Warner Music and the rights holders of French singer Edith Piaf (1915-1963) have announced that they are working on a biographical film about the artist, which will utilize artificial intelligence to recreate her voice and image.
The project is in its final stages of development and is based on internal footage, according to sources at Warner Music France.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the disappearance of the singer of “Non, je ne regrette rien”.
Earlier this month, a new Beatles song was released, using an old analog tape with John Lennon’s voice.
Other projects, such as a recent duet featuring the voices of Drake and The Weeknd, have faced opposition from musicians due to lack of consent.
AI and Edith Piaf
The Beatles’ song “Now and Then” originated from a demo recorded by John Lennon in his New York apartment in the late 1970s.
After his assassination in 1980, Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono handed over the tape, featuring his voice and piano, to the other members of the group in 1994.
AI technology allowed for the isolation of Lennon’s voice and its blending with recordings of the other musicians, including George Harrison before his death in 2001.
For Edith Piaf, the AI technology will be “trained with hundreds of vocal and image clips, some of which are over 80 years old. Furthermore, it will bring back Piaf’s distinctive voice and image to enhance the authenticity and emotional impact of her story,” according to the statement.
“OF COURSE, RECORDINGS OF EDITH PIAF’S MOST IMPORTANT SONGS IN THEIR ORIGINAL VERSION WILL BE USED.”
This 90-minute film “will be set in Paris and New York between the 1920s and 1960s” and will be “narrated by Piaf’s voice, revealing previously unknown aspects of her life,” the statement explains.
