Renée Lebas

Renée Lebas created a number of hits in the 1940s, and went on to interpret many of the world's greatest songwriters. Born in Paris on April 23, 1917 to Romanian-Jewish parents, Renée Lieben grew up in the Bastille district and worked in various trades before winning the singing competition organized by Radio-Cité in 1937. After her debut in the cabaret La Conga and a first record in 1939, she signed with the Pathé label the following year. She fled Paris for Cannes with pianist Michel Emer, who wrote her "D'l'autre côté d'la rue " and "L'Accordéoniste". In 1942, her father and younger sister were caught up in the Vel' d'hiv roundup and deported to the Auschwitz camp. Renée Lebas went to Switzerland and sang on Radio-Sottens. She created the songs "Insensiblement" by Paul Misraki, "14 juillet" by Jean Villard alias Gilles and "Exil" by François Reichenbach. Returning to Paris after the Liberation, the singer performed at the ABC and Théâtre de l'Étoile in 1946, then at the Européen, Alhambra and Bobino. She enjoyed a string of successes over the next fifteen years, surrounded by great songwriters and renowned orchestras such as those of Norbert Glanzberg and Wal-Berg. In 1946, Emil Stern and Eddy Marnay offered her the classic "Où es-tu mon amour?", followed by Charles Trenet's "La Mer", Léo Ferré's "Elle tourne... la Terre" and songs by Charles Aznavour, Jacques Brel, Boris Vian, Francis Lemarque and her friend Francis Carco, to whom she dedicated an entire album in 1953. In 1956, she was the first to evoke the Holocaust in Stern and Marnay's "La Fontaine endormie". In 1963, Renée Lebas retired from the stage to devote herself to artistic production alongside Régine, Serge Lama and Maurice Vander. She founded the production and distribution company Cap Films before retiring. On December 18, 2009, Renée Lebas died at the Michel-Ange Hospital (Paris), aged 92.