2016 collection. In February 1966, José Feliciano flew from New York to appear before seventeen thousand people at the Mar del Plata Festival in Argentina. He sang and played guitar and the crowd "almost went out of their minds". The impact was so great that he was rushed into a local studio to create these, his first, Spanish-language recordings. All across Latin America these recordings were smash hits, and the prelude to a successful international career. Influenced by Andres Segovia, Charlie Byrd, Luiz Bonfa and Ray Charles, José Feliciano is arguably the world's greatest living guitarist. Born blind as a consequence of congenital glaucoma, he displayed musical promise in infancy and at just nine years of age decided on the guitar, the instrument which would make him a household name. With Astrud Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim, he was one of the first Latin artists to cross over into the North America mainstream, releasing over 65 albums, which have provided him with over 45 gold and platinum albums, six Grammy awards and sixteen Grammy nominations.