He won the Festival OTI with his interpretation of Contigo Mujer, a song that was an instant hit all over the Puerto Rican radio.
Jose's singing career did not go much further, but he soon began acting in soap operas and got a job co hosting the Saturday night program A Millon in 1983, along with Hector Marcano, on WAPA-TV. He proved to be a very talented show host and lasted there a long time. During this time, he and his then wife, actress Magali Carrasquillo, had a baby son, Rafael Jose Jr, who now is starting his own artistic career.
In 1986, Jose moved on to join future Senator Roberto Vigoreaux in hosting another WAPA-TV game show, Sabado En Grande, when A Millon was moved to Sunday nights. The show lasted only a couple more years, and Jose found himself doing odds and ends until he signed a contract with Univision in Miami, Florida in the 1990s.
Jose then became popular with Latino audiences with the movie showcase show Tu Pelicula. This experience helped him get casted to participate in Univision's show of Despierta America, along with Mexico's Fernando Arau and Ana Maria Canseco, Honduran Neyda Sandoval and fellow Puerto Rican Giselle Blondet.
Living during the week in Miami and flying back to Puerto Rico for the weekends became too hard for him and in 2000, he signed another contract with Puerto Rico's WAPA-TV and obtained a partial release from Univision, so currently he's doing a new tv show in Puerto Rico and just flies back to Miami every once in a while to do special shows.
Jose is also a medical doctor who specialized in dentistry.