Line Marsa

Annetta Giovanna Gassion (née Maillard; 4 August 1895 - 6 February 1945), was best known as the mother of singer Édith Piaf, considered France's national Chanteuse, billed as Line Marsa; she was a cabaret singer and circus performer.

Line Marsa
Annetta (right) with her former husband Louis Alphonse Gassion (far-left) and daughter, Édith (centre).
Born
Annetta Giovanna Maillard

4 August 1895
Livorno, Tuscany, Italy
DiedFebruary 6, 1945(1945-02-06) (aged 49)
Paris, France
Cause of deathDrug overdose
Other namesAnnetta Gassion
Annetta Giovanna Margherita Maillard
Occupation
  • Cabaret singer
  • equestrian
  • tightrope artist
Known forMother of Édith Piaf
Spouse(s)Louis Alphonse Gassion (m. 1914, div. 1929)
Children2; including Édith Piaf
Parent(s)Auguste Eugène Maillard
Emma Saïd Ben Mohamed

Early life

Born Annetta Giovanna Maillard, on 4 August 1895 in Livorno, Italy to French parents who were on tour as part of a travelling circus troupe. Her father, Auguste Eugène Maillard, came from the Loire region of France. Her mother, Emma "Aicha" Saïd Ben Mohamed was the daughter of Saïd ben Mohamed, of Shilha Berber origin, born in Mogador, Morocco,[1] and Margherita Bracco, who was born in Murazzano, Piedmont, Italy.[2]

Career

Marsa was a singer, circus performer and equestrian. Her stage name, Line Marsa, was inspired by La Marsa, a port in Tunisia, according to her son Herbert. Although said to have a voice similar to her daughter's, she never achieved any success.[3]

Personal life

On 4 September 1914, she married Louis Alphonse Gassion, a circus contortionist. The following year, on December 19, she gave birth to their first child, Édith Giovanna, who would become Édith Piaf. On 31 August 1918, she gave birth to their second child, Herbert. Édith was raised by Annetta's mother, Emma, from 1915 to 1918, when she was sent to Louis Gassion's mother instead because of Annetta and Emma's neglect of her.[4]

Annetta and Louis were divorced on 4 June 1929 because she had become a drunk and a drug addict. She did not remarry.[5]

Death

Annetta died on 6 February 1945 of a drug overdose in Paris. She was not buried with her daughter like Louis Gassion, at Père Lachaise Cemetery.

Maillard was portrayed by Clotilde Courau in Olivier Dahan's 2007 Piaf biopic, La vie en rose.

References
  1. Bensoussan, Albert (2013). Edith Piaf (in French). Editions Gallimard. p. 20. ISBN 9782072477126. Car on a souvent présenté cette femme, Emma de son prénom véritable, née en France d’un père marocain, comme une Kabyle, ce qu’elle n’était certainement pas, la Kabylie se trouvant en Algérie. Ces Berbères du Sud marocain sont appelés Chleuhs, avec un parler berbère qu’on.....
  2. "Annetta Giovanna Margherita MAILLARD (alias LINE MARSA)". Geneanet (in French). Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  3. Cousin, Roger (12 July 2014). "Marsa Line". memoiresdeguerre.com (in French). Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  4. Arraiz Pinto, Yubirí (September 2016). "Édith Piaf: Un gorrión que conquistó al mundo con su voz" [Édith Piaf: The sparrow who conquered the world with her voice]. saladeespera.com.ve (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  5. Looseley, David (2015). Édith Piaf: A Cultural History. Liverpool University Press. ISBN 978-1-78138-257-8.
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