Mexican singer Jose Jose dies at 71

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Mexican singer Jose Jose dies at 71

Jose Jose, a velvety-voiced Mexican crooner who was wildly popular in Latin America over a 50-year career that spawned love song after love song, has died, the Mexican government and his son said Saturday. He was 71.

Jose Sosa Ortiz, known as the “principe de la cancion,” or prince of song, had suffered from pancreatic cancer.

“We regret to report the death of singer Jose Romulo Sosa, better known as Jose Jose ... since the beginning of his career, the singer of ‘El Triste’ was one of the most beloved voices in Mexico,” the country’s Culture Ministry said on Twitter.

Son Jose Joel posted images of black ribbons on his Facebook page, saying “we are trying to process the situation by having in our heart the divine promise that we will see and hold him again, never to be separated.”

Mexican broadcaster Televisa, which Jose Jose worked with for much of his career, reported that the singer died Saturday at a hospital in Homestead, Fla., near Miami.

He sold more than 120 million records during his professional life, many of them featuring songs meant to comfort jilted lovers.

In his heyday in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, he churned out hit records at a dizzying pace.

His first international hit - “La Nave del Olvido,” or “The Ship of Oblivion” - came out in 1970 and is still heard on Latin America radio stations from time to time.

Jose Jose had a penchant for mysticism, and in March 2018, when he revealed to his fans that he had been diagnosed with cancer, he blamed it on what he called negative energy surrounding him.

AFP
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