Pascal Obispo

Singer, songwriter and composer Pascal Obispo - the smiley, shaven-headed star who has become a firm favourite with French music fans - likes to keep a relatively low media profile. However, the singer enjoys dabbling in French show-biz circles every now and then, hanging out with his "good mates" Zazie and Florent Pagny. Obispo's life is not all glitz and glamour though. Indeed, he has proved himself to be a staunch defender of worthy causes, performing fund-raising concerts for AIDS sufferers and charities such as "Les Restos du coeur". The multi-talented performer recently added a new string to his bow too, penning his own stage musical about The Ten Commandments! Take it from us, whatever activity this musical Midas touches on generally turns to gold!

Pascal Obispo was born on 8 January 1965 in Bergerac in the South West of France. The son of a football star (his father used to play for the Girondins team in Bordeaux), young Pascal had originally dreamed of becoming a basketball player. But when in 1978 he moved to Rennes with his mother, he discovered a new passion in life: music.

In the early 80's Rennes had a thriving music scene and the town even produced its own annual festival, the famous Transmusicales. This hotbed of music talent soon spawned a whole host of French new wave pop stars such as Etienne Daho and the group Niagara.

Growing up in this highly creative atmosphere it was not long before the young Pascal formed his own group, Senzo, in 1988, teaming up with Franck Darcel (who had made his name with the Breton group Marquis de Sade).

Obispo went on to record a first single which soon earnt him a recording contract with Epic (an offshoot of the Sony label). In 1992 the up-and-coming star went into the studio to work on his début album, "Plus que tout au monde". Produced by Nick Patrick (renowned for his work with the Gipsy Kings, Bashung, Alain Souchon etc), this album was an instant hit with the French public, the title track proving extremely popular with all the main radio stations.

Following this enormous success, Obispo embarked upon a series of extensive tours, playing numerous dates across France between September and December 93. At the end of the year the singer performed his first Paris gig, appearing at the now-defunct Passage du Nord Ouest.

Pascal Obispo's recording career continued to go from strength to strength, his singles "Tu vas me manquer" and "La moitié de moi" rocketing straight to the top of the French charts and remaining in prime positions for several months.