Joan Sebastian

José Manuel Figueroa Sr. (April 8, 1951 – July 13, 2015), known professionally as Joan Sebastian, was a Mexican singer and songwriter. Born in Juliantla, Guerrero, he composed more than 1,000 songs, including compositions for artists such as Bronco, Vicente Fernández, Lucero, Pepe Aguilar, and Rocío Dúrcal. The first several years of his career were primarily focused on Latin pop songs, but later focused primarily on regional Mexican music, specifically banda, mariachi, and norteño. Throughout his career, he also recorded various country songs in Spanish. Sebastian was awarded seven Latin Grammy Awards and five Grammy Awards, making him the most awarded Mexican performer in Grammy history. Known for composing "Así es la Vida", Sebastian also worked sporadically as an actor. In 1996, he made his acting debut in the Mexican soap opera Tú y Yo (You and I), sharing credits with Maribel Guardia, his former wife and mother to his son, Julian. In 2015, Sebastian died at the age of 64 of bone cancer. At the time of his death, Sebastian had two number-one albums on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart and seven top ten songs on the Hot Latin Songs chart in the United States, including "Eso Y Más", "Me Gustas", "Secreto de Amor", and "Más Allá del Sol". Early life Joan Sebastian was born in the rural town of Juliantla in Guerrero. He began composing at the age of seven. His mother enrolled him in a school near Guanajuato when he was eight years old, and returned to his hometown three years later. At age fourteen, his father sent him away to a monastery in Morelos where he was under the care of Father David Salgado. Due to the clergyman's influence on Sebastian, he considered becoming a priest. He enrolled in the Seminario Conciliar de San José in Cuernavaca, Morelos, but realized that he wanted to pursue a music career, and decided to leave the seminary to dedicate himself to music.