Philippe Pascal of French Post-Punk Band Marquis de Sade Has Passed Away

Philippe Pascal, the emblematic singer of French post-punk band Marquis de Sade, has passed away.

Pascal was found dead at his home in Rennes, Thursday, the evening of September 12th. A police investigation is currently underway to determine the cause of death, with suicide not ruled out.

Pascal, son of a jazz musician, born in 1956 in Sidi-Bel-Abbès in Algeria. While a student, Pascal formed Marquis de Sade in 1978, with Franck Darcel.

Marquis de Sade would go on to release two studio albums: Dantzig Twist in 1979 and Rue de Siam in 1981, predating the coldwave scene that is now what some consider to be synonymous with French post-punk.

“We were part of this post-punk movement, which came as well from Cleveland with the group Pere Ubu, than the United Kingdom with Simple Minds, Joy Division …”, Pascal had said in an interview with Ouest-France in April 2017.

Marquis de Sade broke up in in 1981, shortly after the release of their second album.

After Marquis de Sade, Pascal formed the band Marc Seberg, which released 4 albums before dissolving in 1992. Pascal would then followup that run by teaming up with Marc Seberg keyboard player Pascale Le Berre on the eponymous project Philippe Pascale.

Marquis de Sade recently reformed in 2017 for what was originally intended to be a one-off concert.

The performance, which occurred in front of a crowd of 3,000 people at Liberté in Rennes, is now immortalized by a live album. The success of the event was such that more live dates were to quickly follow, and the band were preparing a new album, the release of which was announced for the summer of 2020.