Maurice Chevalier was born in Menilmontant, a working-class district of Paris, on September 12th 1888. His father, Charles Victor Chevalier, was a house painter, but Maurice was closest to his mother. A Belgian woman, Josephine Van der Bosche, she was known as "La Louque". Maurice and his bothers Paul and Charles had a poor upbringing. When their father and then the eldest bother left home, Maurice, just turned ten, left school to go to work. He did a host of jobs, but his dream was to become a circus artist and he trained as an acrobat. However, an accident forced him to seek another performance medium.

At the turn of the century, comic singers were all the rage and young Maurice, who didn't have a fabulous voice, accentuated the humorous content of his numbers. There were numerous venues for this type of act - café-concerts, bistros and dance halls - but in the pitiless world of show business engagements were few and far between and badly paid.

In 1900, Maurice Chevalier, at twelve, was still a child but not without experience. The young singer knew how to amuse his often difficult audiences with imitations of singers like Dranem, a big star at the time. An agent managed got him a public audition at the Casino des Tourelles, a risky enterprise which the adolescent came out of with flying colours. Little by little his repertoire became less working class; he begin to sing more dandyish numbers, adopting the suit and boater hat that were to become his trademarks. Success, however, was still around the corner and at times life was hard. In 1902, at the Petit Casino, his act was a complete flop. Resourceful and above all determined to succeed, he learnt tap dancing and took up boxing - he was rather slight of build, but good looking. Eventually, his experience paid off when he got a role in a revue at the Parisiana in 1903.

In 1905, when he received a standing ovation at the Alcazar in Marseille. The door was now wide open for a triumphal return to Paris.

Maurice Chevalier's show business career was now well under way and, extremely able at managing himself, he appeared in several short silent films in 1908. In 1909, he had a lead role in a show at the Folies Bergères, the temple of Parisian music hall. Around this time he began to go out with the famous singer, Fréhel. She was, however, already very diminished by drugs and drink and their affair ended in 1911. A great seducer, Maurice Chevalier went on to become the lover of Mistinguett, one of the most prestigous stars of pre-war French music. Mistinguett. He was twenty-three, she was thirty-six. Mistinguett was an exuberant personality for whom the milieu of the Paris music hall held no secret, and taught the young singer many tricks of the trade.

In 1913, Chevalier left to do his military service. A year later the First World War broke out. He was wounded in the frst weeks of combat, taken prisoner and spent two years in Alten Grabow prison camp in Germany. Freed in 1916 thanks to Mistinguett's far-reaching network of contacts, he returned quickly to the Parisian limelight.

In 1917, he became the star of a new music hall, the Casino de Paris, playing to audiences of British and American soldiers. From the Americans, he discovered jazz and ragtime and his thoughts inevitably began to turn to the other side of the Atlantic. He continued to work with Mistinguett, but always in her shadow, and his ambition to become a star in his own right, alone in front of the audience, was one of the prinviple causes of the couple's break up at the beginning of the twenties. Having learnt English during his captivity in Germany, he had a serious advantage over other French artists, even over stars like Mistinguett. Success came quickly, even though it was thanks his French repertoire.

After the Great War came the Roaring Twenties, punctuated by such legendary Chevalier songs as "Dans la vie faut pas s'en faire" in 21 and "Valentine", in 24. He appeared in several films, and his huge success with the operetta "Dédé", led to a meeting with American composers George Gershwin and Irving Berlin - which led to him thinking more and more about doing "Dédé" on Broadway. He left for New York in the summer of 1922 with this in mind. Nothing came out of his stay there, however, and he returned to France in a depressed state and eventually tried to committ suicide in 1924. That year he met Yvonne Vallée, a young dancer. She helped him through this difficult time and they married in 1927.

In 1928, at the dawn of talking pictures, Maurice Chevalier left for Hollywood. The seductive French singing and acting celebrity was a success almost from the moment he stepped ashore. He signed a contract with Paramount and made ten films for them between 1929 and 1933. His American filmography is marked by his work with director Ernst Lubitsch, a genius of comedy. In 1934, he played in Lubitsch's screen version of the operetta, "The Merry Widow", considered today to be one of his greatest films. In Hollywood, Maurice Chevalier led the life of a star, surrounded by stars, and became one of the few Frenchman ever to become famous in America, a status he retains today.

In 1935, he signed with Metro Goldwyn Meyer, but also made a triumphant return to Paris, particularly with the female public. The euphoria of his return was punctuated by a visit to the grave of his mother, who had died in 1929. Maurice Chevalier separated with his wife, Yvonne, in 1937, shortly after meeting his new partner, the dancer, Nita Raya.

He toured and performed to full houses. In 1937, he triumphed in the revue "Paris en Joie" at the Casino de Paris, then, in 1938, in "Amours de Paris", During this period, he recorded some of his most famous songs, including "Prosper" in 35, "Ma Pomme" in 36 and "Ça fait d'excellents français" in 39, on the eve of the Second World War.

The war period remains a sensitive one in the life and career of the most famous artist of his time. Despite the French surrender in 1940 and the German occupation of half of the country, Maurice Chevalier continued to work, as did many other artists. Like many Frenchmen, Maurice Chevalier was a great admirer of Marshal Pétain, a hero of the 1914-18 War who, in 1940, became head of state of the collaborationist government in Vichy. That year, the singer took up residence in his house in Cannes with his partner, Nita Raya, a jew, and her parents. During the following year, he gave numerous concerts in the area, sometimes in villages. In September 1941, Maurice Chevalier returned to Paris to star in "Bonjour Paris", the new revue at the Casino de Paris. The show was a huge hit. He recorded certain songs, including "Ça sent si bon la France" and "la Chanson du Maçon", whose lyrics were open to favourable interpretation by the Germans. As a result, the Germans invited him to perform in Berlin, and to take part in a discussion on Radio-Paris, principal French mouthpiece of Nazi collaborationist propaganda. Maurice Chevalier refused these offers but accepted an offer by the Vichy government to go and sing at Alten Grabow, in the camp where he had been a prisoner 27 years earlier. Without receiving a fee and in exchange for the release of ten men from te Ménilmontant area of Paris, he sang in front of 3000 prisoners at the end of November.

At the beginning of 1942, he returned to his home at Bocca near Cannes, but in September he was back in Paris at the Casino for his new show, "Pour toi Paris". In 1944, he arranged a new hiding place and procured false papers for Nita Raya's parents. However, it was not until after the Americans' landing on June 6th 1944, that Maurice Chevalier's troubles began. He became a target of the cleansing committees who were identifying, amongst others, artists who had shown sympathy with or collaborated with the German occupation. Rumours concerning the singer obliged him to go into hiding for several months in order to escape the often expeditive cleansing parties. Later, defended by numerous artists and intellectuals including Marlène Dietrich and the poet Louis Aragon, Chevalier returned to Paris and even took part in a parade organised by the Communist party on October 10th 1944. The shadow over his wartime conduct seemed to have lifted, even though his image was now somewhat tarnished. In 45 he gave concerts in newly liberated Paris, but the Anglo-Saxon press remained severe towards him. The United Kingdom refused him a visa for several years to come.

In January 1945, he made his Parisian come back at the ABC. In 1946 he and Nita Raya separated and he began writing his memoirs, "Ma route mes chansons", which, a few years later, ran to ten volumes. Maurice Chevalier had always had a certain taste for writing and correspondence. After the war, he took up painting and gradually became a discerning art collector. Also in 1946, he acted in "le Silence est d'Or", directed by René Clair. In 1947, he returned to America, where he was welcomed as triumphantly as before the war. He gave numerous concerts and after more than six months on tour, returned to France in May 48.

In 1949, Maurice Chevalier was one of the signatories of the Stockholm Appeal, a petition against nuclear armament initiated by the Communist party. Of a politically fairly neutral nature, Maurice Chevalier suddenly found himself with worries in an America now hunting down anything even remotely connected to Communism. At the beginning of the Fifties, he was declared persona non grata in the United States. Unable to perform in a country which had welcomed him as a star a few years earlier, he toured instead in Canada, South America, the Middle East and Europe. Originator of the "one man show", Chevalier, now in his sixties, proved yet again his drive and talent as a stage performer in front of audiences of all nationalities and cultures.

In 1952, Maurice Chevalier acquired a vast property in the Paris suburbs, at Marne-la-Coquette, which he baptised "La Louque" in memory of his mother. It was around this time that his relationship with Janie michels, a young divorced woman with three children, began. A very independent woman and a painter, Janie Michels, strongly encouraged Chevalier's taste for art.

In 1954, Maurice Chevalier learnt that he was again authorised to enter the United States and the following year he went on an American tour, only moderately successful, and acted in several films. It was in the United States, in January 1957, that he heard of Mistinguett's death. This deeply affected him and plunged him into another period of depression. That year, film director Billy Wilder cast him in "Ariane" along with Audrey Hepburn and Gary Cooper. A big hit, the film acted as a springboard for Maurice Chevalier's return to stardom after the lean post-war years. But above all it was Vincente Minelli's "Gigi", also shot in 1957, which re-launched Chevalier as a truly international star. A musical comedy shot in Paris and Hollywood, the film is an adaptation of the novel by French author, Colette. In 1958 the film won nine Oscars, including one for Maurice Chevalier for his "contribution of more than half a century to show business."

The new momentum which the huge success of "Gigi" gave to Maurice Chevalier's career lasted until his death. The American public applauded him at numerous triumphant gala performances and rediscovered his past career. In Europe and in America he was invited to prestigious premières and functions, sometimes in the presence of heads of state. He appeared on television, was on magazine covers and dined with President Eisenhower. He became a prestigious personality in the international show business world and young artists such as Brigitte Bardot were seen in his company.

Content with his star status, he continued to work with impressive energy and enthusiasm. He made eight films between 1960 and 1963, during which he again went on a long tour of America playing to packed houses. On his return to France, he was invited to lunch by General de Gaulle.

In 1965, he took a new show "Chevalier at 77", on the road in the United States and did several gala performances in other countries, including South Africa in 1967. Then, at the end of 67, Maurice Chevalier, unable to give up working, began his "Eighty Years Tour" throughout South America, the USA, Canada and Europe.

On October 1st 1968, Maurice Chevalier made his official farewell appearance on stage at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. For three weeks the warm reception of the audiences helped him overcome his fatigue to give a serious of moving and unforgettable recitals before leaving the limelight for good on October 21st.

In 1970, he accepted to sing the title song of the Walt Disney feature cartoon "The Aristocats". He also published "Môme à cheveux blancs", the final volume of his voluminous autobiography. After a final trip to America in the autumn, he retired definitively to La Louque where he lived with his last companion, Odette Meslier. He regularly gave interviews to journalists from all over the World, and gave his last birthday party for a few close friends on September 12th 1971. Shortly afterwards, after almost a month in hospital, he died on January 1st 1972.

Emblem of a certain cliché of Frenchness, Maurice Chevalier was nevertheless one of the greatest ambassadors of French culture. His immense drive and love of performing won him world stardom. As an artist, his unique style and unmistakable voice were a major contribution to France's cultural heritage.