International Latin crossover superstar Jose Feliciano will perform his most beloved multicultural hits and ballads at Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on June 19, 2012 at 8 p.m. Tickets are on sale, now.
Fans can expect to hear Feliciano standards such as “Light My fire,” “Che Sara” and “Feliz Navidad.” Other Feliciano hits include “Rain,” “California Dreamin’,” “Destiny,” “Affirmation,” “Ay Cariño,” “Ponte A Cantar,” “Cuando El Amor Se Acaba” and “Porque Te Tengo Que Olvidar?”
Feliciano’s contributions to the music industry have been far reaching — spanning generations and continents while emphasizing cultural diversity and mutual acceptance, enhanced significantly by his unsurpassed musical integrity.
Feliciano has been acclaimed by critics throughout the world as “The greatest living guitarist.” Guitar Player magazine awarded him “Best Pop Guitarist,” placing him in their “Gallery of the Greats,” and he’s been voted both Best Jazz and Best Rock Guitarist in the Playboy’s reader’s poll, as well. He’s recorded more than 70 albums, has been awarded over 45 gold and platinum records; has been nominated for 16 Grammy Awards with eight wins and is in receipt of countless prestigious honors the world, over. Additionally, Jose Feliciano is recognized as the first Latin Artist to cross over into the English music market, opening the doors to others who now play an important part in the American music industry.
Feliciano was born blind, to humble beginnings in Lares, Puerto Rico. One of 11 boys, his love affair with music began at the age of three when he first accompanied his uncle on a tin cracker can. When he was five, his family immigrated to New York City where he learned to play the concertina, the accordion and the guitar. At 17, Feliciano quit school and played in coffee houses in Greenwich Village.
Jose’s first major break in the industry, however, happened in 1966, where after a performance at the Mar del Plata Festival in Argentina, he was encouraged by RCA executives to record an album of Spanish music. The singles “Poquita Fe” and “Usted” were smash hits.
Two more albums followed in similar fashion making him a household name in throughout South and Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. Upon a producer’s recommendation, Feliciano recorded the Doors’ “Light My Fire” which went on to reach number one on the charts in 1968.
By the time he was 23, Jose Feliciano had earned five Grammy nominations and won two Grammy Awards for his album Feliciano!, had performed over much of the world, and had recorded songs in four languages. A multi-faceted performer, he’s also appeared on the small screen in Kung Fu, Macmillan and Wife and Chico and the Man and on the silver screen in the Academy Award-winning Fargo.
In 1997, Feliciano released the platinum-selling Señor Bolero of which the title track and “Me Has Echado Al Olvido,” shot straight to number one in the U.S. and abroad. It was nominated by NARAS for Best Latin Pop Album of the year, marking Feliciano’s 16th nomination. In 2005, he released A Mexico…con Amor, a collection of Mexican Mariachi favorites and the next year Jose Feliciano y Amigos. Other releases include The Soundtrax of My Life (2007), a personal journey and “Señor Bachata! (2008) which received two Grammy Awards.
Historically, Feliciano was the first artist to ever stylize the National Anthem in 1968 at historic Tiger Stadium. It was the first time the anthem became a charted Top-40 recording. He has shared the stage with other internationally renowned artists for various charitable causes, has appeared in “The Kennedy Center Presents – The Americanos Concert”, the “Lady Liberty Concert” in New York and the Christmas Tree lighting ceremony in Washington, D.C. and has performed for the world’s most important artists, writers, scientists, sports figures, heads-of-state, royal figures and, among his greatest honors, an invitation to Rome to participate in “Christmas at the Vatican” with a private audience including Pope John Paul II.
He’s received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the U.S. as well as the Walk of Fame in his native Puerto Rico alongside Jose Ferrer and Raul Julia plus has had his hands cast for the world famous Wall of Fame in Madame Tussaud’s in London, England.
More recently, he’s received the Los Premios Globos’ Artist of the Millennium Award and the Alma Award for Lifetime Achievement, The Hispanic Heritage Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award and a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Sacred Heart University in Connecticut for his musical and humanitarian, contributions to the world. New York City also honored him by re-naming Public School 155 in East Harlem as “The Jose Feliciano Performing Arts School.”
Over the years, Feliciano’s gifts of time, treasure and talent have earned him the reputation of being a great humanitarian and an “Ambassador of Good Will” throughout the world.
Tickets are $69, $59, $49 and $39*; all seats are reserved and available at all Ticketmaster outlets online at www.ticketmaster.com or charge by phone: 1-800-745-3000. Doors open one-hour prior to show start time. *Additional fees may apply