Musician Jose Feliciano - discography of the great guitarist, creativity, awards

At present. Latin American musicians are reaching a new level: they are easily conquering the world stage and gaining huge popularity. Modern Latin music has learnt to blur the boundaries between popular music from the U.S.A. и UKIt is often difficult to distinguish a particular song by style. The heyday rock 'n' roll in Europe and America and the emergence of the guitar cult did not leave the Southerners indifferent. They were able to combine their national features с rock musicand it turned out very nice and colourful.

Who is Jose Feliciano - meet the Latin American legend

Jose Feliciano - Puerto Rican musician, guitarist, composer and singer, or, simply put, a legend of Latin American music. Although at the age of five, the boy moved with his family to the New York HarlemHis Latin soul would later be reflected in his work. It is important to note one detail: a hereditary disease affected José very much and he was born blind. In spite of this illness, he was able to become great by putting in a lot of effort and persevering towards his goal. Feliciano wanted to be a creative person from a young age: he played at the Teatro Puerto Rico and also learnt to play the piano. different musical instruments. For example, he's even mastered accordionwhich has nothing to do with the guitar. However, his passion for plucked strings never went away, and Jose decided to build his career around guitar music.

The road to fame was thorny. To become a true master of his craft, young Feliciano locked himself in his room and before 14 hours a day listened rock 'n' rollHe tried to improvise and form his own style. While still a minor, José started performing in the New York clubsto feed his family and also gets his first touring contract in another state.

At the age of 21, the future star goes to Argentinaperforms at a music festival, where he is spotted by a record company representative. RCA Records and offers to record a Spanish-language album for the musician. After that, the singer's career took off - he recorded two more successful albums, one of which, Feliciano!was nominated for a Grammy, and Jose won the award at that time best new artist. To succeed in the USA Feliciano helped by a unique and original performance of songs in the style of Latin-jazzas well as the author's own arrangements.

What I'd Say is a super track worth listening to at least once in your life

Ray Charles - another famous singer who has an extraordinary musical gift and yet suffers from a blindnesses. В 1959 he released a single What I'd Say. The song was the result of one of the musician's improvisations at one of the performances, when it was necessary to fill the time until the end of the concert. A bright hit in the new genre of soul became the first song of Charles, received a gold certificate in the United States, and very much influenced the culture of rock and roll. No coincidence What I'd Say has been placed at number 10 on the list of "500 Greatest Songs of All Time." according to the magazine Rolling Stonewhich certainly speaks to her greatness.

The original version of the song combines the sounds of the electric pianowhich sounds like a riff and then moves into familiar piano chords, backed by an unusual, funky rhythm that critics noted was like a mix of the of Latin rhythm и tumbao (drum rhythm in music of Afro-Cuban origin).

"What I'd Say" became popular in cover music: it was performed by such gurus of rock'n'roll and jazz as Elvis Presley, Eric Clapton, Nancy Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Roy Orbison and others. One of those performers was Jose FelicianoHis cover of the song fit very succinctly into a number of performances by famous musicians. The distinctive feature of José's music was his virtuosity, skilfulness techniques the guitar playing that gave the hit song Ray Charles new life and was enjoyed by many Latino listeners, which only bolstered Feliciano's popularity with southern audiences and beyond.

A little bit about Feliciano's other creative merits

A cover of What I'd Say - was not the only one in the singer's career. In 1968, Jose created his own version of a hit by a psychedelic rock band The Doors - Light My Fire. This performance was received by the public "to the hilt": over 1 million copies with a recording of this cover was sold in the US and other countries.

In 1970, Feliciano releases the song that would later become a Christmas classic in America -. Feliz Navidadwhich means "Merry Christmas" in Spanish. The audience liked it because it is bilingual and combines the repetition of traditional New Year's greetings in Spanish and English. Moreover, José even managed to win the hearts of Italian audiences - in 1971 he performed at the honourable Italian festival San Remowhere he performed a song Che sarà and came in second place.

Feliciano is a unique singer who was able to become successful in both Latin American music and Anglo-American music. In honour of José, there was even an inauguration a star on the Hollywood Walk of Famewhich confirms its importance to American culture.