Oddly, I have found it very difficult to even begin this page. How do you condensce and reflect genius in a few words?José was born on 8th September 1945 - except his birthday was recorded as 10th September. José was born blind. Please don't call this a handicap he'd hate that!
His birth place was the small Puerto Rican hill town of Lares. Today Lares is a thriving community but then it was poverty stricken and lacked even a road to the "outside world". The people lived by working for the land barons who grew sugar cane and coffee. José's family were very poor like many people in that place at that time.
In 1950 political unrest in Puerto Rico led to many Puerto Ricans including the Felicianos migrating to New York. Puerto Ricans had been granted American citizenship some years earlier under "operation boot strap".
New York offered a cold inhospitable route out of the extreme povery of Puerto Rico and an American education for many Puerto Rican children. José was educated in a mainstream public school with additional support in braille. Today his old high school is named after him and specialises in the performing arts
In New York José discovered immense musical ability by teaching himself to play the harmonica, accordian and finally the guitar by the time he was ten. In 1962 José began playing around the coffee houses of Greenwich Village where he was discovered by an A&R man from RCA. The rest is history and recorded on my Living Legend pages; except..........
So many of us have been fans for so long the guy must have something special!
He is a man of contradictions a mega star who fills the biggest stadia in the World prepared to chat to a couple of fans who happen to show up in his web site's "Yak Room". A man committed to his wife (Susan) and their three children who must spend lengthy periods away from home entertaining others. A deeply spiritual man who can be extremely down to Earth. A gentle person who has survived almost forty years in a tough business. A man of great warmth who communicates easily with everybody he meets and shows great compassion to those (like me) shocked to be in his presence. Please use this opportunity to find out more about José and his music!