[4] He learned to play piano[5] and studied music at a conservatory for two months,[6] during which he and several classmates formed a jazz band, which performed at the school and at public venues.

[7] In 1950, while enrolled in medical school, Perrey heard inventor Georges Jenny playing and promoting his homemade Ondioline on a French radio show.

[8][9] "With the audacity of youth [Perrey] phoned the radio station and requested Georges Jenny's telephone number, which he was duly given," wrote music historian Mark Brend.

[13] After earning substantial commissions on sales made during a trip to Sweden (during which he performed on TV), Perrey quit medical school and devoted his career to electronic music.

[12] In 1951, singer/composer Charles Trenet heard about the Ondioline and requested a demonstration of the instrument by Perrey, who at the time was traveling to promote the new device.

[15] "My collaboration with [Trenet] lasted a year," said Perrey, "during which I was able to meet other great artists and singers such as Yves Montand and Jacques Brel.

I made my debut on radio and French television, not only as an accompanist of great singing stars, but also performing my own musical act.

Perrey explained: Thanks to the Ondioline, I could imitate instruments from around the world, such as bagpipes from Scotland, American banjo, Gypsy violin, soprano voice, Indian sitar, and so on.

[4] "I had the good fortune of meeting scientists who were interested in the possibilities of using electronic sound for psycho-medical purposes," Perrey later recalled.

[17] That same year, composer Paul Durand hired Perrey to provide Ondioline accompaniment for the main theme of the French-Italian tragi-comedic film La Vache et le Prisonnier (The Cow and the Prisoner), which starred French actor-singer Fernandel.

[18] At the Studio of Contemporary Music Research in France, Perrey met Pierre Schaeffer, who had pioneered the avant-garde sound art form known as musique concrète.

[19] Around this time he performed at the Olympia Theater in Paris accompanying France's most acclaimed chanteuse, Edith Piaf, who became an enthusiastic proponent of Perrey's musical gifts.

There was no note enclosed – only a round-trip plane ticket with an open return date, plus one word written in big felt-tip pen on the envelope: “COME!” Thus began the fairy tale.

[23] Perrey made his U.S. television debut on Tonight Starring Jack Paar; he also appeared on The Garry Moore Show, I've Got a Secret, and Captain Kangaroo.

[15] Perrey composed jingles for radio and television,[24] sometimes in partnership with Harry Breuer and Angelo Badalementi (working under the name "Andy Badale").

[15] In 1962 Perrey issued the LP Musique Electronique du Cosmos (Electronic Music from Outer Space), in collaboration with Sam Fiedel and Harry Breuer, on the MusiCues label.

[20] In 1996, after a decade of inactivity because of his mother's passing, Perrey began working occasionally with electropop musician/composer David Chazam;[32] a collection of previously unreleased collaborative works, ELA, recorded over a number of years and at various locations,[32] was independently issued by Chazam in May 2015; it was the final album of new Perrey material released during his lifetime.

[27] In 1997 Perrey collaborated with the band Air on the tracks "Remember" (on the album Moon Safari) and "Cosmic Bird" (on the various artists compilation Source Lab 3 Y).

[34] In 1999 he composed and recorded "The Groovy Leprechauns" for a thematic compilation album At Home with the Groovebox, issued on the Beastie Boys' Grand Royal label.

AllMusic reviewer John Bush observed that Perrey "uncannily conjures the rather eerie ghosts of musique concrète's past, while Vibert anchors them with expert productions.

The tracks are ... the 21st century equivalent of Perrey-Kingsley's vision of lock-solid arrangements accompanied by the far-out sound of the Moog as a lead voice.

[27] In 2009 Gilles Weinzaepflen produced a film documentary, titled Prélude au Sommeil, about Perrey's life and work.

[43] De Backer also began purchasing existing Ondiolines, undertaking their restoration (with technical help from Stephen Masucci),[44] and learning how to play the instrument.