Chano Pozo - Biography

Biography

Luciano "Chano" Pozo Gonzales was born in Havana to Cecelio Gonzales and Carnación Pozo. Chano's family (three sisters and a brother, as well as his older half brother, Felix Chapottin who became one of the great Cuban soneros) struggled with poverty throughout his youth. His mother Carnación, to whom his father was married, died when Chano was eleven, and Cecelio took his family to live with his long-time mistress, Natalia, who was Felix's mother.

Chano showed an early interest in playing drums, and performed ably in Afro-Cuban religious ceremonies in which drumming was a key element. The family lived for many years at El Africa solar (Africa Basement), a former slave quarters, by all accounts a foul and dangerous place, where it was said even the police were afraid to venture. In this environment criminal activities flourished, and Chano learned the ways of the street as means of survival. He dropped out of school after the third grade and earned a solid reputation as a rowdy tough guy, big for his age and exceptionally fit. He spent his days playing drums, fighting, drinking, and engaging in petty criminal activities, the latter of which would land him a sentence in a youth reformatory. There are no official records documenting the crime for which he was sentenced, though at least one account has him causing the accidental death of a foreign tourist, adding to a record of thievery, assault, and truancy. At the age of 13, Chano was sent to the reformatory in Guanajay, where he learned reading and writing, auto body repair, and honed his already exceptional skills playing a variety of drums.