Composer of Piaf's 'Non, je ne regrette rien' dies aged 95

Paris: Songwriter and singer Charles Dumont, who composed the song Non, je ne regrette rien ( No, I do not regret anything ) made world famous by Ed...

Paris: Songwriter and singer Charles Dumont, who composed the song "Non, je ne regrette rien" ("No, I do not regret anything") made world famous by Edith Piaf, has died aged 95, his partner told AFP Monday.

Dumont, who had also collaborated with American singer Barbra Streisand and French-Italian 1960s star Dalida, died at home after a long illness.

French Culture Minister Rachida Dati called Dumont "a towering figure of French chanson".

A trumpeter by training, Dumont saw his career transformed at the turn of the 1960s when he convinced the star singer Piaf to perform one of his compositions, after having been forcefully refused several times.

"We turned up at her home, and she let us in," Dumont told AFP in 2018 about the day in 1960 when he managed to see Piaf together with his lyricist, Michel Vaucaire.