Complex sentence: Joseph Ira "Joe" Dassin (November 5,1938--August 20,1980) was an American singer-songwriter best known for his French songs of the 1960s and 1970s.
Split into simpler sentences: Joseph Ira "Joe" Dassin (November 5,1938--August 20,1980), an American singer-songwriter. He is best known for his French-language songs of the 1960s and 1970s.