His father encouraged him to take vocal training, which he began after having broken an arm during a match.
[2] Roux studied at the Bordeaux Conservatoire and in Paris, making his operatic debut on 5 October 1949 in Lakmé at the Opéra-Comique, going on to sing in Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Manon and Pelléas and Mélisande, creating l'Aveugle in Madame Bovary in 1951, and remaining a principal singer there until 1955.
From 1956 to 1970 Roux sang annually at Glyndebourne, making his debut as Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro.
His American debut was at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1959; he also appeared at the Vienna Staatsoper and the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, as well as in Amsterdam, Brussels, and Lisbon.
[4] In 1983 he took the title role in a revival of Christiné's Phi-Phi at the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens.