Régine Zylberberg

Zylberberg was born in Etterbeek,[1] Belgium, to Polish Jewish parents.[2] and spent much of her early life in hiding from the Nazis in occupied wartime France. After the war, Régine became a torch singer and by 1953 was a nightclub manager in Paris. She is attributed with the invention of the modern-day discothèque, by virtue of creating a new dynamic atmosphere at Paris' Whisky à Gogo, with the ubiquitous jukebox replaced by disc jockeys utilising linked turntables.[3]

In 1957, she opened Chez Régine in the Latin Quarter, which became the place to be seen for playboys and princes. As Zylberberg's celebrity expanded she established other venues under the name Chez Régine's in London, New York, Monte Carlo and elsewhere. These were ultra-selective venues in prime urban locations, all featuring her signature "disco-style" layout. Zylberberg's Paris Whisky à Gogo became the inspiration for the later establishment of the Whisky a Go Go nightclub in Los Angeles.[3] Her two attempts at opening clubs in London both failed within months and she blamed this on what she called the British "lack of style". She also established Jimmy'z, a nightclub in Monaco, in 1974.[4]

In the 1970s, Zylberberg moved to New York and lived in a suite of the Delmonico Hotel where she opened one of her clubs on the ground floor of the hotel. The club served food under the direction of French chef Michel Guerard.[5] At this time there were 25 clubs bearing her name across three continents and it was said that one could party at a Zylberberg's somewhere in the world 17 hours out of every 24. She renovated the Kensington Roof gardens above Barkers and turned it into a nightclub named "Régine's". In the 1970s, she designed a line of "Ready-to-Dance" evening clothes which were proof against wrinkling and so could be packed, which were sold at Bloomingdale's.[5] In 1988, she was in charge of the Ledoyen Restaurant on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.[6]

On 22 April 1996, Zylberberg and her son were arrested for refusing to comply with crew requests and smoking on an American Airlines flight. It was alleged that, though she was travelling economy, Régine had demanded a first class upgrade, which the airline declined.[7][8] In June 2011, she appeared as Solange in Follies at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. She lives with her husband in Saint-Tropez. She has one son, Lionel, from her first husband Leon Rothcage, whom she married when she was 16.[5]