Jose Tillan

José Tillán (born May 24, 1966) is a media executive and professional musician, composer and producer whose career has primarily been focused on the Latin music industry.

Tillán was born in Banes, Cuba on May 24, 1966. He moved to Spain with his family in 1968, where he lived until 1976. They moved to the United States in October 1976 and settled in Miami, FL – where he still resides. Tillán attended Kinloch Park Elementary, West Miami Jr. High and graduated from South Miami Senior High. He attended Miami-Dade College and experimented with various majors: art, psychology, music, computer-science, accounting and finally ended with AA in Business Administration. He then went to Florida International University and majored in International Marketing.

His interest in music was sparked after attending a concert by The Police, at the now defunct Sunrise Musical Theater in Sunrise, FL on Monday, December 8, 1980 (a very memorable night - John Lennon's assassination). He bought a bass guitar for ten dollars at a local pawnshop and started to play with his two best friends Carlos "Freak" Alvarez and Kenny Nunez. In 1984, they formed 'FORGET THE NAME' (later FtN), a band that Tillan was a member of for approximately 9 years. FtN performed primarily in South Florida where they developed a strong following. The eventually started touring the East Coast of United States and had three commercial releases - ‘Water and Walls’, ‘The Subtleties of Anger’ and ‘Stones for Steven.’ The band called it quits in the first half of 1993.

In 1993, Tillán left the 'stage' and started a boutique management company named MATT Entertainment, where he managed Cuban-American singer-songwriter Nil Lara, Peruvian pop-roots singer-songwriter Pepe Alva and punk-rock outfit Joe Popp. After approximately 4 years as an artist manager, he closed MATT Entertainment and joined MTV Networks as the Director of Music and Talent.

Tillán spearheaded MTV’s multi-award winning ‘Unplugged’ series for MTV Latin America with artists such as Shakira,Mana, Alejandro Sanz, La Ley, Julieta Venegas,Diego Torres and Ricky Martin. Under Tillan’s tutelage, the MTV Unplugged CD/DVD releases have generated worldwide sales of over 12 million units and have won various Grammys, Latin Grammys and numerous other awards.

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