Chao's mother, Felisa Ortega, is from Bilbao, Basque Country, and his father, writer and journalist Ramón Chao, is from Vilalba, Galicia.
Son of Ramón Chao and brother of French journalist Antoine Chao.
He sings in French, Spanish, English, Italian, Arabic, Catalan, Galician, Portuguese, Greek and occasionally in other languages.
With friends and his brother Antoine Chao, he founded the band Mano Negra in 1987, achieving considerable success, particularly in Europe.
Chao's lyrics provoke his audience to think about immigration, love, living in ghettos, drugs, and often carry a left-wing message.
Heavily influenced by the UK rock scene, particularly The Clash, The Jam and Dr. Feelgood.
Since 1991, Chao has been working with La Colifata, which is an NGO made up of a group of patients and ex patients of Hospital Borda, a psychiatric hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina.