José José

José José is a Mexican singer. Referred in the entertainment world as “El Príncipe de la Canción”, José José is best known for his romantic ballads and renowned for his gifted vocals. He is regarded as one of the most talented singers of Latin American popular music, recognizable by his pure vocal tone and his ability to sustain high and low notes. In a career that has spanned over forty years, his performance and distinctive vocal style have influenced several Latin pop artists.

Born into a family of musicians, José José started his musical career in his early teens playing guitar and singing in serenades. He later joined a jazz and bossa nova trio where he sang and played the bass and double bass. José became a successful solo artist in the early 1970s. Demonstrating his vocal ability with a masterful performance of the song “El Triste” in a Latin music festival in 1970, he climbed the most important Latin charts during the decade. In the 1980s, after signing with Ariola Records, José José gained international fame for being one of the most talented and successful singers of Latin America. His 1983 album Secretos is one of the best sellers in the history of Mexican music, it has sold over 11 million copies around the world. With a series of huge hits, he received several nominations to the Grammy and numerous recognitions worldwide. He sold out in venues such as the Madison Square Garden and the Radio City Music Hall. His music reached non Spanish-speaking countries like Japan, Israel and Russia. During the 1990s, after several hits, his career began to decline as his voice started to falter due to his alcoholism and health issues. José has also forged a career as an actor, starring in movies like Gavilán o Paloma and Perdóname Todo.

Due to his wide-range vocals, his career in Latin music and the high popularity he achieved, he is considered by the media, the press and the people as one of the most important Latin singers from the 1970s to the 1990s.

José Rómulo Sosa Ortiz was born on February 17, 1948 in Azcapotzalco, Mexico City. He was raised into a Roman Catholic family of gifted musicians; his father, José Sosa Esquivel, was an operatic tenor and his mother, Margarita Ortiz, was a classical pianist. They never achieved relative large success, and when José began to show interest in singing, they tried to discourage him, claiming that it was too difficult to achieve success in show business.