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50 years of 'Feliz Navidad': Fun facts about José Feliciano's holiday hit, livestream concert
Charles Runnells
Fort Myers News-Press
José Feliciano wrote the song to unite people with its holiday cheer and its bilingual lyrics — both in Spanish and English.
Fifty years later, "Feliz Navidad" remains as popular as ever.
It's appeared in movies and TV shows. It's been covered by musical artists as diverse as Celine Dion, Kacey Musgraves and BTS.
And it's been heard on the radio by an estimated 3.8 billion people, according to Billboard — where "Feliz Navidad" remains one of the top 10 best-performing songs on its Holiday 100 chart.
"For some reason, this little song has united everyone," the 75-year-old Feliciano recently told NBC's "TODAY" show. "Nobody can get angry that you made them sing 'Feliz Navidad' because it's in Spanish. Nobody can get angry because you made them sing the English part.
"I wanted to wish you a merry Christmas. And I think it's wonderful."
Now the Puerto Rico native will celebrate the song's big anniversary with a streaming concert Sunday. The show comes one month after he released a re-recorded version of "Feliz Navidad" with an all-star cast of singers, including CNCO, Jon Secada, Jason Mraz, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Gloria Gaynor, Big & Rich, Michael Bolton and Styx.
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Feliciano — who has family in Southwest Florida and even lived in Lehigh Acres at one point — couldn't be reached for comment. Two of his publicists didn't respond to interview requests.
But in a news release for Sunday's concert, the singer-guitarist said he looks forward to the event, which will be livestreamed from his Connecticut home.
"While I wish we all could be together in person, I'm so happy to be able to celebrate the holidays … with my family and friends around the world," he said. "Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!"
Here's everything you need to know about the Christmas hit and Sunday's concert:
'Feliz Navidad's' popularity
"Feliz Navidad" is one of the most played and recorded Christmas songs in the world. It was part of Feliciano's 1970 self-titled holiday album, later renamed "Feliz Navidad."
The song wasn't an immediate hit, though. "First people had to get used to it," Feliciano told CBS Sunday Morning on Dec. 13. "Then the year after, it caught on big."
Since then, the song has charted on the Billboard Hot 100 many times over the year, and it's appeared in movies such as "The Grinch" and in TV shows from "All in the Family" to "Glee."
"'Feliz Navidad' is a beloved holiday favorite for listeners around the world," said Gabriela Gonzalez of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in a press release about the song's 50th anniversary. "Over the last year it was performed in nearly 90 countries, from Argentina to Canada, Norway, Israel, South Africa, India, Japan and New Zealand, to name a few."
How Feliciano wrote the song
A producer urged Feliciano to write an original Christmas song for his 1970 holiday album, and Feliciano says he came up with "Feliz Navidad" within minutes.
"I said, 'Well, OK,' and I started humming a couple of notes," he told The News-Press in 2010. "I wrote it bilingual so that radio stations had no excuse but to play it. It covered everybody."
Feliciano wanted a song that would unite all people with its positive message and bilingual lyrics.
"My thought when I wrote the song was that it didn't matter what language you were singing in," he told the Associated Press in November. "The feeling of Christmas is privy to all of us."
Feliciano said he was stuck in a Los Angeles recording studio and he missed his 11 brothers and extended family. They had always celebrated Noche Buena — otherwise known as Christmas Eve — by drinking rum, caroling and eating traditional Puerto Rican dishes.
He ended up channeling those feelings into "Feliz Navidad."
"It was expressing the joy that I felt on Christmas and the fact that I felt very lonely," he said in a Dec. 14 NPR article. "I missed my family, I missed Christmas carols with them. I missed the whole Christmas scene."
He sang the song and also played guitar and cuatro — a traditional, 10-stringed Puerto Rican instrument that his uncle had taught him.
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What the lyrics mean
It's a simple song: Just 19 words in English and Spanish, repeated over a 3-minute run time.
"Musically, it's simplistic, but that doesn't take away from the charm of the song at all," musician Bobby Sanabria, co-director of the Bronx Music Heritage Center, told NPR. "'Feliz Navidad's' one of those kind of songs that, like 'Happy Birthday,' it's very, very iconic. And anybody can sing it."
Only six of those words are in Spanish: "Feliz Navidad, próspero año y felicidad." Translation: "Merry Christmas, prosperous year and happiness."
The other 13 words are English: "I wanna wish you a merry Christmas, from the bottom of my heart."
More about Feliciano
Jose Feliciano is considered to be the first Spanish-speaking musician to find huge crossover success in the United States.
The Puerto Rican-born performer disputes that notion, though, pointing to Ritchie Valens of "La Bamba" fame (Valens, however, didn't actually speak Spanish).
Besides "Feliz Navidad," Feliciano had other hits in the '60s and '70s, including his No. 1 cover of The Doors' "Light My Fire" in 1968 and the hit theme song for the '70s TV show "Chico and the Man."
He's won three Grammy Awards, and Guitar Player magazine lists him in its "Gallery of Greats."
He's also famous for his controversial version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at a 1968 World Series game in Detroit. Many fans objected to Feliciano's soulful, Latin-jazz take on the anthem.
More:Jose Feliciano paid a price when he sang National Anthem 50 years ago, but he has no regrets
His mixed feelings about 'Feliz Navidad'
Feliciano has said he's proud of "Feliz Navidad," but he's also frustrated by its legacy. Many people know that song and little else.
"At times, it can be an albatross," he told The News-Press in 2010. "Unfortunately, the radio stations in this country don't play me the rest of the year."
Feliciano said he prefers to be famous for other reasons: His cover of The Doors' "Light My Fire," for example. Or for being the first successful rock musician to play a nylon string guitar.
Still, 50 years after recording the song, he says he's come to terms with "Feliz Navidad" and its fame.
"I just want the song to be remembered," he told CBS Sunday Morning. "And if they mention my name along with what they remember, then even better."
The concert
Feliciano will perform his hits and Christmas classics Sunday from his home in Connecticut. The concert starts at 7 p.m.
The livestreamed show has been dubbed the "Feliz Navidad 50th (FN50) Anniversary Livestream Concert." It will be hosted by Grammy award-winning producer Rudy Perez.
It also features appearances by Andrés Cepeda, Austin Jenckes, Haley Reinhart, Kalsey Kulyk, Lawrence Gowan of Styx and more.
Tickets are $13. Other ticket packages are available with commemorative posters, a virtual meet and greet, and more perks.
Learn more at feliznavidad50th.com.
Connect with this reporter: Charles Runnells (Facebook), @charlesrunnells (Twitter), @crunnells1 (Instagram)