He is wholeheartedly grateful for the success of the song.
“Feliz Navidad” is at number 10 Spotify’s List of Most Streamed Holiday Tracks of All Time And singer-songwriter Jose Feliciano — who recorded the hit in just 10 minutes in 1970 — told The Post he never thought it would still be so popular.
“I never in a million years would have dreamed something like this,” he said.
Feliciano, now 79, credits the enduring appeal of the catchy tune to its simplicity and message of unity.
“I think because it’s a simple little song that’s meant to bring people together and bring them joy. We really need this more than ever,” he said.
The Puerto Rican native, who grew up with his 10 brothers in Spanish Harlem and the Bronx, said the song was partly inspired by Boogie Down.
“’Feliz Navidad’ brought me back to my Christmas time at home as a little boy in Puerto Rico and then later to New York and the Bronx, which was one of the places we lived until we moved to California. That’s where I finally recorded my Christmas LP,” he said.
Feliciano, who was blind since birth, said he is not sure whether all fans of his Christmas classic are aware of his disability.
“I don’t know. It doesn’t really matter, I don’t think…probably not,” he said.
“I don’t seem particularly blind, I don’t think.”
He taught himself guitar, and as a teenager took classical guitar lessons at the Lighthouse for the Blind, which was on East 59th Street in Midtown.
“I wanted to play guitar and I wanted to play it well,” said Feliciano, who started performing in Greenwich Village.
“I wanted to be an artist but I never dreamed of the path God had created for me.”
Whether it’s the holiday season or not, Feliciano gets requests to play the tune in public.
“I get asked to sing it any time of the year,” he said.
When asked where in the world he had heard this song, he replied, “Oh my God, don’t be too clever, but where haven’t I heard it?”
“But seriously, all over Europe, South Africa, Japan, Korea, Turkey, China, Israel, the islands of the South Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, really. Almost everywhere, I guess,” Feliciano said, adding that he has visited more than 100 countries.
“What can I say, I am blessed.”
