Angèle Belgian Singer Born 1995 in Uccle

Early life

Angèle Joséphine Aimée Van Laeken was born on 3 December 1995 in Uccle, part of the Brussels-Capital Region in Belgium. Her father is the singer Marka, whose real name is Serge Van Laeken, and her brother is the rapper Roméo Elvis. Her father encouraged her to learn the piano from an early age, and the instrument became the base of her musical life. She spent a difficult adolescence at a strict Catholic school before moving to the Decroly School, whose arts options helped her develop musically. She then studied jazz at the Jazz Studio in Antwerp before joining her father's band.

Career

Angèle began performing in the streets and venues of Brussels, including the restaurant Le Delecta in Ixelles. Attention first came through her cover of Dick Annegarn's "Bruxelles" and through Instagram videos that combined singing with comedy. In 2017 she opened for Ibeyi and for the Belgian rapper Damso, and she also accompanied Damso on his album Lithopédion. Her first single, "La Loi de Murphy", came out late that year and gathered millions of views on YouTube.

"Je veux tes yeux" followed in early 2018, and both videos were directed by the Belgian photographer Charlotte Abramow. In May 2018 she gave her first concert in Paris, at the Trianon, where MC Solaar joined her on a cover of his song "Victime de la mode". Summer festivals in Belgium, France and Switzerland, among them Les Ardentes, Dour, Garorock and Rock Werchter, filled out the season. Her third single, "La thune", also appeared that year.

Her first album, Brol, was released on 5 October 2018 on the Initial label, on the same day as a duet with her brother, "Tout oublier". The song spent nine weeks at the top of the Belgian Ultratop singles chart, beating the earlier record for a Belgian artist that Stromae had set. The album's success led to invitations onto French television programmes.

In 2019 she released "Balance ton quoi", a song that referred to the French movement against sexual harassment, with the actor Pierre Niney appearing in the video, and she later became an ambassador for Chanel. In April 2020 she took part in the global broadcast One World: Together At Home, hosted by Lady Gaga. That October she released "Fever", a collaboration with Dua Lipa that appeared on the reissue of Lipa's album Future Nostalgia; Angèle also joined Lipa as a guest on the live-stream concert Studio 2054 in November 2020.

In 2021 she made her film debut in Leos Carax's Annette. Her second studio album, Nonante-Cinq, was released on 3 December 2021, which was her twenty-sixth birthday. A year later she featured on "Sunflower" from Tamino's album Sahar.

In 2024 she performed "Nightcall" with Kavinsky and Phoenix during the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics, after which the song became the most searched-for track on Shazam within a single day and a single minute. She released "A Little More" in 2025, a single used in a Chanel advertising campaign. On 27 February 2026 she issued "What You Want" with Justice, the first single from a new album, and in June 2026 she announced that the album would be titled Instinct. An Instinct Tour is listed for 2027.

Her records are described as chanson and pop, and she plays the piano. Her YouTube channel had 1.7 million subscribers in March 2025. She has named Ella Fitzgerald and Hélène Ségara among her favourite artists and draws on French song, electronic music and rap.

Recognition

In 2022 she received the Bronze Zinneke.