French singer of Armenian origin Charles Aznavour has died aged 94, AFP reported quoting spokeswoman.

Charles Aznavour died in his house in the south of France. Earlier he was on a tour to Japan.

Charles Aznavour (born Shahnour Vaghinag Aznavourian) was born on May 22, 1924 in the family of Armenian migrants.

Charles's parents introduced him to performing at an early age, and he dropped out of school aged nine, taking the stage name "Aznavour".

He started writing sons in early 40s. During the early stages of his career, Aznavour opened for Edith Piaf at the Moulin Rouge. Piaf then advised Aznavour to pursue a career in singing. Piaf helped Aznavour develop a distinctive voice that stimulated the best of his abilities.

In 1950 he emigrated to Canada and started singing as “Charles Aznavour”. He sold 180 million records during his lifetime.

In 1988, after the Spitak earthquake that claimed thousands of lives, Charles Aznavour founded the Aznavour pour l'Arménie (Aznavour for Armenia) charitable association and organized several actions to help the victims. For one of the actions, he invited Henri Verneuil and 90 other French singers and actors, in collaboration with which he recorded the song “For you, Armenia”.

In November 2000, chansonnier was appointed Minister of Culture of France

On December 26, 2008, Aznavour was granted the citizenship of Armenia.

On May 6, 2009, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan appointed Charles Aznavour as Armenian Ambassador to Switzerland, Permanent Representative of the Republic to the UN Office in Geneva.

In 2001 Charles Aznavour square was opened in Yerevan, and in 2009 House Museum of Charles Aznavour was founded in Yerevan.

Aznavour had a long and varied parallel career as an actor, appearing in over 80 films and TV movies.

Aznavour was married three times, to Micheline Rugel (1946), Evelyn Plessis (1956) and current wife Ulla Thorsell (1967). Six children were produced by these marriages: Séda, Charles, Patrick, Katia, Mischa, and Nicolas.