A biography for Jose Felicianohasn’t been written yet.
“My dream was to be a celebrity, to be on TV like Bob Hope was.”
“I know Ritchie Valens in 1959 had 'La Bamba' but to be totally Spanish - because, you know, Ritchie didn't speak Spanish - but to be a total Latin artist like myself, to be out in a field where there weren't any categories for Latinos... I felt good that I was maybe - I didn't know it at the time - but I felt good that I opened the door.”
“I always tell my wife she's married to the Puerto Rican Elvis.”
“In 1970, my label decided I should do a Christmas album and I put a bunch of tunes together. We couldn't decide what to call it and so I said 'Why not just say Merry Christmas in Spanish? Feliz Navidad.' They said, 'That's cool, Jose, but we need a title song.' So I just sat down and started to play.”
“From 1969 to 1973, I was never played on radio stations.”
“I didn't mean for it to cause such a furor, but I was the first guy to ever do the national anthem with a guitar. Everyone else had the big brass band. Nowadays it's tracks that they sing to, but in my day, we had no tracks. And I was the only orchestra that I knew that was the best orchestra and that was me and my guitar.”
“Actually, being blind is not so bad. If you're born this way, you never know anything else and you don't wonder about it. Though I'd hate to have lost my sight after being able to see.”
“I've been playing in Israel since 1971.”
“The fact I'm blind has been a great help to my career. If I'd been sighted I'd have played baseball and got into trouble like all other kids on my block.”
“I don't know if it's a legacy, but I love it. In my mind and other people's minds, they know I was the first to stylize the national anthem.”
“I was drawn to the guitar, and still am, because it struck me as the most soulful instrument.”
“I didnt go to the high school prom. Couldn't get a date.”
“I became a teen idol. At the time, it embarrassed me.”
“I never knew Mother Teresa, but I admired her, especially in this day and age when there aren't many heroes.”
“I'm a musician first and sight has never had anything to do with it.”
“I'm a one-man band!”
“I was a teen idol in Latin America.”
“When I did the national anthem, I did a soulful, kind of gospel-y version, but it was controversial with the war veterans, just the people who wanted to hear it the old, clinical, atmospheric way, and I didn't want to sing it like that.”
“I just happened to be Latino, and like any artist, I was trying to forge a career. If I opened doors for others, that's great, but nobody starts out with those aspirations.”
“God gave me a good voice. I have perfect pitch. I don't sing flat.”