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In 1893 his mother arrived in Argentina with her small child who was around two years old.
His childhood was spent in the surroundings of the Mercado de Abasto, his adopted neighborhood, so then "El Morocho del Abasto" was born. -
He attended grammar school at San Carlos and SanBerta Gardés Estanislao schools and gave up studying at the second year of high school, in 1906.
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His vocation was singing and encouraged by the payador José Betinotti, who named him "El Zorzal Criollo", he started singing at committee meetings (political centers) and eating houses of the Abasto area.
By the time of the Centennial of the May Revolution 1910), he was the artistic number at the café O'Rondemann owned by the Traverso brothers. -
In 1911, together with José Razzano, a singer at the café El Pelado in the neighborhood of Balvanera, he formed the Gardel-Razzano duo, which would designate a stage of his artistic life.
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In 1912 the guitar player and singer Francisco Martino was added to the duo. This trio appeared at the Casa Suiza Festivals on 254 Rodríguez Peña street.
Some time later Gardel was called by Casa Taggini for recording his early discs on Columbia Records label.
By then, his repertory had no tangos, but folk songs. -
In 1913 the trio turned into a quartet adding the singer Saúl Salinas, they went on tour of the province of Buenos Aires countryside. When the new member Salinas left they went on under the name Terceto Nacional and in December 1913, Martino split with them, and therefore the "Dúo Nacional Gardel-Razzano" was definitely put together. In December in that year they had their debut at the prestigious Cabaret-Restaurant Armenonville, singing native songs.
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On 8 January 1914 the duo appeared at the Teatro Nacional of Buenos Aires and since then they started to sing at every Buenos Aires theater, touring the main Argentine cities, Rosario, Santa Fe and Córdoba.
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In 1915 they had their debut in the República Oriental del Uruguay, at the Teatro Royal in Montevideo, that same year, they began a tour of Brazil and on that trip Gardel met his great idol, the Italian tenor Enrico Caruso. Carlos Gardel and José Razzano in 1917
In the late 1915, at a quarrel Gardel was shot in the lung what deprived him some time from singing. That bullet would be lodged in his body during all his lifetime. By then, the guitarist José Ricardo, called El Negro joined the duo. -
In 1916, already recovered, he resumed alongside Razzano his season in Mar del Plata.
The following year he decided to sing publicly a tango, and so one evening at the Teatro Empire in Buenos Aires he premiered Mi noche triste by Samuel Castriota and Pascual Contursi. Since then he would include tangos in his repertory. -
On 9 April 1917 the Glucksmann house hired them to record. He is starred on a silent movie: "Flor de Durazno" and together with Razzano he started his first tour of Chile.
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From 1918 to 1922 the duo often worked at theaters in Buenos Aires, Montevideo and all the cities of the countryside of the Argentine Republic.
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As of 1921 the duo is accompanied by the guitarists José Ricardo and Guillermo Desiderio Barbieri.
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By 1923, and with Gardel already immersed in tango, he began with Razzano, together with the Compañía Rivera-De Rosas, a tour of Mar del Plata, Montevideo, Brazil and Spain, making their debut at the Teatro Apolo in Madrid
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In 1924 he returned to Buenos Aires and sang on Radio LOW Gran Splendid and recorded for the first time accompanied by Francisco Canaro´s orchestra and a year later he would do it accompanied by Osvaldo Fresedo´s orchestra.
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So as of 1925 Gardel turned into a soloist, traveling to Spain together with the Compañía Rivera-De Rosas. He sang on 5 de November 1925 at the Teatro Goya in Barcelona, where he recorded his first discs with the electric system.
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In the mid- 1929, he returned to Buenos Aires full of glory together with Barbieri and Aguilar.
His success alternated on both margins of the River Plate, he recorded discs and, in 1930, his famous short movies with soundtrack were shot. -
His last recording in Buenos Aires was on 6 November 1933 when he committed to disc Madame Ivonne, a tango by Eduardo Pereyra and Enrique Cadícamo.
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On November 7 he left forever. Again in Europe, after a brief passing through Barcelona and Paris he traveled to the United States, to make a debut on the most important radio network in the world, the NBC of New York, on 31 December that same year.
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Between January and February 1935 he was starred on the films "El día que me quieras" and "Tango Bar" where he sang his most remembered hits.
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In April Gardel decided to set out for a tour of Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Aruba, Curaçao, Colombia, Panamá, Cuba and Mexico, but destiny prevented its completion by a tragic air crash in Medellín which ended his life on 24 June 1935.
