Leo Monosson, a crooner in Weimar Berlin

The immensely popular crooner Leo Monosson was born 1897 in Moscow, to a wealthy family. He completed his schooling in Russia and thought for some time of making a literary career. He even published a poetry book in 1918. Then he left for Warsaw, Paris and Vienna, where he studied music and singing before settling in Berlin in 1923.

Leo was fluent in more than ten languages, including Chinese and Japanese, and had an exceptional memory for lyrics and songs. He was an enormously successful performer, credited with around 1500 recordings. He was even known under pseudonyms like Leo Minor, Leo Emm, Leo Frey, Leo Moll, Leo Moon, and Leo Frank, Fred Mossner and Léon Monosson.

One of his most popular recordings was « Liebling, mein Herz lässt dich grüßen », with Ben Berlin’s orchestra.

He dubbed a number of screen actors before starting a film- career for himself. His first major role was in the hugely successful comedy “Die Drei von der Tankstelle” (The Three from the Filling Station) from 1930, where he sings the leading theme of the production: « Ein Freund, ein guter Freund » as well as «Halloh ! Du süsse Frau». Both can be heard in Youtube. 

As Léon Monosson, he made some recordings in France with the great guitar player Django Reinhardt. 

He starred in 11 major films before he was forced to emigrate. When the Nazis came to power, Leo, as a Jew, was forbidden to record or perform and so had no choice but to leave for France. But when he in 1940 had to leave Europe altogether, his career came to an end.  He died in 1967 and he is buried near New York.

Lilian Harvey and Willy Fritsch in "Die 3 von der Tankstelle"