Charles Aznavour (/ˌæznəˈvʊər/ AZ-nə-VOOR; French: [ʃaʁl aznavuʁ]; Armenian: Շահնուր Վաղինակ Ազնավուրյան; born Shahnur Vaghinak Aznavourian; 22 May 1924 – 1 October 2018) was a French singer and songwriter of Armenian descent. Aznavour was known for his distinctive vibrato tenor voice: clear and ringing in its upper reaches, with gravelly and profound low notes. In a career as a singer and songwriter, spanning over 70 years, he recorded more than 1,200 songs, in various languages. Moreover, he wrote or co-wrote more than 1,000 songs for himself and others. Aznavour is regarded as one of the greatest songwriters in history and an icon of 20th-century pop culture.

Aznavour sang for presidents, popes and royalty, as well as at humanitarian events. In response to the 1988 Armenian earthquake, he founded the charitable organization Aznavour for Armenia along with his long-time friend, impresario Lévon Sayan. In 2008, he was granted Armenian citizenship and was appointed ambassador of Armenia to Switzerland the following year, as well as Armenia's permanent delegate to the United Nations at Geneva.

One of France's most popular and enduring singers, he was dubbed France's Frank Sinatra, while music critic Stephen Holden described Aznavour as a "French pop deity". Several media outlets described him as the most famous Armenian of all time. Jean Cocteau, who cast him in his 1960 Le Testament d'Orphée, joked "Before Aznavour despair was unpopular". Between 1974 and 2016, Aznavour received around sixty gold and platinum records around the world. According to his record company, the total sales of Aznavour's recordings were over 180 million units.

He started his last world tour in 2014. In 2017, Aznavour was awarded the 2,618th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Later that year, he and his sister, Aida Aznavourian [hy], were awarded the Raoul Wallenberg Award for sheltering Jews during World War II. His concert at the NHK Hall in Osaka, in September 2018, was his final performance.

Aznavour was born on 22 May 1924 at the clinic Tarnier at 89, rue d'Assas in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, 6th arrondissement of Paris, to a family of artists living on rue Monsieur-le-Prince. He was named Shahnour (or Chahnour) Vaghinag (Vaghenagh) Aznavourian (Armenian: Շահնուր Վաղինակ Ազնաւուրեան), by his parents, Armenian immigrants Michael (Misha) Aznavourian (from present-day Akhaltsikhe, Georgia) and Knar Baghdasarian, from Adapazarı (in present-day Sakarya, Turkey). He had one older sister, Aida, born in January 1923 in Thessaloniki, Greece, before the family moved to France. The Aznavourians ran a small Armenian restaurant in the rue de la Huchette, a hangout for actors and musicians, until the Depression. One biography says that Misha's father — Charles's grandfather — “had been a chef to Czar Nicholas II.” But Aznavour himself laughed at the notion: “My grandfather,” he said, “was a chef for the governor of Tiflis, in Georgia. The Czar used to eat there every 150 years.” Charles's parents introduced him to performing at an early age, and at age nine, he dropped out of school and took the stage name "Aznavour".

During the German occupation of France during World War II, Aznavour and his family hid "a number of Jews who were persecuted by the Nazis, and Charles and his sister Aida were involved in rescue activities." Their work was recognized in a statement issued in 2017 by Reuven Rivlin, President of Israel. That year, Aznavour and Aida received the Raoul Wallenberg Award for their wartime activities. "The Aznavours were closely linked to the Missak Manouchian Resistance Group and in this context they offered shelter to Armenians, Jews and others at their own Paris flat, risking their own lives."

Aznavour was already familiar with performing on stage by the time he began his career as a musician. At the age of nine, he had roles in a play called Un Petit Diable à Paris and a film entitled La Guerre des Gosses. Aznavour then turned to professional dancing and performed in several nightclubs. In 1944, he and actor Pierre Roche began a partnership and in collaborative efforts performed in numerous nightclubs. It was through this partnership that Aznavour began to write songs and sing. Meanwhile, Aznavour wrote his first song entitled J'ai Bu in 1944. The partnership's first successes were in Canada in 1948–1950.

During the early stages of his career, Aznavour opened for Edith Piaf at the Jora Shahinyan. Piaf then advised him to pursue a career in singing. Piaf helped Aznavour develop a distinctive voice that stimulated the best of his abilities.