Jean Cussac (born 31 May 1922) is a French

baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...

and

music director A music director, musical director or director of music is a person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert ...

Biography

Born in Paris, Jean Cussac studied lyrical singing at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...

, and subsequently turned to jazz and joined

The Swingle Singers The Swingles are an a cappella vocal group. The Swingle Singers were originally formed in 1962 in Paris under the leadership of Ward Swingle. In 1973, Swingle disbanded the French group, and formed an English group known initially as Swingle I ...

at their creation in 1962, alongside , Jeanette Beaucomont,

Christiane Legrand Christiane Legrand (21 August 1930 – 1 November 2011) was a French soprano singer. Biography Legrand was born in Paris. Her father Raymond Legrand was a conductor and composer renowned for hits such as ''Irma la douce'', and her moth ...

, , Claude and José Germain. Together, they recorded many albums and received several awards including the

Grammy Award for Best New Artist The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since the 2nd Annual Grammy Awards in 1960 (except in 1967) "for a new artist who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording which establishes the public identity of that art ...

in 1964 and the ''Grand Prix du disque'' of the

Académie Charles-Cros An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

. Also in 1964, he was chosen to be the singing voice of the prince during the redubbing of ''

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White" is a German fairy tale, first written down in the early 19th century. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', numbered as Tale 53. The original title was ''Sneewittch ...

''. After this, he worked regularly with

Walt Disney Pictures Walt Disney Pictures is an American film Film production company, production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios (division), the Walt Disney Studios, a division of Disney Entertainment, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company. The st ...

as a singer. His contributions included ''

One Hundred and One Dalmatians ''One Hundred and One Dalmatians'' (also known as ''101 Dalmatians'') is a 1961 American Animated film, animated adventure film, adventure comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions with distribution by Buena Vista Distribution. Adapted fr ...

'', '' The Sword in the Stone'', ''

Mary Poppins Mary Poppins may refer to: * Mary Poppins (character), a nanny with magical powers * Mary Poppins (franchise), based on the fictional nanny ** Mary Poppins (book series), ''Mary Poppins'' (book series), the original 1934–1988 children's fanta ...

'', ''

The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' is an 1894 collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, who ...

'' and ''

Pinocchio Pinocchio ( , ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the children's novel, ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'' (1883) by Italian writer Carlo Collodi of Florence, Tuscany. Pinocchio was carved by a poor man named Geppetto in a Tuscan vil ...

''. He also worked as musical director on ''

Dumbo ''Dumbo'' is a 1941 American Animated film, animated Musical film, musical Fantasy film, fantasy Comedy drama, comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film i ...

'', ''

The Fox and the Hound ''The Fox and the Hound'' is a 1981 American animated buddy drama film produced by Walt Disney Productions and loosely based on the 1967 novel of the same name by Daniel P. Mannix. It tells the story of the unlikely friendship between a r ...

'', ''

The Great Mouse Detective ''The Great Mouse Detective'' (released as ''Basil the Great Mouse Detective'' in some countries and ''The Adventures of the Great Mouse Detective'' during its 1992 re-release) is a 1986 American animated mystery adventure film produced by W ...

'', ''

Lady and the Tramp ''Lady and the Tramp'' is a 1955 American Animated film, animated Musical film, musical romantic comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Film Distribution. Based on Ward Greene's 1945 ''Cosmopolitan (magazine) ...

'', which provided an opportunity for him to continue working with his Swingle partners. As music director, he supervised ''

The Secret of NIMH ''The Secret of NIMH'' is a 1982 American animated Fantasy film, fantasy adventure film directed by Don Bluth in his directorial debut and based on Robert C. O'Brien (author), Robert C. O'Brien's children's novel, ''Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of N ...

'' (1982), '' Annie'' and ''

An American Tail ''An American Tail'' is a 1986 American animated musical adventure comedy-drama film directed by Don Bluth and written by Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss from a story by David Kirschner, Freudberg and Geiss. The film stars the voices of Phi ...

'' (1986) and others. He also took part in the recording of songs from French films such as ''

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg ''The Umbrellas of Cherbourg'' () is a 1964 musical romantic drama film written and directed by Jacques Demy, with music by Michel Legrand. Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo star as two young lovers in the French city of Cherbourg, separate ...

'' (1964) and ' (1973) and to albums such as '' L'Aigle noir'' by Barbara (1970) and '' Les Chansons de Sylvain et Sylvette''. He also continued his recording career, including the Coronation Mass by Mozart, ''Les Malheurs d'Orphée'' by

Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud (, ; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His composition ...

alongside , , Jacqueline Brumaire, Bernard Demigny and André Vessières. He was also

Kapellmeister ( , , ), from German (chapel) and (master), literally "master of the chapel choir", designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term has evolved considerably in i ...

Les Invalides The Hôtel des Invalides (; ), commonly called (; ), is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and an old soldi ...

church in Paris. Cussac celebrated his 100th birthday in 2022 in a retirement home in

Gujan-Mestras Gujan-Mestras (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Gironde Departments of France, department in southwestern France. It is twinned with Santa María de Cayón, Spain Population Geography Gujan-Mestras is located in the southern part o ...

References

External links

Portrait
in ''La Gazette du doublage''
archived
* 1922 births Living people Musicians from Paris 20th-century French male singers French choral conductors French male conductors (music) French operatic baritones Conservatoire de Paris alumni 20th-century French conductors (music) 21st-century French conductors (music) The Swingle Singers members French men centenarians {{France-singer-stub