[5] He experienced an unhappy childhood; his parents, Nilda and Geraldo Abrão, divorced when he was 11 years old, and he dropped out of school in the seventh grade as he couldn't afford the tuition fees and due to his unruly behavior.

Prior to beginning his musical career he worked as a delivery boy for his mother, a cook, until she suffered the first in a series of debilitating strokes in 1984, and briefly as a realtor alongside his father, who would die of cancer in 2001.

[11] In 1987 his family moved to the coastal town of Santos, where he would form his first musical project, the hardcore punk/crossover thrash band What's Up, circa 1988; he was invited to be its vocalist after being spotted by a member of the audience at a bar while covering a Suicidal Tendencies song.

However, Chorão thought the band was taking too long to make a breakthrough and decided to revamp it under a new name; he eventually settled on "Charlie Brown Jr.", explaining that "Charlie Brown" came to him after recalling a time when he crashed with his car into a coconut stand with a drawing of the eponymous character of Charles M. Schulz's comic strip Peanuts on it, and the "Jr." alluding to the fact that he considered his band to be "the children of rock", following the lead of other famous groups at the time such as Raimundos, Nação Zumbi, Planet Hemp and O Rappa.

Despite a series of protests and petitions organized by fans, acquaintances and relatives of Chorão, former Charlie Brown Jr. members and Detonautas Roque Clube vocalist Tico Santa Cruz,[37] it eventually closed down to the public in late 2013 and was demolished in early 2014.

[51] Following his death, then-mayor of Santos Paulo Alexandre Barbosa [pt] announced a three-day period of mourning,[52] and fans made tributes to him in skateparks all around the city.

[56] Rap duo Bonde da Stronda, who befriended Chorão later in life, covered "Lutar pelo que É Meu" as a homage to him at a performance in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul on March 9, 2013.

vocalist Nasi, long-time friends and frequent Charlie Brown Jr. collaborators Negra Li and Rodolfo Abrantes, former actor Alexandre Frota, politician Marta Suplicy and footballer Neymar, among others, also made statements on his death and gave their condolences.

[60] International newspapers and websites such as HuffPost, The Washington Post, The San Diego Union-Tribune, Billboard and Latin Times also commented on Chorão's death, the latter noticeably mistranslating his stage name as "Big Crying".

[66] Shortly after Chorão's death, film producers Felipe Elias, Victor Santini Stockler and Roberta Franco launched a crowdfunding campaign on website Catarse to finance a documentary about his story with Charlie Brown Jr. entitled Marginal Alado; it reached R$41,513.00, surpassing its original intended goal of R$35,000.00.

[70] From a previous, short-lived marriage with Thaís Lima, which allegedly ended after he found out she was cheating on him,[71] he had a son also named Alexandre (born 1990), nicknamed "Xande" in order to differentiate him from his father.

[75] In 2018 Graziela published through Companhia das Letras her memoir, Se Não Eu, Quem Vai Fazer Você Feliz?, in which she details her love life with Chorão.