José Ángel Espinoza, better known as Ferrusquilla, and his daughter Angélica Aragón during the 2013 Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame in Miami Beach, Florida (Credit: John Parra/Getty Images).
José Ángel Espinoza, better known as Ferrusquillahad an extremely distinguished career in the entertainment industry in Mexico, serving as an announcer, voice actor, composer, singer and actor in various films from the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema His fame transcended borders.
He hung out with Mexican greats like María Félix, Jorge Negrete, Lucha Villa, internationals Clint Eastwood, Dean Martin, Brigitte Bardot, Anthony Quinn, Richard Burton, John Wayne and others.
Previously, Ferrusquilla conquered the audience with his voice. He was known as The man of a thousand voices for his enviable ease in interpreting different characters in a single radio production or in dubbing, but his artistic sensitivity could also be captured in the music and the creation of pieces such as “La ley del monte” and “El tiempo que te quede libre”. “, “A new sweetheart” and “Suffering alone” and many more.
But it was “Échame a mi la culpa”, a ranchera song that made him an unsurpassed artist.
Ferrusquilla considered “Echame a mi la culpa” his masterpiece. He wrote it in 1957 and since then it has been sung by various artists: Luis Miguel, Julio Iglesias, Amalia Mendoza, Javier Solís, Rocío Dúrcal, Ricardo Montaner, Albert Hammond…, and all the performers adopt the author’s words, taking the blame for it Love that didn’t last.
However, The song was the artist’s way of expressing disappointment with the love he experienced in his youth..
That same year, 1957, José Ángel courted a young woman named María Antonieta, but she was interested in someone else, according to an interview rescued by the My Musical Legacy channel. Accordingly, the teacher scolded the woman: “Are you with someone? Are you engaged to Álvaro Gálvez?” His answer only confirmed that he was cheated on and not with anyone but with his best friend.
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“‘How is it possible that you have contact and relationships with a friend of mine and not tell me?’ I went home, as they say in Sinaloa, enchilado, very upset,” he recalled. He got into his vehicle; On the way to his home and despite his broken heart, inspiration came with every meter he walked.
“At every stoplight I wrote something that could be a song: ‘You know better than anyone that you betrayed me.’ And it continued: ‘What you gave me, you forgot’, I practically wrote the song between the house and my destination.” “I put the car in the garage, quickly went looking for the guitar and designed the song. I wrote the text on a typewriter,” said Ferrusquilla.
Probably none of those involved had any idea what came next.
The song became the fourth most listened to song in 1958 and, according to some historians, it is the second best-known Spanish song in the world, just behind “Bésame mucho” by Consuelo Velázquez.
The then President of the Republic, José López Portillo, met Ferrusquilla and told him that his composition was the most fashionable in Spain. Before the meeting ended, the president asked him to join a European tour in which several musicians would take part, including Lola Beltrán, Alejandro Algara, María de Lourdes, Pedro Vargas, the Vargas and América Mariachis. Each of them performed some of the most popular regional songs such as “Cucurrucucú paloma”, “El rey”, “Granada”, “La cigarra” and of course “Échame a mi la culpa”.
“When we arrived in the town of Caparroso in Navarre, Spain, where José López Portillo had family, the Presidential General Staff informed me that, by order of the President, I would sing “Échame a mi la culpa” instead of Pedro Vargas, which Jesús Rodríguez annoyed de Híjar (the musical director) and didn’t want to accompany me; I complained to him violently and told him that it was a direct order from the president, then he relented and accompanied me with my song,” says Ferusquilla’s biography on the website of the Society of Authors and Composers of Mexico (SACM).
The song was so popular in Spain that they made a film of the same name, starring Lola Flores, who performed the song, and Miguel Aceves Mejía. Ferrusquilla was invited to attend the filming of the film.
A few decades later, British singer Albert Hammond made his own version as a pop ballad and it became a worldwide hit. In 1980, the European artist was awarded the best song of the year in Spain: Échame a mí la culpa, and it was Ferrusquilla himself who gave him the honor.
José Ángel Espinoza spent the last years of his life at his home in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, where he was able to enjoy the successes achieved throughout his career. He died in November 2015 from complications of a stroke, a few weeks after celebrating his 96th birthday.