José Feliciano

Imagine this. The year is 1945. You live in a small village in central Puerto Rico. You have 10 brothers and sisters. You're blind.

Now imagine that by the time you turn 21, you'll be the most famous Latino artist in the world.

Meet José Feliciano, a virtuoso guitarist and one of the best known singers of the 60s and 70s. After his family moved to New York's Spanish Harlem, Feliciano spent his teens in his room absorbing rock, jazz, folk and Latin music. Signed to RCA Victor at age 18, he blended Spanish and English lyrics as well as Latino and American musical styles to create unique covers of pop hits.

At a time when Hispanics were less than three percent of the U.S. population, Feliciano hit number three on the pop charts with his cover of The Doors' Light My Fire. He was only 21. Two years later, he tempted controversy with a passionate rendition of the U.S. national anthem. At home in American music, he commanded the respect of Southern Whites on the Johny Cash show and Northern Blacks on Soul Train. His acoustic remixes, often embellished with a Latino flourish, forged a path for future crossover artists like Gloria Estefán and Ricky Martin.

By the late 1970s and through the 1980s, his fortunes were more often made in Europe but it's his 1970 bilingual hit Feliz Navidad which has come to define his musical legacy.