During the First World War her father, a civil servant, followed the Belgian government into exile, settling his family in Le Havre.
Taking the stage-name Clara Clairbert, she was considered the prima donna of opera in Brussels from the 1920s to her retirement in the 1950s.
Her performances as Violetta in La traviata, a role she reprised over 200 times, and as the eponymous heroine of Lakmé were particularly popular.
She toured regularly abroad with success, her appearances in Manon in Monte-Carlo in 1931, and in Rigoletto at the Opera Garnier in Paris in 1933, were particularly well received.
She toured the United States, performing opposite John Charles Thomas and Beniamino Gigli.