Georges Moustaki, an Egyptian-born composer, singer and poet who wrote songs for Edith Piaf and other French stars, has died aged 79.

He died at his home in Nice overnight after a long illness, said Marie-Ange Mirande of Moustaki’s Paris-based production house. A memorial ceremony is planned for Monday at the famed Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris.

Tributes poured in from France’s political and cultural leaders for Moustaki. Among songs he wrote for Piaf was Milord.

Moustaki told French radio RTL in December that he wanted to be buried in Alexandria, Egypt, where he was born in 1934, and where “there is a cemetery that is the cemetery of free thinkers, and it is there that I want to rest for eternity”.