José María Padilla Requena (4 December 1955 – 18 October 2020) was a Spanish

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...

and producer of ambient music, best known for his work as DJ in the

Café del Mar A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-caf ...

bar on the island of Ibiza.

Career

Born in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, Spain, Padilla moved to Ibiza in 1975, taking up the DJ residency at Café del Mar in 1991. In 1994, he

compiled In computing, a compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primarily used for programs that ...

the first ''Cafe del Mar'' album for the

React REACT or React may refer to: Science and technology *REACT (telescope), a telescope at Fenton Hill Observatory, New Mexico, US Computing * React (JavaScript library) , a JavaScript library for building user interfaces, from Facebook ** React Nati ...

label. The series is now in its 25th volume and has spun off several related compilations, as well as leading to the creation of the bar's own eponymous label. Padilla selected tracks for the first six, as well as the 20th-anniversary commemorative release. While several tracks of Padilla's appeared in his various compilations, it was not until 1998 that he released his first album, ''Souvenir'', on

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it i ...

label. The CD featured collaborations with several chill-out musicians, including Lenny Ibizarre and Paco Fernández. His second album, ''Navigator'', was released in 2001. The album received a

Latin Grammy The Latin Grammy Awards are an award by The Latin Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the Latin music industry. The Latin Grammy honors works recorded in Spanish or Portuguese from anywhere around the world that has been ...

nomination for Best Instrumental Album. Padilla was no longer the resident DJ at Café del Mar, but toured around the world. However, in November 2007 a new compilation series called ''Bella Musica'', unrelated to Café del Mar, was released. In 2011, the new CD compilation "Here Comes the Sunset" (Volume 4) came out and after many years Padilla has been connected to another beach, this time in Italy,

Fregene Fregenae ( el, ; it, Fregene), was a maritime town of ancient Etruria, situated between Alsium and the mouth of the Tiber. The modern Fregene is an Italian hamlet (''frazione'') of Fiumicino, in the Metropolitan City of Rome, Lazio. As of 2012 i ...

. In 2015, Padilla made his new album ''So Many Colours'' available for streaming through Resident Advisor, before general release on International Feel. Padilla returned to

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

's Essential Mix decks in mid August 2015 for the first time in 20 years, with an eclectic two-hour "Masters" set. Padilla revealed in July 2020 that he had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer at the age of 64. Padilla died in Ibiza, Spain on 18 October 2020 at the age of 64, after a battle with colon cancer.

Discography

Below are the albums compiled in part by José Padilla:

References

External links

Jose Padilla - HomeJosé PadillaJose Padilla interview at PACHA NEWSBlue Note Beach Classics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Padilla, Jose 1955 births 2020 deaths Musicians from Barcelona Club DJs Ambient musicians Chill-out musicians Deaths from cancer in Spain Deaths from colorectal cancer