Born a free person of color in New Orleans, he was part of a family of prominent Creole composers who gained international acclaim.
After his mother's death, his father married Coralie Suzanne Orzy, also a free woman of color.
Their son Lucien-Léon Guillaume Lambert, born in Paris in 1858, became a musician and composer, more well-known than his father.
Together with the work of the violinist and composer Edmond Dédé, Lucien-Leon Lambert's compositions are considered classics of Romantic Creole music.
[4] Sometime in the 1860s, he moved his family to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he served as chief musician in Dom Pedro's court.