Feel Bass was born Jose Varela on the Island of Praia in Cape Verde. He grew up in the small town "Castelon". At 6 years old he would often be lost in his dreams of becoming a musician while playing rhythms on tins cans. Every day after school, he would pick up the tin cans, play with his heart and begin dreaming. Feel Bass comes from a family that enjoys making music. "I can remember when my brother bought a guitar so that he could learn to play, and one day my brother caught me sneaking through his windows to steal his guitar so that I could learn to play, and when he saw that I was good, he gave me his guitar" (Feel Bass)His dreams were finally realized when he was about fourteen years old, and he was invited to play with the Djassy Band in Praia. It was while playing with this band that he saw Cassav playing and experienced the talent of F. Caracas, Bass player of Cassav. This is when he knew in his heart that he was a Bass player. He would practice playing on a stick and imagine what kinds of melodies and rhyhtms he could play on a real bass guitar.He was later invited to play bass with the band Dilimundo. This was his chance to practice on Dilimundo's bass. When he went home, he would pick up his stick and practice the fingerings on his stick. His first recording was with Dilimundo in 1992. With this band he traveled to the different islands of Cape Verde.With this exposure Feel Bass got with Dilimundo, he became a saught after artist. He began playing with one of the most well known bands of Cape Verde "Finacon" in 1995. He played with Artists like Bana, Boy G. Mendes, Lura, Tito Paris, Zeca nha Reinalda, ZeZe di nha reinalda, Filipe Monteiro, Beto Dias, Suzanna, and Ildo Lobo, and he was the founder of the Band Ferro Gaita. With all of this excitement over this young Bass Player, he began to feel the pressure. While others loved his playing, he was not satisfied. He wanted to be better. He began practicing 6-9 hours a day on his time off from giging, sometimes keeping up his family. This is when he began listening to Jazz Bassists like Jaco Pastorios, Victor Bailey, and Victor Wooten (who was his biggest influence).In 1996 Bulimundo, one of the biggest bands in Cape Verde at that time asked him to play for them. This was his gateway to the world. He traveled to Holland, Belgium, France, and Portugal. With Zeca nha reinalda he traveled to Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin, Congo, and Zaire. In 1997 he recorded his first CD with Bulimundo "Tanderia Ka ta Cai". Many Popular artists would invite him to participate on their albums. He became a very well known musician in Cape Verde.Feel Bass was becoming too comfortable in Cape Verde with the same gigs and shows, so he decided to make a move to further his career. He moved to the USA where he has done concerts with Juka, Isidora, Vargas, Calu Bana, Pulonga. He has Produced music for albums such as "The Blast", "Xaxe", and "Afro Beats". He has traveled with Maria De Barros to Mexico, french Guyane, Guadelupe, and LA. You would think that after all of this, Feel Bass would have peaked in his career, but Feel Bass sais "I am now excited about producing my solo Bass album and trying to crossover to the Jazz industry". While He was awarded the Best Cape Verdean Bass player award in 1993 in Cape Verde, Feel Bass says "I still have a lot to learn."
