Given the Spanish Yuletide classic’s popularity during the past years, did you know that José Feliciano’s Feliz Navidad is turning 50 this year?
By: Ringo Bones
In every interview during the past decades, José Feliciano readily admits he wasn’t thinking of writing a Christmas classic when, almost on the fly, he first sang: “Feliz Navidad, Feliz Navidad, proóspero año y felicidad.” And during the intervening years, the now Spanish language Yuletide classic has managed to survive being disco-fied during the disco boom years. Weirder still, José Feliciano probably pioneered writing a de-facto song about celebrating Christmas in parts of the world that never gets snow – probably inspiring Jimmy Buffett to write Christmas in the Caribbean and his Christmas Island album years later, perhaps?
Even though I’ve practically grew up listening to this Yuletide classic – given the song is only two years older than me – I’ve always thought that Feliz Navidad was much older, perhaps dating back at least to the Middle Ages composed by a Spanish monk in a monastery back then. It was only during the late 1980s that I’ve found out that this was originally composed by José Feliciano back in 1970 during a recording session for a Christmas album with Rick Jarrard, who would become Feliciano’s trusted producer and friend over the years. At the time, it was Jarrard who floated the idea of a Christmas song in Spanish. And Feliciano, in the middle of recording in the summer, wrote what would become one of the most enduring Christmas songs of all time.
Sadly, due to the COVID-19 pandemic putting a damper on celebrating this Spanish language Yuletide classic, nevertheless, a plan to release a 50th Anniversary tribute to Feliz Navidad got ahead. Produced by longtime friend and producer Rudy Pérez, “Feliz Navidad 50th Anniversary (FN50)” was released by Anthem Records as an Amazon exclusive at the end of November 2020. The recording sessions were done in July 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, but had been planned since 2019.
