"I'm not a Latin Artist...
...no more than Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder are African artists-know what I'm saying? I do Latin music, but I've always tried to make it as an international artist. I don't play that much Latin music, not because I don't like to, but because I never started out as a specialized performer. The reason that I turned to Latin music in the midSixties was so I could get on their charts often enough to have at least some influence on the American charts. I was one of the first artists to have bilingual careers going at the same time".
This is how Jose' Feliciano clearly defined his music during an interview with the authoritative "Guitar Playing Magazine" back in 1978, at a time when his album sales were slipping but he was still considered one of the world's major pop stars. There was at that time an expectation that, any time soon, Jose' would have a new international hit that would take him back to the very top of the charts, where he had been during the late 60's and the first part of the 70's. Jose' himself said that this new Hit song was ready, but somehow it never materialized.
What happened instead was his sudden departure from the music scene for four years; a period during which little was heard from him or about him. Only in 1981 the Motown record label tried to re-establish his position in the english market with a very contemporary sounding album (I Wanna Be Where You Are), followed by the spanish album "Escenas de Amor" which was to become a big hit in the latin american market, effectively turning Feliciano into a major"Latin Artist".
After this turn in his career,
several attempts were made to put him back in the english charts
without any significant results. Many producers and managers
followed, with moderate success.
The great Rick Jarrard produced a splendid
album in 1983, called "Romance in the Night", but it
failed to make an impact in the world's charts. Many record labels
also tried in vain to restore Jose' Feliciano to his former status
of global pop/soul music superstar: the already mentioned Motown,
RCA (where Jose' returned after several years ), EMI/Capitol
and his present record company, Polygram. 
Jose's career continued to thrive in the latin musical markets, where his status as a major artist is solidly established. Jose' has been promising his fans an english language album for many years (his last one dates back to 1989) but no record company seems to be interested in such a project. Yet he has been and still remains one of the greatest performers of "soul" music, with no equal when it comes to composing, singing, playing, performing and personalizing any genre of music with incredible ease.
Jose' is the recipient of five
awards as best Pop guitar musician and can play over 30 different
musical instruments. When you see him perform at one of the many
venues where he appears every year (over 120 on average!) you
marvel at the breadth of his musical talent.
It is difficult to condense Jose's career,
not only his "latin" period that has lasted for twenty
years, but even his heyday years, 1968 and thereafter, the days
of "Light My Fire" and his two Grammys. 
Almost immediately after these great achievements,
his fortunes started a downwards turn: according to some, part
of the blame goes to his controversial rendition of the National
Anthem at the 1968 World Series. In those days when the VietNam
war was causing a painful split in American society, many americans
reacted negatively and 40% of all U.S. radio stations boycotted
Jose' Feliciano and his records. Some blame RCA Records for dropping
him too soon from its front roster, even though his albums of
the seventies deserved better support. Many wonder what the Feliciano-Jarrard
team might have produced if they had continued their incredibly
successful cooperation. Jose' in 1971 was still maturing artistically
and his association with Rick Jarrard may yet have produced a
few masterworks; but perhaps Jose's faltering career has also
been blamed on his immediate entourage in all these years. 
All this is mere conjecture, of course, we have no way of knowing the real reasons behind his diminished standing in the pop music scene: probably they all contain some measure of truth. And it is also a truth that he has been for too many years forgotten and dismissed by the mainstream popular music in Europe and in the 'States.
It is comforting to know that the latin audiences have never forsaken him, in fact they made him a symbol of their music and of their culture throughout the world.
Our site does not wish to diminish the importance of this "latin" side of Jose' Feliciano's career.We really love latin music and it has greatly and positively influenced popular music at large, especially now with many latin artists at the top of the world charts then surely should thanked Jose: the first crossover artist of the pop music world.
We are trying to keep alive the "International Pop-Soul" side of Jose' Feliciano's musical career and, perhaps, through our modest efforts, a record company shall be inspired into reviving and renewing this side of this great artist.
And anyway, how We doin to categorize "Latin" a fantastic artist then can do anything?!?!?
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