, she impressed record industry moguls Bru Read more

Johnny Hallyday - 60% match to Charles Aznavour

Jean-Philippe Smet, 15 June 1943, Paris, France. After his Belgian father’s desertion, Smet was adopted by his aunt Helene Mar, wife of North American song-and-dance man Lee Hallyday, from whom the child later derived his stage surname. His aptitude for the performing arts earned him a role in his uncle’s act, and he developed a passable mastery of the guitar after Read more

Jacques Brel - 59% match to Charles Aznavour

8 April 1929, Brussels, Belgium, d. 9 October 1978, Bobigny, Seine-Saint-Denis, France. Brel remained a figurehead of modern songwriting, despite a reluctance either to sing in English or, owing to his bitter opposition to the Vietnam war, perform in North America - or, indeed, anywhere else, after retiring from concert appearances in 1966. Although Flemish, he conversed in Read more

Georges Brassens - 50% match to Charles Aznavour

22 October 1921, Sète, France, d. 29 October 1981, Saint-Gély-du-Fesc, Sète, France. Very well known in France as a songwriter and prize-winning poet, honoured by the Académie Française in 1967, Brassens is much less well known elsewhere than is his due. His simple melodies and articulate, worldly-wise lyrics made him as significant as Bob Read more

Georges Moustaki - 42% match to Charles Aznavour

1934, Alexandria, Egypt. A singer, songwriter, actor and film music composer of Greek ancestry, early in his life Moustaki studied French which enabled him to work in Paris as a journalist. He began to write songs, and played the piano and guitar in the College Inn in Montparnasse. He also met the gypsy musician Henri Crolla, a cousin of Django Reinhardt. Crolla introduced h Read more

Eddy Mitchell - 40% match to Charles Aznavour

Daniel Balavoine - 39% match to Charles Aznavour

Salvatore Adamo - 39% match to Charles Aznavour

1 November 1943, Cosimo, Sicily. Salvatore Adamo’s family emigrated to Belgium where he balanced bookish excellence and artistic leanings while at school in Jemmapes. An able guitarist and singer, he had already been heard on local radio when, following his victory in a Radio Luxembourg contest, he gained a Philips Records recording contract. He then had hits in the Net Read more

Claude Nougaro - 36% match to Charles Aznavour

9 September 1929, Toulouse, France, d. 4 March 2004, Paris, France. Born into a highly musical family, his father Pierre Nougaro was a classical singer, his mother, Liette, was a pianist and teacher, Claude took an interest in music from an early age. He listened on radio and records not only to classical music and French popular music but also to American swing bands and bl Read more

Serge Gainsbourg - 26% match to Charles Aznavour

Lucien Ginsburg, 2 April 1928, Paris, France, d. 2 March 1991, Paris, France. Gainsbourg was a frustrated painter who eked a living as a bar pianist before joining the band hired for the musical Milord L’Arsouville starring Michèle Arnaud. Eventually given a reluctant singing role, his stage fright was interpreted by the audience as part of the act. His subsequen Read more

Julio Iglesias - 24% match to Charles Aznavour

Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva, 23 September 1943, Madrid, Spain. Iglesias studied law at Madrid University and played football (goalkeeper) for Real Madrid before suffering severe injuries in a 1963 car accident. While recuperating, he learned guitar and began to write songs. After continuing his studies in Cambridge, England, he entered the 1968 Festivalde la Canci Read more

Michel Polnareff - 23% match to Charles Aznavour

3 July 1944, Nérac, Lot-et-Garonne, France. Raised in Paris, Michel’s father, Leib Polnareff, was a professional musician (as Léo Poll), his mother a dancer. He learned piano from the age of five and attended the Paris Conservatoire. Despite his playing and composing skills, Polnareff worked in commerce until the mid-60s when he switched careers. He played Read more

Maurice Chevalier - 22% match to Charles Aznavour

Maurice Auguste Chevalier, 12 September 1888, Menilmontant, nr. Paris, France, d. 1 January 1972, Paris, France. The ninth of 10 children eventually reduced by death to three males, Chevalier’s early ambitions to become an acrobat were thwarted by injury. He toured local cafes and music halls as a singer and broad comedian, and later performed at the Eldorado in Paris. Read more