José Luis Rodríguez

Best-selling Venezuelan vocalist, actor, and entrepreneur Jose Luis Rodríguez (aka El Puma) ranks among the world's foremost interpreters of Latin folk song. His crystalline tenor has delivered hits across boleros, romanticas, mariachis, and pop songs for more than five decades. Success registered through radio airplay, global concert halls, retail and streaming sales, and screen roles on television and in film. From 1987 to 2007 his albums remained steady chart presences throughout Latin America and the United States alike, yielding more than ten entries in the Top 200 plus 21 singles across various Latin charts, among them "Baila Mi Rumba," "Dueño de Nada," "Pavo Real," and "Agárrense de las Manos." So dominant was El Puma in the '80s that CBS International signed him away from his prior label to shield its own male roster from direct chart competition. Spanning 1979's Una Canción de España to 1997's Inolvidable, he accumulated six platinum and nine gold certifications. Beyond his signature voice, Rodríguez built an international television profile through recurring appearances in more than a dozen telenovelas. Subsequent releases such as 2002's Mujer and the 2003 duo project Clave de Amor with Raul Di Blasio also achieved major commercial impact. Following 2009's Mi Amigo el Puma he stepped away from recording for eight years amid serious health issues, then resurfaced with the duets collection Immenso in 2017, six months prior to life-saving surgery.

Jose Luis "El Puma" Rodríguez entered the world in Caracas in 1943 as one of twelve children born to a Spanish father and a Venezuelan mother. Cirrhosis of the liver claimed his father when the future singer was six. Severe poverty kept Rodríguez from regular schooling, as he worked to support the household and remained illiterate until adulthood. Music entered his life only in 1960, when, at seventeen, he joined the Platters tribute act Los Zeppys. Three years later Billo & His Caracas Boys, the storied Latin ensemble established in 1940, recruited him. He stayed four years, absorbed the craft, and made his recording debut with the group in 1966 on the albums Nuestro Balance and Voces de Billo, Vol. I. Critical attention arrived for his bolero readings; in interviews he named Carlos Gardel, Pedro Infante, and Elvis Presley as primary vocal influences.

Venezuela's state-owned television network hired Rodríguez away from Billo & His Caracas Boys for the telenovela Angelica, launching a screen career that eventually encompassed dozens of parts, from romantic leads in Cristina Bazán to a drug-dealer portrayal as Puma in 2016's Border Cartel. Although he cut two solo albums for Velvet in 1966, 1969's Grito al Mundo cemented his reputation as a vocalist. Later that year, still acting, he accepted a one-album contract with Epic; El Triunfador failed to chart yet its singles enjoyed extensive radio exposure. While acting dominated his schedule, he secured a multi-album deal with Venezuela's Top Hits label, remaining there from 1972 to 1982. International breakthrough arrived during this stretch via albums such as El Hombre en la Cima (1972), De America... (1976), and the award-winning bestseller Una Canción de España (1977). Throughout the '70s and early '80s a Rodríguez single or album nearly always appeared on airplay charts across Latin America and Spain. The lead track from Una Canción de España, Manuel Alejandro's "Voy a Perder la Cabeza por Tu Amor," became so enormous that it served as theme and narrative spark for the subsequent telenovela Cristina Bazán.

In 1979 El Puma moved to Miami, Florida. He also embarked on his first U.S. tour, filling venues in Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago. CBS International lured him from Top Hits in 1981; reports suggested the label wished to prevent its leading star, Julio Iglesias, from facing direct rivalry. CBS positioned Rodríguez to dominate the market for male tenor ballad singers. His label debut, the 1982 international bestseller Dueño de Nada, topped charts and featured ten songs, eight penned by Alejandro and Ana Magdalena, with Alejandro producing; the set earned multi-platinum status and initiated a CBS run that produced five consecutive Top Ten albums, including 1986's L'Idolo.

Hit records persisted after El Puma departed CBS for Mercury. Two charting albums followed: 1987's Señor Corazón, previewed by the non-album single "Peacock," which proved so popular in Spain it became his signature theme, and 1989's Tengo Derecho a Ser Feliz. He issued the Latin pop album Esta Vez in 1990 and two mariachi collections that sold respectably yet missed the charts. Signing with Sony Discos in early 1991, Rodríguez launched another strong chart sequence with El Puma en Ritmo. All subsequent '90s releases, among them 1992's Piel de Hombre (featuring the hit duet "Torero" with rival and friend Iglesias), 1994's Razones Para Una Sonrisa, 1996's La Llamada del Amor, and the three volumes of Inolvidable with Los Panchos (1997–2001), reached the Top 20. Beyond music and acting, Rodríguez demonstrated business acumen by founding Venezuela's first music-video channel, Bravo TV, in 1995; it later became Puma TV and broadcast artist promotion, modeling, and diverse entertainment programming.

Rodríguez received a pulmonary fibromatosis diagnosis in 2000, an incurable condition that impairs breathing capacity and is typically fatal. He nonetheless sustained performances and acting roles, frequently appearing onstage beside an oxygen tank as the illness advanced. Recording continued as well: Champagne surfaced on BMG in the United States in 2002 alongside an extensive twelve-album reissue campaign, while the charting European album Mujer appeared on Ariola. The following year Clave de Amor, his collaboration with Raul Di Blasio, also charted. Rodríguez became a U.S. citizen in 2004. After independently releasing Distancia and Sabor a Mexico in 2005 he reduced activity. In 2009 he joined the cast of the telenovela Gabriel, produced for U.S. Spanish-language audiences, and issued Mi Amigo el Puma, his last new studio album for eight years.

He served as mentor and coach on the Argentinian and Peruvian editions of La Voz in 2012 and 2013, then judged X Factor Chile the next year. Live appearances grew rarer and less vigorous, yet even in increasing seclusion El Puma declined to address his health publicly. In 2016 he returned to the studio with producer Ricardo Montaner to create Immenso, a set of updated duet versions of earlier hits. Participants included Spain's Chayanne on a new rendition of the 1989 smash "Culpable Soy Yo," released as a pre-album single; Mexican vocalists Vicente Fernandez and Carlos Rivera; Spanish singer Amaia Montero; and Argentine vocalist Soledad Pastorutti. American guitarist Nile Rodgers accompanied Rodríguez on "Pavo Real." Immenso reached stores in April 2017.

El Puma underwent double-lung transplant surgery that December. Six months afterward he granted a rare interview to Colombian radio station W Radio, revealing he had been so frail before the operation that he expected to die at any moment and had awaited a miracle for several years. Because his donor was not a singer, he noted the need to retrain his voice and set a 2020 target for returning to the stage.