HOLLYWOOD, Calif.—Famed French-Armenian crooner Charles Aznavour has been selected to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Aznavour will join Lin Manuel Miranda, the creator and star of the hit Broadway musical “Hamilton” in the Live Theatre/Live Performance category, the Walk of Fame Selection Committee of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced on June 23.
in Oct. 2016, Aznavour was awarded an honorary Walk of Fame plaque for his contributions to the Arts and the global Armenian community. (Photo: AFP)
Born Shahnour Vaghenag Aznavourian in 1924 in Paris, Aznavour was raised in an atmosphere of “music, love, and poverty,” and was always encouraged to entertain. To help support the family, he joined a touring children’s company and even hawked newspapers on boulevards.
“I learned about songs and music from my father and about theater and poetry from my mother. I grew up among singers, actors, dancers who were Armenian and Russian in a Jewish ghetto. Can you imagine what a beautiful combination that is?” Aznavour once said in an interview.
Making his stage debut at nine as an actor-dancer, he spent 20 years fighting to get to the top of the theatrical world, seeing his personally written songs only become famous when sung by Edith Piaf, Mistinguett, Maurice Chevalier, and Juliet Greco, among many others.
“I became a successful writer very slowly. My songs became so popular in France that one day they accepted the man who wrote them. I started the kind of song that faces the reality of life—everyday movement, everyday feelings, everyday story. Nobody before wrote anything about deaf-mute love, homosexual love, a song about an ugly woman. They were all afraid. I’ve done it. Everybody else came after me.”
Since those difficult days, Aznavour has ridden the top of the performing crest. His best has been described in eloquent terms, as “fantastic charisma,” electric magic.” He describes it as the “hunger of succeeding, of achieving something. Any entertainer who achieves something important has a monstrous attitude. Piaf was a monster. I’m a monster. We’re frightening people.”
Though described as the Frank Sinatra of France, he has sung in nine languages in the world’s most famous musical venues, including Carnegie and Radio City Music halls. His songs, such as “She,” “Dance in the Old Fashioned Way,” and “Yesterday When I Was Young,” are regular staples in the international record-selling markets, and have been performed by world famous singers. “Ils sont tombes” (They Fell), his song dedicated to the victims of the Armenian Genocide, became a best-seller in many countries.
In 1998, Azanvour was named Entertainer of the Century by CNN and international users of Time Online. The recipient of numerous other honors, including the “National Order of the Legion of Honor” and the “National Hero” of Armenia.
Dates have not been set for the Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremonies, which must be scheduled within two years from the selection date.
The complete class of 2018 is below.
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In the category of MOTION PICTURES: Jack Black, Kirsten Dunst, Jeff Goldblum, F. Gary Gray, Mark Hamill, Jennifer Lawrence, Gina Lollobrigida, Minnie Mouse, Nick Nolte and Zoe Saldana
In the category of TELEVISION: Anthony Anderson, Gillian Anderson, Lynda Carter, Simon Cowell, RuPaul Charles, Taraji P. Henson, Eric McCormack, Ryan Murphy, Niecy Nash, Mandy Patinkin, Shonda Rhimes and posthumously: Steve Irwi
In the category of RECORDING: Mary J. Blige, Sir Richard Branson, Petula Clark, Harry Connick, Jr., Ice T, Snoop Dogg, Carrie Underwood and “Weird Al” Yankovic
In the category of RADIO: Steve Jones
In the category of LIVE THEATRE/LIVE PERFORMANCE: Charles Aznavour, Lin-Manuel Miranda and posthumously: Bernie Mac