{"id":52030,"date":"2014-05-06T16:20:11","date_gmt":"2014-05-06T14:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iemj.org\/lebas-renee-1917-2009\/"},"modified":"2025-09-01T12:07:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T10:07:15","slug":"lebas-renee-1917-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iemj.org\/en\/lebas-renee-1917-2009\/","title":{"rendered":"Lebas, Ren\u00e9e (1917-2009)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Born in Paris on April 23rd, 1917, Ren\u00e9e Lebas (born Leiba) lived with her parents, Romanian Jewish immigrants in France, and her younger sister in the Bastille neighborhood. At the end of the 1930\u2019s, she became friends with Nathan Korb, leter known as Francis Lemarque.
Until 1937, she had several different professions, typewriter, dancer, journalist, before winning a radio contest organized by Radio-Cit\u00e9. She then started her career as a singer at the La Conga cabaret, street of La Fontaine where she would meet Raymond Asso. She recorded her first disc in 1939 and signed a contract with Path\u00e9 Records in May 1940.<\/p>\n

In June 1940, forbidden by the Nazis, she left for the free zone where she performed in Cannes in 1941, accompanied on stage by the pianist Michel Emer. He wrote for her the song\u00a0D\u2019l\u2019autre c\u00f4t\u00e9 de la rue<\/em>\u00a0and Paul Misraki suggested to her to create the song\u00a0Insensiblement<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Ren\u00e9e
Ren\u00e9e Lebas – Pleyel 1954<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In July 1942, her younger sister and her father are taken into the Vel\u2019 d\u2019Hiv Roundup. Following the advice of Francis Carco, she leat and got refuge in Lausanne in Switzerland.
She recorded in 1942 the song\u00a0Insensiblement<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0D\u2019l\u2019autre c\u00f4t\u00e9 de la rue<\/em>\u00a0which were broadcasted on the Swiss Roman radio. In 1943, she recorded the song\u00a014 juillet\u00a0<\/em>by the famous anti-Nazi composer Gilles Jean-Vilard and the song\u00a0Exil<\/em>\u00a0written by Fran\u00e7ois Reichenbach who was also a refugee in Switzerland.<\/p>\n

At the Liberation, she came back to Paris and she became the first singer to record a disc in the Parisian studios. She decided to perform on stage: at the \u2019ABC and at the Th\u00e9\u00e2tre de l\u2019\u00c9toile in 1946, the Europ\u00e9en, the Alhambra and in Bobino.<\/p>\n

\"Ren\u00e9e
Ren\u00e9e Lebas Signed Photo<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Elle started seeing great authors and composers, among whom Norbert Glanzberg and Wal-Berg, as well as Emil Stern who would written for her in 1946 the song\u00a0O\u00f9 es-tu mon amour ?<\/em>\u00a0(with lyrics by Eddy Marnay). The same authors and composers wrote for her the other song\u00a0La Fontaine de Varsovie<\/em>\u00a0which deals with the Holocaust.
Elle cr\u00e9e La Mer<\/em> de Charles Trenet fin 1945, avec Roland Gerbeau. De L\u00e9o Ferr\u00e9, encore inconnu en 1948, elle enregistre Elle tourne\u2026 la Terre<\/em>. Elle chante Charles Aznavour, Jacques Brel, Francis Carco, Francis Lemarque.<\/p>\n

She created La Mer<\/em>\u00a0performed by Charles Trenet at the end of 1945, with Roland Gerbeau. By L\u00e9o Ferr\u00e9, who was still unknown in 1948, she recorded\u00a0Elle tourne\u2026 la Terre<\/em>. She sans songs by Charles Aznavour, Jacques Brel, Francis Carco, Francis Lemarque, Boris Vian. In the 1950\u2019s, she sang\u00a0Garde l\u2019Esp\u00e9rance<\/em>\u00a0on the melody of the Hatikva, the anthem of the State of Israel. She recorded the song\u00a0Trois fois merci<\/em>\u00a0which wasn\u2019t successful, but Jacqueline Fran\u00e7ois repaired the damage, recorded the song and makes it a hit ! She performed her last concert in 1963 and decided to dedicate herself to the producing of singers, such as R\u00e9gine, Serge Lama and Tereza Kesovija.<\/p>\n

She passed away on December 18, 2009, in the Michel-Ange hospital in Paris and was buried on December 21 in the Montparnasse cemetery.<\/p>\n

Browse our archives on Ren\u00e9e Lebas<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

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