Widely credited as one of the pioneers of chillout music, Spanish DJ and record producer José Padilla (born on December 4th, 1955 in Barcelona) bagged a coveted residency at the iconic Ibiza bar Café del Mar in 1991, sixteen years after moving to the island and relentlessly building up his reputation as a DJ in local clubs. In 1994, Padilla began curating a series of Café del Mar compilation albums for British record label React, hand-picking its first six volumes to critical acclaim. After littering some of his own compositions throughout the CDs, he signed his 1998 debut album, Souvenir, to Mercury Records, calling upon downtempo contemporaries including Lenny Ibizarre and Sunchild for co-productions on the LP. The project was nominated for the Best Instrumental Album award at the Latin GRAMMYs. In 2001, Padilla released his second album, Navigator, via Warner Music Spain subsidiary DRO East West. It featured collaborations with Seal and N’Dea Davenport, as well as spoken-word vocal contributions from Padilla himself on the track “Niña”. Continuing to curate various compilations after parting ways with Café del Mar in 2004, he later returned to Warner for two more albums of his own, the 2011 compilation Essentials & Rarities and 2013’s Binary Sun, a guitar-led joint album with singer Kirsty Keatch. Padilla’s last album, So Many Colours, arrived in 2015 via Uruguayan Balearic beat label International Feel. The same year, he recorded his third and final Essential Mix for BBC Radio 1. On October 18th, 2020, following a public battle with colon cancer, Padilla died in Ibiza at the age of 64.
