He was gifted with uncommon talents, and extraordinary tenacity. They enabled Charles Aznavour to accomplish the difficult climb to glory without missing a footstep. And thanks to his savoir-faire, he reached the absolute summit of world fame, at least for a Frenchman. His influences were many – Armenian family, Jewish childhood, idols who were jazzmen, and mentors in French song who made him a realist – and Aznavour would create works whose original tone seduced a huge audience, especially women.

This anthology brings together fourteen essential titles drawn from a period when Aznavour was forging his temperament and honing those talents, an era in which he sought, and found, his own path winding its way through rhythm, sensuality and nostalgia.

In a career that lasted six decades Charles Aznavour appeared in sixty feature films, and also found the time to compose the music for several others. He even wrote two screenplays, one for “Menace” (1972), the other for “Yiddish Connection" in 1986. As a songwriter, Aznavour wrote over one thousand songs, and as a performer he sang in five languages, notably French and English, but also in German, Spanish and Italian. Aznavour remains the best-known French singer in the world, with over 100 million sales to his credit.