Jose was born blind, to humble beginnings on September 10, 1945, in Lares, Puerto Rico. One of eleven 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. Young Jose learned to play the concertina at age six, using a handful of records as his teacher. At eight, he performed for his classmates at PS 57, and at nine, performed at The Puerto Rican Theater. Wanting to venture beyond the accordion, he taught himself to play the guitar with undaunted determination and again, with nothing but records as his teacher for as many as 14 hours a day. Exposed to the rock-n-roll of the 50's, Jose was then inspired to sing.

    At 17, Jose quit school. His father was not working at the time and he needed to help his family. He played coffee houses in Greenwich Village and for his salary they passed the hat. He played his first professional engagement that same year in Detroit. Shortly thereafter, a music critic writing of his performance at Gerde's Folk City referred to him as a "10-fingered wizard who romps, runs, rolls, picks and reverberates his six strings in an incomparable fashion." And added, "If you want to witness the birth of a star, catch Mr. Feliciano before he leaves tomorrow night."

    One of Jose's most memorable moments came the day he joined other entertainment legends in having his star permanently implanted on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. (In respect to similar accolades, Jose has also been given a star on the Walk of Fame in his native Puerto Rico alongside Jose Ferrer and Raul Julia. In addition, in recent months, Jose had his hands cast for the world famous Wall of Fame in Madame Tussaud's in London, England.

    From a historical point of view, it should be noted that Jose was the first artist to ever stylize the National Anthem and performed it publicly, he did so during the world series on October 7, 1968 and it was the first time the anthem became a charted Top-40 recording. He opened the door for new generations of stylization; the national anthem is rarely sung in it's strictly traditional form since his historic performance.

Feliciano and his wife, Susan, have been together since 1971. In 1988 they had a daughter, Melissa Anne, and in 1991 with their first son, Jonathan Jose. In 1995 Jose and Susan had their third child, Michael Julian. They live in a 268 year-old riverfront colonial home in Fairfield county, Connecticut. Jose's passions include writing, recording in his studio, baseball, both playing and listening to it on the radio, and being a dad.

    The end of 1994 brought one of Jose's greatest honors, an invitation to Rome to star on "Christmas at the Vatican" and to have a private audience with Pope John Paul II.

    During the last two years , Jose had performed over 150 concerts in over 40 countries. In the planning stages are a documentary on the Life and Music of Jose Feliciano, a home video entitled "Around The World with Jose Feliciano", a "How To" instructional guitar video, a line of custom made "Jose Feliciano Model" guitars and the opening of the first "Jose Feliciano's" restaurant in Las Vegas. Jose has also been approached by coffee and fragrance companies to lend his name to a line of distinctive upper-market products!