José Feliciano

José Feliciano feels less like a celebrity to me and more like a fixture of December itself. Born in Lares, Puerto Rico, blind from birth, he carried a single guitar onto the world stage and seized the 1969 Grammy for Best New Artist. His reinvention of the Doors' Light My Fire is masterful, but Feliz Navidad is the masterpiece, a melody that rings through Christmases worldwide. What impresses me most is the quiet craftsmanship behind his many Latin Pop Grammys. He is a virtuoso who turned limitation into a lifelong, joyful conversation with the whole planet.

Name (English)

José Feliciano

Name (Japanese)

ホセ・フェリシアーノ

Reading

ほせ・ふぇりしあーの

Born

September 10, 1945 (age 80)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Virgo / Rooster

Origin

Lares, United States

Occupation

musician / singer / composer / guitarist / jazz guitarist

Awards & achievements

• 1969 Grammy Award for Best New Artist
• 1996 Billboard Latin Music Lifetime Achievement Award
• 2011 Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
• 1984 Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album
• 1987 Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album
• 1990 Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album
• 1991 Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album
• 2009 Grammy Award for Best Tropical Latin Album

• Official sitehttps://josefeliciano.com/
• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9%20Feliciano
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%9B%E3%82%BB%E3%83%BB%E3%83%95%E3%82%A7%E3%83%AA%E3%82%B7%E3%82%A2%E3%83%BC%E3%83%8E
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q315784

Tags

• musician
• singer
• composer

Last updated

2026-06-17

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.