[1][2][3] Born in Mirgorod (now Ukraine), he came to Paris shortly before the First World War and volunteered in the French army.
He then entered the Conservatoire de Paris and obtained a first prize in singing and opera.
The Opéra-Comique hired him in 1922 and two years later Maurice Corneil de Thoran invited him to Brussels, at La Monnaie to sing the title role in Werther, which made him famous.
The major institutions invited him: the Wiener Staatsoper, the Opéra Garnier, the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, the Deutsche Oper Berlin opened up to him, but he preferred to stay at the Théâtre de la Monnaie and settle permanently in Brussels.
In 1944, he sang José in Carmen at New York City Opera opposite Jennie Tourel.