Chano should be dead. It’s the truth. But he has a separate God who takes care of him. A God with whom he surely negotiated some hells for several lives. Some he already lost, but glory appeared in his destiny and he achieved it, filling the River Plate stadium with his music. The thing is that on Friday, December 8, together with his iconic band Tan Biónica, Santiago Moreno Charpentier embraced eternal life when in front of more than 80 thousand devotees he was moved to tears. And right there he confessed: “Maybe I am alive thanks to you, because you prayed for me. I pray for you every night”.
In recent years, Chano was on the brink of death several times. And although his decline began on August 5, 2015, when in the heart of the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Núñez he lost control of his truck and rammed into several parked cars until crashing into the gate of a house, his first big scare was in 2021, when he suffered a psychotic break at home, which ended with a police officer shooting him in the abdomen in self-defense. Chano was urgently admitted to the Otamendi Hospital, where his spleen, a kidney and part of the pancreas were removed. And according to his mother, upon arriving at the operating room and seeing the situation, the doctor told her “prepare for the worst.”
Notably Chano is currently 42 years old but in various notes he confessed that he has been an addict since he was 20. In an interview that Jorge Lanata conducted with him on TN in 2015, he was honest: “I believe that the destiny of a drug addict is jail, hospital or death”. And when asked by the journalist if he was using to face a world that hurt him more than the rest, he responded: “No, I have a record that my life without drugs is a collection of successes. Every time I stop taking drugs, I manage to conquer all my dreams. “What I have are relapses, not periods of consumption.”
Present
Chano’s present in this 2023 that is ending is bright and full of musical projects that keep him busy. After a solo career of almost seven years, he returned to his historic band Tan Biónica – where his brother Bambi also plays – and they revolutionized the box office, selling out in a few hours two shows in Vélez, two in La Plata and the legendary stadium in River. More than 250 thousand entries that motivated the musicians not to archive their instruments, but, on the contrary, to start another tour that will take them through Punta del Este, Mar del Plata, Córdoba, Montevideo and Asunción.
However, everything in Chano’s life seems to be extreme and, although today a smile of triumph appears on his face, at the beginning of this year he had his second and most distressing dance with death, when in the early hours of February 17 He entered Otamendi again with a condition related to reckless medication consumption. With his state of health “reserved” and without a medical report, the worst was rumored again. It took him a week to wake up from the induced coma, at which time his mother Marina spoke to the media, explaining that her son had tested negative in all the toxicological tests and that his decompensation was due to the wrong intake of medications, added to a picture of pneumonia that complicated the functioning of all his organs. More than fifteen days of hospitalization, in which his fans wallpapered the walls of the sanatorium with their prayers. And the unthinkable happened again: 14 days after his medical discharge, Chano was already on stage at Lollapalooza announcing the return of Tan Biónica. The country couldn’t believe it, much less the bionic piberío.
Light and shadow
If Chano’s universe lacks something, it is balance. And for one of sand, the author of “Magic City” receives several of lime. On August 8 of this year Justice prosecuted him for aggravated sexual abuse against Militta Borawho had denounced him for an event in 2016. And despite his accusation, Judge Luis Schegel ordered his prosecution without preventive detention, so he faces this instance in freedom for “not presenting procedural risks.”
For years Chano has been undergoing psychiatric treatment for his addictions, going through various institutions. He began his rehabilitation at the Avril Clinic, went through Puiggari, an Adventist detoxification center, and for some time now has been under the care of an interdisciplinary team from the UdiGens Therapeutic Community, a private institution, where he receives individual and group therapy and is monitored by various professionals who accompany you in your decisions. He is not hospitalized, he lives alone but accompanied by his most intimate environment, his mother, brother and his friends. In recent days, his mother stated on television: “He is very well, on his way to a clean year. He is rehearsing with his band, with high hopes. I think this time he understood.”
In his last River show, Chano showed himself recovered, renewed and located in time and space, celebrating his new life away from scandals and aligned with the success he knew how to build with Tan Biónica. An unforgettable night that featured the participation of Abel Pintos, Nicki Nicole, Miranda and Airbag. And in which it was also evident that the singer made a pact with God and therefore, in each of his recitals, he sings his melody.
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