French singer Charles Aznavour died in his bath of natural causes caused by heart and breathing difficulties, an autopsy has found, as tributes continued to pour in Tuesday for the legendary crooner.
Aznavour, 94, was found dead on Monday at his home in the southeast, sparking mourning across France for one of the country’s best known entertainers who sold 180 million records during his eight-decade career.
Aznavour was discovered Monday lunchtime “lying in his bathroom bathtub, next to his bedroom,” prosecutor Patrick Desjardins told reporters near his home in the town of Mouries.
An autopsy, carried out in the southern city of Nimes, found the death “occurred in the morning of October 1, in the wake of acute oedema caused by cardiorespiratory failure,” Desjardins said.
“Foul play can be ruled out, but the circumstances surrounding the death are not precisely known.”
The body has been returned to his family.
Aznavour, who had just returned from a concert tour in Japan, had said last week that he wanted to breathe his last on stage.
The Eiffel tower was lit up in gold Monday night in his honour, while global artists such as Sting and Lenny Kravitz also lauded the “eternal” influence of the “gentleman” of French singing.
– Eiffel Tower tribute –
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo called for the capital to rename a street after him and had a giant screen set up on a bridge over the Seine river to show photographs of the artist.
French newspapers Tuesday splashed the singer on their front pages, with a number praising him as the “last of the giants”.
Aznavour, sometimes described as a French Frank Sinatra, was born to Armenian parents who fled massacres in their homeland as the Ottoman empire collapsed.
He was due to accompany French President Emmanuel Macron to a summit of francophone countries in Armenia on October 10 and 11
A giant screen showing Aznavour was also set up in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, while radio and television broadcast his songs and life story.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said a “national day of mourning” would be organised in Armenia on the day the funeral takes place in France.
French politicians, including former president Francois Hollande, Tuesday called for a national ceremony, but officials were expected to check his family’s wishes.
Hundreds of thousands of people lined the streets of Paris in December for the funeral and national homage for another post-war French singer, Johnny Hallyday.
Aznavour, who was three-times married, leaves a wife, Ulla, and five surviving children.
