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One of the highest honors afforded to a few is being paid tribute
at El Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City |
After
eleven days since his passing
José José finally reached
Mexican soil...not in the way most Mexicans or his
second family would have envisioned...but at least in
Mexico none the less. Not going to go into details as many of you are a lot more
computer savvy than I...you can
Google all the hurdles his children from his
second marriage had to endure.
The
live coverage began at
ten o'clock in the Spanish speaking networks. I have to give
kudos to
Telemundo for knocking the former number one Hispanic network
Univision out of the ballpark. Their coverage lasted
six hours and they had reporters at all the
iconic locations that were on the schedule.
If you are not familiar with
José José or why the
Hispanic community is so
grief stricken...perhaps if I
equate his passing to a
Frank Sinatra you might be better able to understand how his nation viewed him.
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Two roses and an old-time mike laid
at the foot of his coffin.
|
I am not throwing out
Frank Sinatra's name in
vain...many may not know that after hearing him in
1970...at the
OTI festival the first to be broadcast worldwide via satellite...
Frank became a
fan and wanted to record an
album with
José José. Unfortunately, José José's
record company did not allow him to do so.
 |
Marysol Sosa his daughter from his second marriage
with the granddaughter, he never got to meet because
of the family drama between family 2 and 3. |
Frank Sinatra crossed the border at
Tijuana to go hear him sing. At the time he
warned him to take care of his
voice as he was beginning his
downward spiral.
Frank gifted José José a
diamond ring something that even when he was in dire financial straits
José José
never considered selling.
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The religious ceremony held at the Basilica de Guadalupe
a shrine deep and close to his heart. |
There are so many anecdotes...too many to cover in this blog but worthwhile reading if you care to do so and to be able to understand why Mexico and Spanish speaking countries across the globe mourn his passing.
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His daughter Marysol singing a song to
her beloved father at La Basilica de Guadalupe |
I cried, I laughed, I was in deep thought as to how he had
personally impacted my life. What you hear everywhere is how he was such a down to earth, humble individual who when you were in his presence...he made
YOU feel like you were the
superstar rather than vice-versa.
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There was a lot of controversy when Anel his second wife and
mother of his two eldest children supposedly took the place
of the grieving widow. |
His wishes were always to be
buried next to his
mother in Mexico City. Nowhere was the word "
cremate" ever-present. However, his
third wife Sara (a Cuban-American) and
Florida family decided to do just that. His
two eldest children from his second marriage tried to go to court to impede it but were
unsuccessful and only granted a
two-day reprieve to keep his body from being cremated.
 |
José Joel his eldest son sang at a park where a statue in his honor
was dedicated ten years ago and where he was
revered by the locals. |
The
Mexican Consulate in Miami tried to broker a deal but
the Sarita's (first name of his third wife and also the name of the daughter he had with her) put up a lot of
roadblocks. His oldest children wanted his
un-cremated remains to be taken to
Mexico for all the tributes and then returned to the
USA but there was a lack of trust on both sides.
He ended up being
cremated in
Florida and the ashes being
halved between the
dueling families. Half of him ended being buried next to his
beloved mother but not like he had envisioned...just his
ashes.
His passing is being covered very differently in the Mexican versus the USA Hispanic media. All I have to say is...
"Descansa en Paz, El Príncipe de la Canción tú pueblo te ama y te venera. Tú eres Mexicano y finalmente estas en tu tierra y con tu gente que te ama."
