Biography
José Feliciano is a Puerto Rican musician, singer, songwriter and guitarist whose distinctive style combines Latin music, jazz, blues, folk, rock and pop. He was born blind on September 10, 1945, in Lares, Puerto Rico. When he was five years old, his family moved to New York City, where he grew up in a large Puerto Rican family. Feliciano showed an early fascination with music. He learned to play the concertina as a child and later taught himself guitar, listening closely to records and practicing for many hours each day. As a teenager he was influenced by rock and roll, jazz, blues and folk music. At seventeen he left school to help support his family and began performing in coffeehouses and clubs in Greenwich Village.His first major success came in the Spanish-speaking world during the 1960s, when his interpretations of traditional boleros brought him a large audience throughout Latin America. International fame followed in 1968 with his album “Feliciano!” and his highly original acoustic interpretation of the Doors’ “Light My Fire.” His performance earned him two Grammy Awards and established him as an important crossover artist between Latin and English-language popular music.
In October 1968 Feliciano performed a slow, soulful and highly personal version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before a World Series game in Detroit. The performance caused controversy at the time but later came to be recognized as a landmark moment in the history of personalized interpretations of the American national anthem.
In 1970 he wrote and recorded “Feliz Navidad,” combining English and Spanish lyrics in a song that became one of the world’s best-known Christmas recordings. Over a career spanning more than six decades, Feliciano has recorded in several languages, performed around the world and remained one of the most recognizable guitarists and Latin crossover artists in popular music.
