José José

José Romulo Sosa Ortíz, aka José José, was a Mexican singer and actor who had a career singing Latin ballads and pop and also experimented in jazz and bossa nova.

He was born into a musically-talented family; his father an operatic tenor and his mother a classical pianist. In his late teens, he later joined a bossa nova/jazz band called Los Peg, but had his first breakthrough after an introduction from a friend's sister led him to recording his self-titled debut album in 1969. He went on to release dozens more, culminating in his last studio album 'Tenampo' in 2001 when José retired from recording albums due to the strain on his vocals.

He had hits with 'La Nave del Olvido', 'El Triste.', 'De Pueblo en Pueblo', 'El Príncipe' and 'Gavilano Paloma'. He has also recorded, in Spanish, a version of the song 'New York, New York' by Frank Sinatra and joined up with other Latin performers Julio Iglesias, Plácido Domingo and Vicente Fernández on the charity single 'Cantaré, Cantarás' in 1985. In 1986 he duetted with José Feliciano on the track 'Por Ella' which received a nomination at the Grammy Awards in the same year.

He also starred in a number of film productions including 'Un Sueño de Amor' (1972) and 'Sueño' (2005) and had a role in the telenovela 'La Fea Más Bella' from 2006-2007.

After suffering various long-term health problems, José died age 71 on 28th September 2019.