José Alberto “EL CANARIO” Was born December 22, 1958 in Villaconsuelo, Sant Domingo in the Dominican Republic. At the age of 7, he moved to Puerto Rico with his family. During this time, he was inspired by the rich dominican culture that he went to sing at Las Antillas Military Academy. He then relocated to New York in the early 1970s where he sang in several orchestras. During this time, he gained more recognition and even gained international attention for his abilities in singing tropical music. Because of his exceptional whistling abilities which improvise as if he is playing a traverse flute, fans nicknamed him El Canario “The Canary”.
He has gained much success throughout the United States and Europe but especially throughout Latin America, specifically in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Peru, Venezuela, Panama, and Ecuador. On May 24th, 2008 Jose Alberto “El Canario” celebrated 30 years in the music industry at the United Palace Theater in New York City. Several special guest such as Oscar D’Leon, Joe Arroyo, and Ralph Mercado were in attendance to honor El Canario.
In October 1977, he became the singer of Tipica 73 which gained attraction internationally. In 1983, he began his own music career. He hired a well-known group of artists allowing him to form his own group, Jose Alberto “El Canario” y su Orquesta. He debuted with Noches Calientes in 1984. In 1991, he released his album dance with me where he established a new style of salsa: Salsa Romántica. This featured hit song “Sueño Contigo”. In 1999, he was one of the artists selected to perform at the biggest Latin American Festival in Australian history.