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Georges Brassens (pronounced [ʒɔʁʒ bʁaˈsɛ̃s] in French) (October 22, 1921 - October 29, 1981) was a French acoustic singer and songwriter. Georges Brassens was born in Sète (then called Cette), in southern France, thirty-six kilometers south of Montpellier. Now an iconic figure in France, he achieved fame through his simple, elegant songs and articulate, diverse lyrics; indeed, he is considered one of France's best postwar poets, and won the national poetry prize. He also set to music poems by many well-known and relatively obscure poets, including Louis Aragon (Il n'y a pas d'amour heureux), Victor Hugo, Jean Richepin, François Villon, Guillaume Apollinaire and others. During World War II, he was forced to work at a labour camp by the Germans at an aircraft engine plant of BMW in the Service du Travail Obligatoire, (STO, enforced labour), in Basdorf near Berlin in Germany (March 1943). There were many other celebrities, and celebrities to be, at the camp. [ citation needed ] Here Brassens met some of his future friends, such as Pierre Onteniente, whom he called Gibraltar because the latter was "steady as a rock." They would become the closest of friends. After being given ten days' leave in France, he decided not to go back to the labour camp. Brassens took refuge in a little slum called "Impasse Florimont" where he lived for several years with the owner of the place, Jeanne Planche, a friend of his aunt. Jeanne lived with her husband Marcel in a dead end street without gas, running water or electricity. He remained hidden there until the end of the war five months later, but ended up staying for 22 years. Planche was the inspiration for Brassens's song Jeanne.
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