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José Padilla

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

José Padilla (1955 to 2020) was a Spanish DJ and producer of ambient music, best known as the DJ at the bar Café del Mar in Ibiza. He was born in Barcelona and moved to Ibiza in 1975. For years he sold mixtapes at the bar and there, in 1991, he got the resident DJ slot. By his own account he sold a hundred mixtapes a day and went from door to door in London looking for a record deal.

Music and breakthrough

In 1994 he compiled the first Café del Mar album for the London label React. The series now runs to twenty-five volumes, with a number of related compilations, and led to the bar's own label. Padilla chose the tracks for the first six volumes and for the twentieth-anniversary release. His first album of his own, Souvenir, was released in 1998 on Mercury Records, with contributions from chill-out musicians such as Lenny Ibizarre and Paco Fernández. Navigator from 2001 received a Latin Grammy nomination for best instrumental album.

Influence

Later he was no longer a resident DJ at Café del Mar, but he performed worldwide. In 2007 the compilation series Bella Musica was released, separate from Café del Mar. In 2015 So Many Colours was released and in August of that year he played an Essential Mix on BBC Radio 1 for the first time in twenty years. His name is linked to a particular idea of relaxation: music for the sunset hour. He died in 2020 of bowel cancer.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to a track from Souvenir from 1998 and notice the slow tempo, the soft synthesizers and the guitar, which together create a sunset atmosphere.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Categories: Artists