A Gran Canaria singer born in Telde, linked to melodic ballad, Vino griego and Bailemos un vals, with national and international projection from the 1970s.
José Velázquez Jiménez, artistically known as José Vélez, is a Gran Canaria singer born in Telde in 1951, associated with melodic ballad, Vino griego and Spain’s entry at Eurovision 1978.
Open biographyHe began in Telde as a child singer at family events, neighbourhood festivities and with Trío Maravillas, followed by a later period in Gran Canaria hotels and venues. In the late 1960s he moved to Madrid to try to enter popular song. His recording career is associated with the success of Vino griego and the television circuit of the 1970s, and in 1978 he represented Spain at Eurovision with Bailemos un vals.
His contribution to the Canary Islands music catalogue lies in representing a Gran Canaria path of melodic song with television, festival and Latin American circulation. Unlike profiles centred on folklore, timple or singer-songwriter music, José Vélez embodies a Canarian presence in the Spanish popular industry of the 1970s and an outward projection built through romantic repertory and television.
His music belongs to melodic song, ballad and Spanish-language popular pop. His most visible repertory rests on solo voice, orchestral or light-song arrangements, memorable choruses and a direct performance style aimed at television, festivals and large audiences. Although he also wrote compositions of his own, his main works include songs by other authors.
His repertory includes Vino griego as the axis of public consolidation, Bailemos un vals as the 1978 Eurovision song, and later circulating titles such as Romántica and Confidencias.
His legacy rests on a popular memory closely linked to Telde and on a career that connected Spanish melodic song with Latin American audiences. His appointment as Hijo Predilecto of Telde in 2010 reinforces that local reading: it recognises not only a music career, but also the circulation of Telde and Gran Canaria’s name on external stages.
His Canarian connection rests on his birth in Telde, his early performances in Gran Canaria, the public use of the nickname “canarito” and the municipal recognition as Hijo Predilecto of Telde.
Éxito que consolidó su proyección internacional tras su aparición en Directísimo.
Canción con la que representó a España en Eurovisión 1978, donde logró el noveno puesto.
Tema de la etapa que refuerza su vínculo simbólico entre Canarias e Hispanoamérica.
Nace en Telde, Gran Canaria, en noviembre de 1951.
Pasa sus primeros años de canto como solista infantil en el Trío Maravillas.
Se traslada a Madrid tras una primera etapa de actuaciones en Gran Canaria.
Vino griego se convierte en el eje de su consolidación pública e internacional.
Representa a España en París con Bailemos un vals y queda en noveno lugar.
El Ayuntamiento de Telde acuerda nombrarlo Hijo Predilecto de la ciudad.
