Damia (1889-1978), was a French singer and actress, whose real name was Marise Damien. She is famous as an interpreter of "realistic" songs - songs about the pain and sorrow of everyday life, as opposed to songs about high-life glamour. She was assisted in this by her skill by as an actress, which enabled her to make her songs seem like real moments from a human life, rather than mere entertainment, and is sometimes compared to Billie Holiday for this reason. She was active from the 1920's until 1953, when she retired. Read more on Last.fm