 Sylva was a pioneering recording artist for Edison Records and made many recordings for the company between 1910 and 1912.Marguerite Sylva was born Marguerite Alice Hélène Smith in Brussels, to Mathilde (Schearer) Smith and Dr. Christian Charles Louis Smith, a Belgian of English parentage who was a consulting physician to the royal court of Belgium.Both she and her sister Edith were trained in music at the Belgian Royal Conservatory.