José Padilla, the Spanish DJ who helped define chillout music in the 1990s, has died aged 64 from colon cancer.
An update on his Facebook page reads: “It is with great sadness that we bring you the news that José passed away peacefully in his sleep on Sunday night here on his beloved island of Ibiza … Now he has gone and the sunset in Ibiza will never be the same without him, but the beautiful music of José Padilla will stay with us forever.”
Padilla was born in Girona in 1955 but moved to Ibiza in 1976, and began DJing in the island’s clubs. He made his name as resident DJ at Café del Mar, the San Antonio bar that became famous for pairing relaxed music with sunset vistas.
After selling bootleg mixtapes alongside his DJ sets, Padilla created the hugely successful Café del Mar compilation series in 1993, giving dance music fans a morning-after soundtrack during the clubbing boom of the 1990s.
