1948–1962: Childhood José Rómulo Sosa Ortiz was born on 17 February 1948 in Clavería,
Azcapotzalco,
Mexico City. His father,
José Sosa Esquivel, was an
operatic tenor (tenor comprimario) and his mother, Margarita Ortiz, was a classical pianist. When José showed interest in singing, they tried to discourage him claiming that it was too difficult to be successful in show business. In that time, his reportedly alcoholic father abandoned the family forcing José to work to help his mother and younger brother.
1963–1969: Early career At the age of fifteen, his mother gave him his first piano. Besides working in his teens, he learned to play
guitar and sang in the
church and in
serenades along with his neighborhood friends for extra money. In 1967, at the age of 19, José formed Los Peg, a Mexican band of
bossa nova/
jazz. Although they made several recordings as a group, they did not reach commercial success. In 1965, under the name of "Pepe Sosa" and pursuing a solo career encouraged by his mother, he recorded the singles "Ma vie" and "El Mundo", which did not sell well either. He made a career breakthrough when he was invited to perform a song for a friend's sister on her birthday. His friend's sister was the executive secretary for the managing director of
Orfeón Records. He took a new performing name after this, joining his first name "José" with his father's first name (also José), who had died of alcoholism. He signed a contract with
RCA Victor and recorded his first album:
José José (also known as
Cuidado). The album featured songs by
Rubén Fuentes and
Armando Manzanero. It was arranged by his former teacher Mario Patrón, who was considered the best jazz musician of Mexico, and employed Brazilian percussionist
Mayuto Correa, who was in Mexico City playing with bossa nova stars João Gilberto,
Carlos Lyra,
Leny Andrade, and Tamba Trio. The album's sound is a combination of
boleros and romantic ballads with a jazz and bossa nova influence. The quality of his debut album garnered praise from critics but did not achieve much popular success.
1970–1980: "El Triste", consolidation and Ariola Records at the Clavería neighborhood in
Azcapotzalco with the name of his song "La nave del olvido", photographed in 2025 In early 1970 he released the song "La nave del olvido" which became his first big hit in Mexico and Latin America, José José had several major hits in the 1970s including "De Pueblo en Pueblo", "Hasta Que Vuelvas", "Déjame Conocerte", "Sentimientos", "Paloma", and "Gavilan o Paloma". One song which was played on the radio, "El Príncipe" ("The Prince"), earned the artist the title "El Príncipe de la Canción" ("The Prince of Songs") from a DJ. In 1973,
Frank Sinatra listened to José's music at
Reprise Records and invited him to record a duet and a full album under Sinatra's label. The collaboration was impossible due to José's exclusivity agreement with his label. In 1976, José signed with
Ariola Records with
Reencuentro being the first albums to be released under the label a year later.
1980–1989: International stardom, Secretos and Mexico's top singer José José released several successful albums including
Amor Amor (1980),
Romántico (1981),
Gracias (1981),
Mi Vida.
Amor Amor sold over 1.5 million copies in Latin America. He recorded a Spanish version of the hit "
New York, New York", as a tribute to his friend Frank Sinatra. In 1983, José José released
Secretos, in which he collaborated with
Manuel Alejandro for the album's compositions. "Lo Dudo" ("I Doubt It") and "El Amor Acaba" ("The Love is Over") were major hits from the album and
Secretos became the best selling recording in his career with four million copies sold. Following the release of
Secretos, José continued his international success. He released
Reflexiones in 1984. The album was written, produced and arranged by Rafael Pérez-Botija and sold over 2 million copies worldwide.
Reflexiones became the first album to reach number one on the
Billboard Latin Pop Albums in the United States upon its establishment in 1985, and was also nominated for Best Latin Pop Performance in the
1986 Grammy Awards. He also performed a duet with Puerto Rican singer
José Feliciano on the song "Por Ella" ("For Her") on Feliciano's album
Ya Soy Tuyo (1985) which was also nominated in the same category on the 1986 Grammy Awards. The following, he released the album
Promesas, written, produced and arranged by Pérez-Botija. Its main hits were "Amantes", "Me vas a echar de menos", "Más", and "Tú me estás volviendo loco". One of the album's singles, "Pruébame", was nominated for Best Latin Pop Performance at the
1987 Grammy Awards.
Promesas became his second number-one album on the
Billboard Latin Pop Albums. he worked with the Spanish producer and guitarist
Paco Cepero. It was nominated for Best Latin Pop Performance in the
Grammy Awards of 1988 and became his third number-one album on the
Billboard Latin Pop Albums chart. José José told magazine
Selecciones that during 1985 to 1987, he had a personal crisis because "my life was going on airplanes, trucks, locked in a hotel room." His daughter was born in 1982 and that more or less balanced his marriage, but after a while he divorced his then wife. It was also nominated for
Pop Album of the Year at the
1st Annual Lo Nuestro Awards in the same year while José José was awarded
Pop Male Artist of the Year. José José played the role of the Mexican singer and composer
Álvaro Carrillo in the movie
Sabor A Mí, co-starring
Angelica Aragón. In 1989, José José released
¿Qué Es El Amor? and included three singles: "
Como Tú", "Piel de Azucar" and "Él". "Como Tú" spent ten weeks at number-one on the
Hot Latin Songs chart and received a nomination for
Pop Song of the Year at the
1990 Lo Nuestro Awards.
1990–1999: "Amnesia", 40 y 20, rehab and decline In 1990,
Raúl Velasco made a special TV show to celebrate José's 25th career anniversary. The show, broadcast by
Televisa, lasted over five hours and featured special guests such as Armando Manzanero,
Libertad Lamarque, Vicente Fernández and Marco Antonio Muñiz. Later that year, he released
En las Buenas... y en las Malas with the lead single "
Amnesia" reaching number-one on the Hot Latin Songs chart. In August 1993, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of José's career,
BMG hosted a tribute in the city of
Puerto Vallarta. It was called
30 Años de ser el Príncipe (30 years of being the Prince). The tribute included some of the most prestigious artists of Spanish music such as
Rocío Dúrcal,
Camilo Sesto, Armando Manzanero, Marco Antonio Muñiz and
Raúl di Blasio. The tribute coincided with his recent divorce, a serious relapse into alcoholism and a significant loss of vocal abilities. He appeared to be in poor physical shape, too thin and lacking energy. Camilo Sesto even took a break in the middle of the presentation to speak words of encouragement. The album was not released until 1994. At that time, José suffered the worst stage of alcoholism of his life. During 1993, he retired from the stage and went into rehab. Upon completion of his rehabilitation, he started seasons in places like the famous "Teatro Blanquita" of Mexico City, and the Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, among others. In 1994, José José reunited with Manuel Alejandro and released the album
Grandeza Mexicana. The title track peaked at number 12 on the Hot Latin Tracks. In 1995, he played the lead role in the movie
Perdóname Todo, a drama about an alcoholic has-been and how he tries to survive against himself and the music business. That same year, his album "Mujeriego" was released. It sold more than 180,000 copies in its first two weeks and reached number 12 on the Billboard Latin charts. The song "Llora Corazón" peaked at number 6 on the Hot Latin Songs and was nominated for Pop Song of the Year in the
Lo Nuestro Awards. In 1996, he performed a duet with Paul Anka on "Déjame Conocerte (Let me Get to Know You)" from Anka's Latin album
Amigos. In 1997, he performed at the
Bally's Atlantic City. In September 1999, he joined fellow Mexican singers Armando Manzanero, Marco Antonio Muñiz and Argentine pianist Raúl di Blasio for a series of concerts dubbed "Noche Bohemia" (Bohemian Night) at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles.
2000–2012: Vocal problems, TV and Sony BMG concept albums In 2001, with a deteriorating voice he recorded
Tenampa. It was his first studio album with
mariachi and the last one of his career. It was written and produced completely by
Juan Gabriel. It received poor reviews and sold only about 500,000 units. After that, he retired from recording full-length albums. His vocal problems worsened, affecting not only his ability to sing, but also to speak. In 2003, BMG released a collection of three albums entitled
El Principe Con Trio with some of his greatest hits recorded between 1969 and 1983, separated from the original accompaniment, remastered and accompanied by the guitar
trio "Los Tres Caballeros", transforming them into boleros. In 2007, he won a
TVyNovelas Award for best supporting actor for his work in
La Fea Más Bella. In 2008, José recorded an emotive song called "Volver a creer" ("Believe Again") with Greek composer
Yanni. The song is included on the album
Yanni Voices. Yanni stated that he wanted to "help a true legend to fulfill his dream, to sing again". José José was invited by Yanni to sing their song live on Yanni's tour in Mexico. He published his
autobiography Esta es mi vida (
This is My Life). In 2010, he released
José José Ranchero, another concept album with some of his greatest hits, separated from the original accompaniment, remastered and accompanied with mariachi, giving his classics a traditional Mexican sound. The same year, José launched his own perfume, called simply "José José", the profits from sales help women and children sick with HIV/AIDS. in 2011. José was planning a new, untitled album, adding that it would consist of nine unreleased tracks and a melody he used to sing in serenades "Que viva mi tristeza", from songwriter Armando Manzanero. It was never completed due to his vocal problems. In 2011, he went on the short Mexican tour "José José y sus amigos" (José José and friends), with singers
Dulce, Carlos Cuevas,
Celso Piña, and
Chamin Correa. In 2012, as a celebration for his 50-year career, José gave a concert at the
Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Miami, his final live performance.
2024: "Ya no pienso en ti" On 25 September 2024,
Sony Music Mexico released through
Spotify the inedit single "Ya no pienso en ti", song recorded by José José in
London in 1978 for the album
Lo Pasado, Pasado. == Personal life ==