In 1910, it was discovered he had a tenor voice, and he went to the Conservatoire de Paris to study singing with noted baritone Léon Melchissédec.
His operatic debut, postponed by illness and World War I was as Spakos in the first French performance of Jules Massenet's Cléopâtre at the Théâtre Lyrique du Vaudeville.
Friant had a wide repertory, including the title role in Henri Rabaud's Marouf, Le Chevalier des Grieux in Manon, Gérald in Lakmé, Jean in Le jongleur de Notre Dame (another signature role), Canio in Pagliacci, Cavaradossi in Tosca, and Don José in Carmen.
He sang in the premieres of Le roi Candaule by Alfred Bruneau (as Gygès); and Le Bon Roi Dagobert (as Dagobert), La Hulla (as Narsès), Deux sous de fleurs by Ralph Benatzky, Mandrin by Joseph Szulc (as Antoine), and the title role in Tarass-Boulba by Marcel Louis Auguste Samuel-Rousseau.
His final performance was at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo on 2 February 1946 in Carmen in the supporting role of Le Dancaïre.
Due to his training Friant possessed not only an expressive voice but also a ballet dancer's movement and an actor's sense of gesture.
In a review of some of his recordings, William Ashbrook wrote: "For those who think singing is all beautifully rounded tones, Friant will never make the top twenty, but for listeners who respond to deeply felt dramatic expression he will always be regarded as a cherishable artist".