Carlos Gardel (born Charles Romuald Gardès; 11 December 1890 – 24 June 1935) was a French-born Argentine singer, songwriter, composer and actor, and the most prominent figure in the history of tango.

Gardel died in an airplane crash at the height of his career, becoming an archetypal tragic hero mourned throughout Latin America.

In 1967, a controversial theory was published by Uruguayan writer Erasmo Silva Cabrera, asserting that Gardel was born in Tacuarembó, Uruguay.

Scholarly researchers analyzed the contradictory evidence, especially French birth and baptismal records, and confirmed his birthplace as Toulouse.

In early 1893 in Bordeaux, France, mother and son boarded the ship SS Don Pedro and sailed to Buenos Aires, arriving on 11 March 1893.

[5] Gardel's mother settled at the western edge of the central San Nicolás district of Buenos Aires, at Calle Uruguay 162.

She worked two blocks away on Calle Montevideo, pressing clothes in the French style, which commanded a relatively high price in the fashion-conscious city.

[11] Gardel went on tour through Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Colombia, as well as making appearances in Paris, New York, Barcelona and Madrid.

While sentimental films such as Cuesta abajo (1934) and El día que me quieras (1935) lack lasting dramatic value, they were outstanding showcases of his tremendous singing talents and movie star looks.

[15] Gardel died on 24 June 1935 in a crash between two Ford Trimotor transport aircraft at Olaya Herrera Airfield, Medellín, Colombia.

The unwanted boy, named Carlos, was offered to Bertha Gardes who was passing through the area on a cabaret dance tour.

[27] This version of events conflicts with scholarly accounts describing Gardes as an ordinary woman who ironed and pressed clothing in Toulouse in 1890, not a touring dancer.

[6] In his youth in Buenos Aires, Gardel's group of close friends called him "El francesito" (Frenchie), acknowledging his French origin.

In the newspaper El Telégrafo (Paysandú, Uruguay, 25 October 1933), Gardel was reported as saying, "I'm Uruguayan, born in Tacuarembó".

In the June 1935 issue of Caretas magazine of Antioquia, Colombia, Gardel was reported as saying, "My heart is Argentine, but my soul is Uruguayan, because that is where I was born".

In 1931, Gardel wrote in a witnessed document, "I am French, born in Toulouse, 11 December 1890, son of Berthe Gardes.

Another commonly used phrase in Argentina (and some other Latin American countries) which asserts that Veinte años no es nada (Twenty years is nothing), comes from his song Volver (1934).

[35] Another Carlos Gardel Museum opened in 1999 in Valle Edén, an old farm site 23 km (14 mi) south of Tacuarembó, Uruguay.

[38] Gardel appears as a fictionalized character in the play El día que me quieras (1979) by the Venezuelan writer José Ignacio Cabrujas.

[46] On 16 March 2011, the United States Postal Service issued a set of five "Latin Music Legends" stamps including one picturing Carlos Gardel.