About 80% of José Feliciano's music was recorded in Spanish. The 20% that's in English are mostly pop covers that he routinely aced. His version of the Doors' Light My Fire reached No. 3 on Billboard's pop chart in 1968 (the Doors' hit No. 1 in '67) and is arguably on par with the original. And José's version of Stevie Wonder's Golden Lady in 1975 was a dance hit. [Photo above of José Feliciano courtesy of YouTube]
It's Friday, so here are 10 of my favorite José Feliciano clips—nine covers and one original TV show theme. To read my 2014 WSJ "House Call" interview with José, go here...
Here's Light My Fire in 1968...
Here's Golden Lady in 1975..
Here's Elton John' Daniel in 1996...
Here's the Rascals' Groovin' in May of this year, during the pandemic, with Jay Stollman, Veronica Martell and Beth Iovinelli...
Here's José singing James Taylor's Fire & Rain with Daryl Hall...
Here's Michael Jackson's Billie Jean...
Here's Billy Joel's Just the Way You Are...
Here's José's Chico and the Man theme in 1974...
Here's José and Johnny Cash singing Guess Things Happen That Way...
And here's George Harrison's My Sweet Lord (or Ronnie Mack's He's So Fine recorded by the Chiffons)...