The conductor known as Jacques Hélian, whose real name was Jacques Mikaël Der
Mikaëlian, was born in Paris on June 7, 1912. The son of an Armenian man and a
French woman, he gave up his studies to study saxophone with his brother-in-law
Raymond Legrand, and made his debut in Roland Dorsay's orchestra, which gave him
his stage name Jacques Hélian. He joined Raymond Legrand's orchestra
(1934-1936), then Jo Bouillon's, before joining Ray Ventura's Collégiens in
1936. Released from military service in 1938, Jacques Hélian began performing
and recording under his own name when the Sec...