She was the last of the Paris street singers who once competed with Edith Piaf to draw the crowds.

Lily Lian, a legend of Paris working class life, has died in a hospital near the French capital.

She was a friend of stars like Maurice Chevalier and Yves Montand and was was regarded as the last exponent of a 300-year-old trade, where singers sold lyrics and sheet music for their songs on the pre-WWII Paris streets.

Lily Lian was 103.