José Luis Cantero Rada, better known as El Fary, was born in Madrid, Spain on August 20th, 1937. When he was a little boy, he used to skip school because he rather spend his time imitating is idol, the singer Rafael Farina. Then his good friend Andrés Garrido composed El Fary’s first song called El toro guapo. He then was recognized in his neighborhood as El Farina de Ventas since he loved imitating his idol and other Spanish stars. Then he started working as a gardener and cab driver to save money to pay for his first record, which he sold himself.

It was when he substituted Pepe Blanco in Pozoblando, Córdoba that he started to make money as a singer. Later on Antonio Molina contracted El Fary for a two months tour. In the 1970s, El Fary went in a more pop direction with his music that brought him a lot of success and got a couple of his songs on the charts. Then he participated in the successful television series Menudo es mi padre interpreting the role of a cab driver. El Fary passed away from lung cancer on June 19th, 2007.