Jenny Alpha was a Martinique-born French singer and actress who was born in 1910 in Fort-de-France. She moved to Paris in 1929 and initially intended to pursue a career in teaching before dedicating herself to the stage. Alpha began her musical career in the late 1930s as a singer and dancer, performing creole songs in cabarets such as À la Canne à Sucre. During World War II, she was active in the French Resistance alongside her husband, the writer Noël Villard. Following the war, she pursued a career as a classical actress but returned to singing jazz and bossa nova after facing limited opportunities. She performed in music-hall theaters across Europe and collaborated with artists including Duke Ellington and Josephine Baker. Her breakthrough as a serious actress occurred in 1958 with a role in the Jean Genet play Les Nègres, and she later received critical acclaim for her performance in La folie ordinaire d'une fille de Cham (1984). Her final recordings appeared on the album La sérénade du muguet (2008). Alpha appeared in more than 100 theater productions and films, including Monsieur Étienne (2005). She was named a Knight of the Legion of Honour in 2009 and died in 2010. A public square in Paris, Place Jenny Alpha, was named in her honor in 2013.
