Gilbert Bécaud was a French singer, composer, pianist and actor born in Toulon, France. He learned to play the piano at a young age and attended the Conservatoire de Nice, then left school in 1942 to join the French Resistance during World War II. After the war he began songwriting and was part of the successful Bizet, Bécaud and Vidalin trio for a couple of years.

Bécaud began singing at the suggestion of France’s national chanteuse Édith Piaf, recording several hits. His first hit in the English-speaking world was Jane Morgan's cover version of "Le Jour où la Pluie Viendra". He began acting in the same period and in 1960 won a Grand Prix du Disque. He wrote and recorded "Et Maintenant", one of the biggest selling singles in French history. Translated as "What Now My Love", the song became a hit by Shirley Bassey, Sonny & Cher, Elvis Presley, Judy Garland, Andy Williams, Herb Alpert and Frank Sinatra. and the next year premiered his two-act opera at the Théâtre des Champs-Élisées, then recorded a string of pop-music hits.

In 1974 he was named Chevalier in the Legion d’honneur. In 1982, he recorded the duet "L'Amour est mort" with Québécoise singer Martine St. Clair, but the 1980s and 1990s saw a slowdown of Bécaud's activity. He died from lung cancer, aged 74 on his houseboat on the Seine. His song catalogue of some 450 songs is published by BMG Music Publishing.

Soprano saxophonist, clarinetist and composer Sidney Bechet was one of the most important soloists of early jazz. Together with Louis Armstrong, he was the first to develop the loose, fluid rhythmic style that set jazz apart from ragtime and that came to be known as “swinging.”
Sidney Joseph Bechet was born to a middle-class Creole family in New Orleans. He began playing clarinet at age six, and studied briefly with legendary early New Orleans clarinetists but was mostly self-taught. When he left New Orleans for Chicago at age 20, Bechet had played with nearly every major figure in early jazz.
In 1919, composer and conductor Will Marion Cook asked Bechet to join his Southern Syncopated Orchestra on a tour of Europe. They were warmly received at the Royal Philharmonic Hall and Bechet was especially popular. Bechet purchased a soprano saxophone in London, which soon became his primary instrument, although he continued to play clarinet as well. His saxophone sound could be described as emotional, reckless, and large. He often used a broad vibrato, similar to what was common among some New Orleans clarinetists at the time.
Bechet made his first recordings in 1923 and 1924 with Clarence Williams’ Blue Five, which also featured Louis Armstrong and are among the most remarkable recordings in early jazz. He worked for three months in 1924 with Duke Ellington, making a powerful impression that had important impact on the early Ellington style. After a period of extensive travel throughout the U.S.A. and Europe, Bechet fell into obscurity in the 1930s, as musical styles and tastes began to change. New Orleans music experienced a revival in 1939, and Bechet was recognized as one of the great trailblazers of the music. In an RCA Victor recording he experimented in overdubbing playing six different instruments: clarinet, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, piano, bass, and drums. He began recording extensively again, and in 1949 returned to Europe to great acclaim. He settled permanently in Paris in 1951, becoming a much-revered national hero, where he died on his sixty-second birthday.

The family of Mr. and Mrs. John Beck lived at 258 Kenaston Ave., Town of Mount Royal, QC, Canada in 1969-1971.

Born at Marimont in Alsace, Jean Robert Beck emigrated to the United States in 1928. He received his B.A. from Miami University in 1931, and his M.A. from Stanford in 1933. He taught in Utah, at Stanford, and in Chicago before coming to McGill in 1938 as sessional lecturer in German, a position he held until 1941.