Souzay is a graduate of the Paris Conservatoire and a student of Pierre Bernac. He has been a beloved singer of chanson and lieder throughout a long career. Though he has sung some opera (most notably Golaud in Debussy's Pelléas) he has been a recitalist par excellence.

As a very young man he signed with Decca in the early days of tape recording and LP discs. His were some of the first recordings of French chanson and German lieder to be distributed worldwide in the new long-playing format. It was only after establishing himself as a concert singer that he took to the opera stage in 1960.

His recording career continued apace with many new recordings on the Philips label, most notably a series of superb individual discs of Schubert lieder and of course his beloved Debussy, Ravel and Fauré.

His is a voice of unusually fine cultivation and diction, essential to the world of song. He once remarked that to learn how to pronounce the letter 'c' he took a series of lessons with the famous French singer Claire Croiza!