From busking on the streets of France to topping the bill at festivals around
the globe, Manu Chao became a star of the world music scene with his melting pot
of funky, Latin rock. He was born José Manuel Tomás Arturo Chao Ortega on June
21, 1961, in Paris. Raised by Spanish parents who fled the regime of General
Franco, Manu Chao was inspired by the British punk movement and made his name in
Europe and South America in the late 1980s/early 1990s with his band Mano Negra.
Singing in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, and English, he turned himself
into a troubadour figure in th...