Bonjour James,
Le Passé Simple is nearly exclusively used in literature or written work such as novels, work relating the life of a late person (which is the case here).
When talking about when and where someone was born, you would use Le Passé Composé most of the time. You then switched to Le Passé Simple to talk about what they did / achieved - in a written work / in literature - as they are events that happened once with no connection to the present. In spoken French though, Le Passé Composé would be used nowadays (such as a eulogy for example). Both tenses refer to a completed one-time action in the past though - with Le Passé Composé relating events that are closer to the present.
I hope this is useful
