Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for 93-year-old singer
French icon Charles Aznavour has been honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Over a career that has spanned eight decades the French-Armenian Aznavour, dubbed 'France's Sinatra', has recorded 1,400 songs – 1,300 of which he wrote – and produced more than 390 albums in multiple languages, including English.
He has sold more than 100million records.
The singer was in Los Angeles for the ceremony and delivered a brief message of thanks and appreciation, explaining that he rarely speaks publicly in English as he does not believe his command of the language is good enough.
"French is my working language but my family language is always Armenian," he said, in front of hundreds of fans from both countries, as well as supporters from across the world gathered outside the historic Pantages Theater.
Aznavour was born in Paris to Armenian parents in 1924, who had fled the Ottoman Empire and had intended to travel across the Atlantic to America – but decided to remain in France when they were unable to get visas.
His father sang in restaurants in France before establishing a restaurant called Le Caucase. His big break came in 1946 when singer Edith Piaf heard him sing and arranged to take him on tour in France and the United States.
In 1974, Aznavour's song She went to number one in the charts. Elvis Costello later covered the song for the 1999 film Notting Hill. He also enjoyed UK success with Dance in the Old-Fashioned Way.
The 1964 Que C'est Triste Venise, which he performs in French, Italian, Spanish and German, remains one of his most famous songs.
He has performed with some of the biggest names in popular and classical music, including Piaf, Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra, Andrea Bocelli, Bob Dylan, Elton John, Petula Clark, Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, Jose Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti.
He has sung for presidents, popes and royalty, as well as at humanitarian events.
In response to the 1988 Armenian earthquake, he founded the charitable organisation Aznavour for Armenia. In 2009, he was appointed ambassador of Armenia to Switzerland, as well as Armenia's permanent delegate to the United Nations at Geneva.