Jean Gilbert (birthname - Max Winterfeld) was born on 11 February 1879 in Hamburg into a family of musicians, some whom were cantors in Hamburg’s Jewish community. Gilbert studied composition under Philipp Scharwenka (1847–1917) in Berlin and continued his education at the conservatories in Sondershausen and Weimar. At 18, he made his first public appearances as a pianist, eventually securing a position as Kapellmeister in Bremerhaven. Shortly after, he moved to Hamburg and took on the role of musical director at the Centralhalle Theatre.

   He adopted the name of ‘Jean Gilbert’ at the release of his first of his first operetta Das Jungfernstift in 1901. He began to work as a Kapellmeister at the Berlin Apollo-Theatre, where he conducted operettas by composer Paul Lincke (1866-1946). In 1908, Gilbert moved to Düsseldorf and returned to composing. In 1910, he moved back to Berlin where composed more than 50 operettas before and after World War I. His most successful work was Die keusche Susanne (La Chaste Suzanne) (1910), which was also popular in an English adaptation as The Girl in the Taxi.

   In 1933, after the Nazis seized power, Jean Gilbert was forced to leave Germany due to the increasing restrictions on Jewish people. He initially emigrated to Madrid and later settled in Argentina, where he worked as a radio orchestra leader. He passed away on 20 December 1942 in Buenos Aires.

   Gilbert's elder son, Robert Gilbert (1899–1978), also became a composer, while his younger son, Henry Winterfeld (1901–1990), gained recognition as a popular author of books for young readers.