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José Alfredo Jiménez

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

José Alfredo Jiménez (1926 to 1973) was a Mexican actor and singer-songwriter whose songs are regarded as the foundation of modern regional Mexican music and the ranchera. He was born in Dolores Hidalgo, in the state of Guanajuato. His father died when he was ten, and his mother moved with the family to Mexico City. He worked from a young age to contribute to the family income, including as a waiter in a restaurant. There he began writing and singing songs with a group, Los Rebeldes. As a boy he liked playing goalkeeper.

Music and breakthrough

The singer Miguel Aceves Mejía says he discovered him. According to him, Jiménez played no instrument and did not even know the Spanish word for waltz. On Mejía's instructions he auditioned at the radio station XEW, together with the Mariachi Vargas and Rubén Fuentes. He sang a cappella, including Ella. Mejía then recorded Ella, Yo, Serenata huasteca and Tu recuerdo y yo. Jiménez went on to write more than a thousand songs, including Me equivoqué contigo, Paloma querida, Media vuelta, El Rey, El jinete, Amanecí en tus brazos, and Que te vaya bonito, and Camino de Guanajuato, in which he sings of his home state.

Influence

His songs are about love, loss, pride and drink, in simple language that everyone knows. One of his last television appearances, in 1973, was for his last song, Gracias, together with his wife, the singer Alicia Juárez. He died that same year at the age of forty-seven in Mexico City of complications from cirrhosis of the liver. His albums, such as Ella… la que se fue from 1958 and La enorme distancia from 1961, are still being reissued.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Que te vaya bonito and notice the mariachi accompaniment with trumpets and violins, and the plain, honest way in which the singer sings of a farewell.

Discography

Studio albums

Categories: Artists