Pascale Borel

Born in Bordeaux in 1958, Pascale Borel first drew attention as a backing vocalist with the pop group Lala et les Émotions. In 1982 she met musician Grégori Czerkinsky and formed the duo Mikado: Borel sang the lyrics while Czerkinsky composed and arranged. Together they developed a synth-driven pop with new wave inflections, backed by a highly crafted aesthetic. The single “Naufrage en hiver,” filmed in 1986 by Pierre et Gilles, followed by “La fille du soleil” in 1988, established the group on the French pop scene of the 1980s, until the duo split in 1991. Between 1996 and 1999 Pascale Borel joined the electro-pop band Bien; a four-track CD was released in Spain and the group played several concerts in Paris. From 2001 she began working with writer-musician Jérémie Lefebvre and in 2004 recorded for the electro label Pschent her first solo album, Oserai-je t’aimer, released in 2005, which blends French song tradition with intimate electronic pop. In 2006 she released the single “J’ai un mari” as a duet with Valérie Lemercier, and in 2008 performed at the Théâtre Essaïon in Paris, notably in duet with Lio. After several video projects and the recording of a track for a film in 2009, Pascale Borel returned in 2015 with the album Par ailleurs, which extends her taste for French-language synth pop, bridging Mikado’s legacy and a more personal songwriting.