Germaine Sablon

Germaine Berthe Sablon, known as Germaine Sabon, was born on July 19, 1899 in Le Perreux-sur-Marne into a family of musicians and composers. She was introduced to the piano and singing in her youth, and in 1915 began a career as an operetta singer, although she mainly revealed herself as an actress in numerous silent films. While motherhood forced her to give up her profession, she gave birth to two children with her first husband, before becoming the companion of writer Joseph Kessel for several years. In 1932, Germaine Sablon began writing songs, and recorded her first single in June 1936, Je Rêve Au Fil De L'Eau / Tourbillon, before making a name for herself with a number of hit songs, including "Mon Légionnaire". Composed of classic French songs, her career was once again halted when war broke out and she became involved in the fight against the Occupation. She did manage to record again, between 1941 and 1942, before unveiling her famous song "Le Chant Des Partisans " to the public for the first time in 1943, written with Joseph Kessel. A symbol of the French Resistance, with her voice accompanying enlisted soldiers, Germaine Sablon brought the struggle of her compatriots to music. At the end of the war, while she oscillated between working as a nurse in the French army and appearing in new films, her musical career gradually waned, until she retired at the end of the 1950s. Germaine Sablon went down in history as a Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur, and died on April 17, 1985 in Saint-Raphaël.