Raymond Asso

Raymond Asso
Born (1901-06-02)2 June 1901
Nice, France
Died 24 October 1968(1968-10-24) (aged 67)
Paris, France
Occupation(s) Lyricist

Raymond Asso (2 June 1901 – 24 October 1968) was a French lyricist.

Early life

Born in Nice, France, his parents separation saw him leave for Morocco at the age of 15. After his arrival he tried numerous professions, including: shepherd, factory worker, chauffeur and nightclub manager. Between 1916 and 1919 he enlisted as a Spahi (a member of a North African cavalry regiment in the French army), being deployed in Turkey and Syria. After a lack of success and satisfaction with these occupations, he eventually turned to writing in 1933, working on his own lyrics and poetry.[1]

Career

Chanson

He began working in chanson but success eluded him until he met Édith Piaf in 1935. The French chanteuse became his lover and muse. Asso's writing became focused on providing lyrics for his new partner, penning numerous lyrics inspired by her. Asso became more than a partner to Piaf, acting as her mentor and teaching her how to dress and write well. This liberated her from the scandal involving the murder of her manager, Louis Leplée.[2] Asso's songs from this era were put to the music of Marguerite Monnot, who became the regular composer for la Môme. During this period, Asso also wrote songs for Marie Dubas including "Le Fanion de la Légion" ("The Legion's Flag") and "Mon légionnaire" ("My Legionnaire").

Post-Piaf

In August 1939, Asso was called up to the French army due to World War II and his collaborations with Piaf were brought to an end.[3] Asso was succeeded by Paul Meurisse as Piaf's wordsmith.[2] After his service in the war Asso went on to write lyrics for other artists including Lucienne Delyle, Marcel Mouloudji and Renée Lebas. The 1950s were a prolific period for the writer and he also found commercial success with songs such as "Y’a tant d’amour" (sung by Renée Lebas) and "Un petit coquelicot" which was written for Marcel Mouloudji. Asso wrote songs for many of the French stars of the era:

In addition to his work as a chanson lyricist, Asso also recorded some albums of musical stories for children such as La légende du Père-Noël (The Legend of Father Christmas). Towards the end of his life Asso moved away from writing lyrics and between 1962 and 1968 he was administrator of the Société des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique (SACEM). He died in 1968.

Bibliography and discography

Works

References

  1. ↑ "Excerpt from Chansons Sans Musique". Paris, Salabert, 1946. Archived from the original on 2008-04-19. Retrieved 2008-06-12.
  2. 1 2 Gross, John (1985-11-08). "Books of The Times (Piaf by Margaret Crosland)". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-06-12.
  3. ↑ "Picking up the pieces". littlesparrow.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-06-12.

Further reading

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