Emma Saïd Ben Mohamed

Emma Saïd Ben Mohamed was a French circus performer. She was the maternal grandmother of Edith Piaf, France's national chanteuse.

Early life
Emma was born on 10 December 1876 in her parents' car, which was stationed on the rue de la Paix in Soissons, France. Her father, Saïd Ben Mohamed, an Algerian Kabyle acrobat, was born in 1827 in Mogador. Her mother, Margherita (alternatively Marguerite; née Bracco), also an acrobat, was born in 1830 in Murazzano, Italy. Saïd and Margherita were married on 4 February 1853 in Poitiers. Two of Margherita's sisters, Anna and Maria Elisabetta, also married Moroccan circus performers.

Career
In 1894, Emma married fellow circus performer Auguste Eugène Maillard, whom she met while they were touring with the circus. Her stage name at this time was Aïcha. In 1895, their daughter, Annetta Giovanna was born in Livorno. Annetta became a cabaret singer under the stage name of Line Marsa. In 1915, Annetta gave birth to a daughter, who became the French singer Édith Piaf.

Emma's husband Eugène died in 1912. Emma became the primary caregiver of her granddaughter Édith from 1915 to 1918. However Édith was a neglected child, and she was sent to her paternal grandmother in Normandy. Emma remarried in 1923 to Adolphe Louis Cornu, a hairdresser. At the beginning of the 1920s, she lost her ability to sing, and she became a cleaner.

Death
A smoker and an alcoholic, Emma died in July 1930, aged 53, of tuberculosis.

In popular culture
Emma was portrayed by Farida Amrouche in Olivier Dahan's biopic La vie en rose.