Jose Alfredo Jimenez: Proud of Mexico

Jose Alfredo Jiménez was born to a poor but small, beautiful and united family in Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato, Mexico.  As a little child, Jose Alfredo Jimenez always revealed his passion for music, especially for singing.  It is impressive how Jimenez with only nine years was already writing songs that his friends loved to sing and learn from memory.  In spite of the fact that his parents wanted and encouraged him to become a doctor, he was not interested in school at all.  Nonetheless, their parents finally realized that all his potential was music-oriented and that he had everything necessary in order to get to be what he is today: a magnificent idol.

However, this does not mean it was easy for him to get into the music world.  It was not until 1950 that he recorded the single called “Yo” with the band Conjunto Los Costeños. After that, “Ella”, which got to be a well-liked song, came to be #1 not only in Mexico, but also in the United States.  Thirdly, the song “El Jinete”, which he wrote when he was 11 years old, was released.  Among his most successful singles, we can find “Cuatro Caminos”, “El Cobarde”, Sucedio en la Barranca” and “Que Suerte la Mia” and several others.

Moreover, Jose Alfredo Jimenez got even more popularity through cinema.  His music was popularized throughout the interpretations of great legends, including Pedro Infante and Pedro Vargas.  Besides, his songs allowed other artists to get very popular.  Among these artists, Lola Beltran, Amalia Mendoza and Lucha Villa are outstanding.  Other stars such as Pual Anka, Raphael, Vikki Carr and Camilo Sesto have made their own interpretations of Jose Alfredo Jimenez’s songs.  In this way, he got to be a worldwide famous singer that will be forever proud of Latin America.