Claude Nougaro

Widely regarded as the singer who fused the traditions of the French chanson with the energy and verve of American jazz, Claude Nougaro was born in Toulouse on September 9, 1929. The son of an opera singer and a piano teacher, he was raised largely by his grandparents, devouring not only classical music but also the homegrown pop of Charles Trenet and Edith Piaf, and the American swing of Louis Armstrong and Glenn Miller broadcast via Radio-Toulouse. Despite his love of the arts, Nougaro never learned to read music or play an instrument, and in 1947, he briefly worked as a jou...