Manu Chao

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 the late 1990s and delved into street styles from Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina on his debut solo album Clandestino (1998). Part Bob Marley, part Joe Strummer, part political revolutionary, Manu Chao developed his own skanking sound of the Caribbean on Proxima Estacion: Esperanza (2001), before his high-energy collision of cultures was captured on live album Radio Bemba Sound System (2002). A hero to anti-globalisation protesters, Manu Chao has produced albums for Amadou & Mariam and had his songs "Bongo Bong" and "Je Ne T'aime Plus" covered by Robbie Williams and Lily Allen. After briefly returning to his French roots on the 2004 album Sibérie m'était contéee, he resumed his cosmopolitan efforts on 2007's La Radiolina and the 2008 live LP Baionarena, recorded at the Arènes de Bayonne. The French globetrotter spent the next couple of decades touring and pursuing other artistic projects before dropping his fifth full-length album Viva Tu in 2024, preceded by the release of the title track and "Sao Paulo Motoboy."