Born Jeanne-Marie Berthier, she originally studied piano and planned a career as concert pianist but soon turned to singing, making her professional debut some time in 1898 at the small Théâtre de la Bodinière in the Rue Saint-Lazare in a concert to celebrate the poet Paul Verlaine.

[2] She became celebrated for her performance of Ravel's song cycle Shéhérazade and gave the premières of his Histoires naturelles (of which she was the dedicatee) and of his Chansons madécasses.

[2] In the early 1920s she played an important role in the propagation of new music of this period,[3] especially by some of the members of Les Six, giving many first performances of their works and those of others.

[2] During the German occupation of France in the Second World War she made Buenos Aires her home.

After her return to France she taught singing, and gave frequent talks for French radio.