Born in Paris in 1894, Marie Dubas was one of French music hall's most versatile and technically gifted stars, equally at home in comic patter numbers and the tragic, socially conscious repertoire of chanson réaliste. In 1936 she introduced 'Mon Légionnaire,' a Raymond Asso and Marguerite Monnot ballad about a woman mourning an anonymous soldier lover — a song a young Édith Piaf admired enough to record her own version the following year, eventually making it a career-defining standard. Dubas continued performing into the 1950s, celebrated by peers as one of the era's most complete vocal technicians.

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1936

Mon LégionnaireMarie Dubas