Yvonne George

about

Yvonne de Knops' (b. Brussels 1896, d. Genoa 1930), better known by her stage name Yvonne George, was a Belgian singer and feminist comedian. George started her artistic career on the stage, where she befriended Jean Cocteau, but gravitated especially toward a repertoire of old songs with realist themes. Paul Franck, director of the Paris Olympia, discovered George in the 1920s in a Brussels cabaret. George debuted at the Olympia in 1922, singer her famous Nous irons à Valparaiso (We will go to Valparaiso) and Good bye Farewell. A certain high-minded section of the public did not appreciate the refrain of this song; George already achieved a polemical success, criticised by this section of the public which would be hostile to her intellectualism and emancipation throughout her career. Yvonne George moved into a ground-floor apartment in Neuilly with desirable decor, where she received many artists and men of letters. In 1924, well-known in Parisian intellectual circles as a charming singer, George became the subject of a passionate love affair with the French poet Robert Desnos, who wrote her numerous poems including the famous J'ai tant rêvé de toi (I have dreamed so much about you). Desnos initiated her into taking opium. It was in this period that Desnos also wrote his novel La Liberté ou l’Amour (Freedom or Love), a work which would be condemned for obscenity by the tribunal de la Seine. George's performance style is considered as embodying the principles of the Fren

top songs

albums

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50 Ans de Chanson

Les Grandes Vedettes Du Moulin Rouge

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Anthologie De La Chanson Francaise 1925

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Paris Blues - The French "Realist Singers" 1926- 1958

Garment of Praise

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50 ans de chanson française

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Chansons francaises de la Belle Epoque, vol. 2

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Marines

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100% rétro (1920-1945)

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1925

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Chansons francaises de la belle époque vol.2

Les Grandes Dames

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