| Joe Chialo | |
| Party: | CDU (since 2016) |
| Otherparty: | Alliance 90/The Greens (1990s) |
| Office: | Senator for Culture and Social Cohesion |
| 1Namedata: | Kai Wegner |
| Term Start: | 27 April 2023 |
Joseph Chialo (born 1970) is a German music manager, politician (CDU) and singer of Tanzanian descent who has been serving as State Minister (Senator) for Culture and Social Cohesion in the government of Governing Mayor Kai Wegner since 2023.[1]
The son of Tanzanian diplomats, Chialo was born in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia in 1970. He stated that he and his brother were the only two Black students at the school he attended growing up. Before dropping out, Chialo attended the Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen, where he studied history, economics, and political science.[2]
Chialo started his singing career with Blue Manner Haze after receiving a record deal with Sony Music.
In the 1990s, Chialo was a member of The Greens – exclusively because he was a political admirer of Joschka Fischer. While Chialo supported the German government sending Bundeswehr missions in the Balkans, the Green party base did not, prompting Chialo to leave the party.[3] Chialo joined the CDU in 2016 because of his Christian upbringing and values, he said.[4]
Ahead of the 2021 elections, CDU chairman Armin Laschet included Chialo in his eight-member shadow cabinet for the Christian Democrats' campaign.[5] [6] He also ran to represent the party in the election in the Berlin-Spandau – Charlottenburg North constituency. However, he only garnered 23.5% of votes to the 32.8% received by SPD candidate Helmut Kleebank, and therefore lost the election.[7]
In early 2022, Chialo was elected to the national leadership of the CDU.[8]
Chialo is married and has one daughter. He is a Roman Catholic.[9] He attended the Catholic boarding school at the Marienhausen Monastery in Rüdesheim-Aulhausen on the Rhine. In response to a wave of abuse scandals that rocked the German Catholic Church in 2011, Chialo founded an explicitly Catholic band that was to be a positive counterpoint to bad headlines. Explaining his decision, Chialo stated: "Because I owe a lot to the Catholic Church and because the Church is so much more than these incidents of abuse."[10]