As
the fourth of the 11 children
of a Latin Catholic marriage and without possibilities,
José Feliciano
(75) listened to his inner voice so that God would guide him through the twists and turns of life. The singer was
born blind,
but his hearing acuity allowed him to hear the unpleasant footsteps of
cockroaches that infected the places where he lived, such
as the hut in the mountains of his native Puerto Rico. On more than one occasion, Feliciano has commented that "God pushed me into the field of music, he was showing me the light since I was born."
That unusual anxiety caused him to start playing with a cookie tin at 3 years old,
at 6 he learned to play the accordion
in a self-taught way and at 8 he gave his first recital in front of his school friends.
This prodigy of nature was put between eyebrows that he had to learn to
play the Spanish guitar
and at the age of 9 he began to practice 14 hours a day.
Andrés Segovia was his inspiration.
After he moved to
Hispanic Harlem from New York
in 1950, little José managed to take money home by
passing his hat
around the premises of New York's Greenwich Village.
See this post on Instagram
He wanted to be a doctor,
but lack of resources prevented him from pursuing a degree, so he consoled himself by buying
a disc of heart sounds
where he learned to identify the different types of sound.
After all, music is one of the best medicines.
Its launching platform was the 1st edition
of the Mar de Plata International Song Festival
(Argentina) in 1966, where
Jimmy Fontana
also performed
as an Italian representative and who composed the unforgettable song
¿Qué sera?
, which he performed that same year at the prestigious San Remo Festival, and which this 2021 celebrates five decades.
However, who does not remember the refrain "
Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, happy new year and happiness"?
José Feliciano composed it in 1970 and immediately became a
Christmas emblem
that reached incredible levels of popularity in Korea, China or Japan.
Five decades later, José Feliciano
still has an unmistakable voice and style.
He has sold more than
50 million records
that have allowed him to have a comfortable life
in his Connecticut mansion,
near the Kennedy's fiefdom on the east coast of the United States. There he lives in a discreet mansion with
his second wife, Susan Omillian,
whom he married in 1982 and with whom he has had
three children,
Melissa, Jonathan and Michael.
His previous wife was Janna Merlyn
(1965-1979), who died three years ago. With a great sense of humor, the Puerto Rican artist assures that "the difference between a wedding and a divorce is that in the wedding everything is rice and in the divorce everything is paella".
See this post on Instagram
He has won more than
45 gold and platinum records,
has nine Grammys, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the satisfaction that "the best award is my fans," he proudly admits.
Despite his notoriety, he remains a
humble man, supports Latino culture,
is against Republican immigration policy, collaborates with associations in favor of children and is always willing to lend a hand because the most important thing is to see with him. heart.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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