José Manuel Figueroa Figueroa (April 8, 1951 – July 13, 2015), better known as Joan Sebastian (pronounced [ɟʝoˈan seβasˈtjan]), was a Mexican singer-songwriter. He composed more than 1,000 songs including compositions for Bronco, Vicente Fernández, Lucero, Pepe Aguilar, and Rocío Dúrcal. The first several years of his career were primarily focused on Latin pop songs, but later focused primarily on Regional Mexican music, specifically banda, mariachi, and norteño. Throughout his career, he also recorded various country songs in Spanish. Sebastian was awarded seven Latin Grammy Awards and five Grammy Awards, making him the most awarded Mexican performer in Grammy history.
Known for composing "Así es la Vida", Sebastian also worked sporadically as an actor. In 1996, he made his acting debut in the Mexican soap opera Tú y Yo (You and I), sharing credits with Maribel Guardia, his former wife and mother to his son, Julian. In 2015, Sebastian died at the age of 64 of bone cancer. At the time of his death, Sebastian had two number-one albums on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart and seven top ten songs on the Hot Latin Songs chart in the United States.