Charles Aznavour: French singer championed by Edith Piaf who never forgot his Armenian roots

Even in his nineties, he performed 90-minute concerts, capping a career spanning 60 years in which he distinguished himself as a legend – of both France and Armenia. By Spencer Leigh

Aznavour was close to Liza Minnelli with whom he toured and collaborated on a live album in 1995 (AFP/Getty)

It would be difficult to place the master practitioners of the French chanson in order of merit, but Charles Aznavour, who has died aged 94, was unique with his vast output, his aptitude to write compassionately about intensely personal matters and his ability to perform 90-minute concerts even in his nineties in the world’s major theatres. A box set of no less than 60 CDs released in 2015 stands as testament to his body of work.

He was not an angry writer like Jacques Brel nor sex-obsessed like Serge Gainsbourg, and this worked in his favour as middle-of-the-road audiences around the world wanted to hear him sing “She”, “The Old-Fashioned Way” and “Yesterday When I Was Young”. But many of his best known songs were queasy rather than easy listening.