José José

José José is a master of romantic pop balladry and his ability to home in on love's most heart-wrenching moments has made him a Latin music icon. Also known as "El Príncipe de la Canción" or the “Prince of Song”, the late Mexican crooner is still revered for his electrifying operatic vocal delivery and yearning inflections. Born José Romulo Sosa Ortíz in Mexico City in 1948 to musician parents, José José picked up the guitar and piano in his teens. After cutting his teeth singing jazz and bossa nova tunes, José José broke through in Latin America with the release of the 1970 single “La Nave del Olvido”. Later that year, he achieved international fame after singing the heartbreaking ballad “El Triste” at Festival Mundial de la Canción Latina (later named the OTI Festival), an annual televised Eurovision-style singing competition. Over three decades, José José would release a seemingly endless number of lovelorn, gut-wrenching hits like “Amar y Querer”, “Almohada”, “Gavilán o Paloma”, “Lo Dudo” and “Mañana Si”, earning the singer the admiration of Latin music’s biggest exports like Marc Anthony and Luis Fonsi. Even Frank Sinatra praised the crooner and expressed a desire to collaborate with him. In 2018, Telemundo released a biographical telenovela series, José José: el príncipe de la canción, about the singer’s life and legacy, before his passing at the age of 71 in September of 2019. The following month, José José was posthumously inducted into the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame for his indelible contributions to Latin pop.