Yvonne George

Yvonne de Knops, known professionally as Yvonne George, and born in Brussels, Belgium, in 1896, was a singer, feminist, and actress. She began her artistic career on stage before focusing on a repertoire of old songs with realist themes. In the 1920s, Paul Franck, director of the Paris Olympia, discovered George in a Brussels cabaret and she debuted at the Olympia in 1922, performing "Nous irons à Valparaiso" and "Good bye Farewell". Her performance style embodied the principles of French realist song. In 1924, she became involved with poet Robert Desnos, who wrote numerous poems for her, including the famous "J'ai tant rêvé de toi". Despite a small public legacy, her musical repertoire contained around 200 songs, though only 16 recordings survive today. George's troubled lifestyle and drug habits led to her death from tuberculosis in Genoa on April 22, 1930 at the age of 33.