Pascal Michel Obispo (born 8 January 1965 in Bergerac, Dordogne, France) is a French singer/songwriter.
Pascal Obispo started singing in 1980. He got his first record deal in 1990, Le long du fleuve. With his second album, Plus que tout au monde, selling over 2 million albums, his songs became a popular success. Some of his most famous songs are "Plus que tout au monde", "Laurelenn", "Tombé pour elle", "L'important c'est d'aimer", "Personne" and "Fan". With his 2007 release of Les Fleurs du Bien (a play on Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal) he makes allusions to Rosa Parks, Pablo Picasso and others. He is also well known for his various escapades, his unconservative behavior, his haircut, etc. His name is an anagram of painter Pablo Picasso's name. Most of his albums have now sold more than 1 million copies.
Obispo used his popularity to help with humanitarian work and particularly with work to stop the AIDS epidemic. He has worked with many other well-known artists such as Jean-Jacques Goldman, Florent Pagny, Johnny Hallyday, Patricia Kaas, Amel Bent, and Natasha St-Pier.
Pascal Obispo was born in Bergerac in Southwest 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.
"Zen"
Obispo returned to the studio in 1994 to record his second album entitled "Un jour comme aujourd'hui". Released in October of that year, the album continued in the same catchy pop vein as Obispo's début and, not surprisingly, proved just as great a hit. Following the release of the album, Obispo promptly embarked upon another tour (which kicked off in February 95 and continued through March of that year). This tour included performances in over 60 French lycées, where the singer proved extremely popular in music lessons.
Between September and December 95 Obispo continued his hectic touring schedule, performing a series of concerts across France and then embarking upon an international tour. One of the highlights of this particular tour was the singer's impressive concert at La Cigale in Paris on 15 November. That same year Obispo would also reveal his songwriting talent, penning the hit single "Zen" for his close friend Zazie.
At the start of 1996 Obispo was back on the road again, supporting Quebecois star Céline Dion on her French tour. This tour included 4 dates at Bercy Stadium (the largest concert venue in Paris) where Obispo performed in front of capacity crowds.
When this mammoth tour (which included 40 dates) was finally over Obispo returned to the studio to set to work on his third album, "Superflu". Released on 29 October 1996, this album spawned two hit singles "Personne" and the best-selling smash "Lucie" (which sold a staggering 80,000 copies in just one month) and went on to become a kind of anthem on the promotional tour which followed.
By February 1997 the album "Superflu" had proved a phenomenal hit, selling over 300,000 copies. Following this success Obispo was invited to perform at the legendary Olympia in Paris, where he performed six sell-out concerts. The singer then went on to appear at the Zénith on 21 May, 4,000 fans greeting his performance with rapturous applause.
Obispo, who had by this point established himself as one of the most popular figures on the French music scene, was invited to perform at the famous Francofolies festival in La Rochelle on Bastille Day (14 July 1
