Piaf. The French word for “sparrow.” She was named by her first impresario, Louis Leplee. He was found shot dead not long after—possibly by a pimp who considered her his property. She stood four feet, eight inches tall, and so became “the Little Sparrow.” She was the most famous and beloved French singer of her time—of the twentieth century, in fact—and her lovers included Yves Montand (whom she discovered) and the middleweight champion Marcel Cerdan. She drank too much, all the time. She became addicted to morphine and required ten injections a day. She grew old and prematurely stooped, and
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