My parents did not want us to lose our culture and our language. And that was a good thing.
I did whole Latin albums and it was like Beatlemania for me in the Latin world, the screaming girls, not being able to leave the hotel, at the airport met by screaming fans. That was something!
My first memory of playing music was when I was 3 years old in Puerto Rico. I played percussion on a tin can behind my uncle, who played the cuatro.
I was growing up at a time when music was growing and changing so fast. I had learned all the big band sounds of the 1940s, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey. But then along came Chuck Berry, Les Paul, Fats Domino and I figured out how to make their music as well.
I taught myself until I was about 16. And then I studied classical guitar with some teachers.
When I first heard Bob Dylan, I'll be honest, I didn't like him. But I was shallow of mind and didn't understand the poetry. I just judged him on his singing and his guitar playing.
I'm kind of iffy on the Latin Grammys because I think we fought so hard, for example, to get the American side of the Grammys to open categories for us... But I support the Latin Grammys in the sense I'm glad that we have them.
I'm in a museum. I'm a relic.
God did not want me to be a blind beggar on the street, alone and bitter. He gave me music, first to be my companion and then to be my salvation.
I'm lucky that I can play all kinds of music, that it appeals to all of the generations.
It taught the English to speak Spanish and it taught the Spanish to speak English. If we had more songs such as that, it would solve the immigration problem in a hurry. But there can't be another 'Feliz Navidad.'
Playing guitar was a calling, but I never realized that it was going to be a career. It was just something I did out of love.
If I were to travel with all my instruments, I would need a truck.
One thing about computers and iPhones is they're making people mentally lazy.
I have genuine respect for women and I want to win their respect. I don't want them to look at me and say, 'Oh, another man with the same attitudes as most men.'
I just happened to be Latino, and like any artist, I was trying to forge a career. If I opened doors for others, that's great, but nobody starts out with those aspirations.
Some people wanted me deported - as if you can be deported to Puerto Rico.
The fact I'm blind has been a great help to my career. If I'd been sighted I'd have played baseball and got into trouble like all other kids on my block.
Pioneers will always get the stones, when everyone later gets the accolades.
I'm very proud being Puerto Rican. I'm American. That is what America is made of - people from different lands.
