Julio Iglesias
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Julio Iglesias | ||
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Iglesias in 2005
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Background information | ||
Birth name | Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva | |
Born | September 23 1943 | |
Origin | Madrid, Spain | |
Genre(s) | Latin | |
Occupation(s) | Singer | |
Years active | 1968 - Present | |
Label(s) | Columbia, Sony | |
Website | JulioIglesias.com |
Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva (born September 23, 1943 in Madrid, Spain) is Spain's best selling singer and the best-selling Spanish singer of all time. Julio Iglesias has sold over 250 million records[1] in different languages and released 77 records. He thus far has performed approximately 5,000 concerts during his career.
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[edit] Biography
Julio is the eldest son of Dr. Julio Iglesias Puga and Maria del Rosario de la Cueva y Perignat; his younger brother is Carlos. At age 61, his 87 year old dad had more children. Half brother Jaime was born 18 May 2004, and half-sister Ruth on 26 July 2006. Julio's half-siblings were born from the second marriage of Dr. Julio Iglesias Puga and Ronna Keitt.
If not for a car accident, on 22nd September 1963, he may have never had a music career:"I had a car accident, very, very strong car accident," remembers Iglesias. I had what they call paraparexia, which is not a paraplegic. It's a compression in the cord, in the sense of the neck … my spinal cord, and I was very, very ill for three years." Doctors thought the young man would never walk again. But slowly, he started to recover. And to increase dexterity in his hands, he began to play the guitar. Once he recovered, he resumed his studies and he travelled to England to study English, first in Ramsgate and then at Bell Educational Trust's Language School in Cambridge.
In June 2001 he finished his law degree at Madrid Spain's Complutense University, fulfilling the promise he made to his then 84-year-old father that he would eventually graduate after dropping out 35 years ago to pursue his music career. He received a certificate as a lawyer from Cambridge University[citation needed].
During the 1970s he met the Filipina socialite and Hola! magazine journalist Isabel Preysler, and just 7 months later they married. Together they have 3 children:
- Daughter: Isabel Iglesias known as Chabeli Iglesias (born September 3 1971, in Madrid).
- Son: Julio José Iglesias Jr. (born February 25 1973, in Madrid).
- Son: Enrique Iglesias (singer, born May 8 1975, in Madrid).
Chabeli Iglesias is now a news reporter in Washington DC. Enrique Iglesias followed in his father's footsteps and is a world-famous singer. Julio José Iglesias is a model who has released two CDs. It was during the 1970s that the Iglesias family's private life became very public, with Julio and the rest of the family frequently featured on the covers of various international magazines. The couple divorced in 1978.
Since 1990 Iglesias has been with Dutch former model Miranda Rijnsburger[2]. He revealed that Miranda accepted his marriage proposal and they will marry [3] in the future so that their twin daughters will be bridemaids. Together they have 4 children:
- Son: Miguel Alejandro (born September 7 1997)[4]
- Son: Rodrigo (born April 3 1999) [5]
- Twin daughters: Victoria and Cristina (born May 1, 2001) [6].
Julio and Miranda Rijnsburger are currently expecting a son, their fifth child together. He will be named Guillermo, after Miranda's father and he will be born in April 2007
[edit] Musical career
[edit] Early career to 1978
In 1968, he won the Benidorm International Song Festival, a songwriter's contest in Spain, and signed a contract with a Columbia Records Latin music label, Discos Columbia. He represented Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1970, finishing fourth behind Northern Irish singer Dana Scallon, and the Welsh singer Mary Hopkin. His entry was the song "Gwendolyne" which was his first recording.
[edit] Peak during 1978-1990
In 1978, he signed a contract for CBS International, adding English, French, Portuguese, German and Italian to his language repertoire. He had his first hit in the English market with a Spanish cover of "Begin the Beguine" and released a collection Julio in 1983 building his reputation.
In 1984, he released the smash hit album 1100 Bel Air Place, which gave him considerable fame in English-language markets. The album sold three million albums in the US alone, with the first single "To All The Girls I've Loved Before", a duet with Willie Nelson reaching the top five on the Billboard Hot 100. The album also featured "All of You", a hit duet with Diana Ross.
In 1985, his father was kidnapped but found well and alive after two agonizing weeks. This prompted Julio (divorced from Preysler), to move his family to Miami, Florida, where they settled in a mansion at Miami Beach. That year he also recorded duets with Diana Ross and Willie Nelson. It was rumored in 1986 that Julio, perhaps seeking to get away from all the fame and hoopla for one week, was found walking around the streets of Cayey, Puerto Rico, after disappearing for seven days. After visiting the island of the Dominican Republic he fell so in love with it that in late 2005 he adopted legally Dominican citizenship.
Iglesias won a Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album in the 1988 Grammy Awards for the album Un Hombre Solo ("A Man Alone"). He also recorded a duet with Stevie Wonder on "My Love" from his Non Stop album which achieved crossover success in 1988.
Stories of Julio's expensive private jets, boats, and houses became legendary during that decade, and his world tours took him to many countries and continents around the world performing in many sold out concerts among the vast women populations.
[edit] Since 1990
In the 1990s, Julio went back to his Spanish music roots, and in 1996, he released a CD named Tango. He is still recording and touring constantly, fighting to keep his popularity around the world. He says in interviews that he would not recognise his life without singing, and that he wants to die on stage. He is also very proud of his son Enrique's success. Julio is very amenable to signing autographs, although he can be a little difficult to reach sometimes, due to his and his family's security detail, which they have had since the 1985 kidnapping of Julio's father.
[edit] Since 2000
Iglesias returned to the headlines in October, 2003, when he went to Argentina and kissed show host Susana Gimenez three times during a live telecast of her show.
2003 saw the release of the Spanish album "Divorcio." (Divorce) In its first day of sales, "Divorcio" sold a record 350,000 copies in Spain; and quickly reached the #1 spot on the charts in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, and Russia.
The remainder of 2003 and early 2004 featured a mega 10 month world tour; which took Iglesias, fueled with the success of "Divorcio" from Europe and Asia to The United States, South America, and Africa. More than half the shows on the tour sold out within days of going on sale, showing that fans still adore Julio.
In December of 2004, Miranda and Julio recorded a duet of the Christmas song Silent Night. The song, which was not officially released, also included a voice message from Julio, Miranda, and their 4 young children. The song was released online through the singer's web page, and a CD was included in their Christmas card as a holiday gift from the Iglesias family to their friends and to fans around the world.
Julio has made important investments in the Dominican Republic's eastern town of Punta Cana, a major tourist destination, where he spends most of the year when he is not on tour.
The singer's south Florida mansion on the exclusive, security obsessed, private Indian Creek Island is currently on the market for $28 million dollars making it one of "Ten Most Expensive Homes in the South" in 2006 according to Forbes Magazine.[1]
In September 2006 a new English album titled "Romantic Classics" was released. "I've chosen songs from the '60s, '70s and 80s that I believe will come to be regarded as the new standards," Iglesias says in the album's sleeve notes. The album features the hits "I Want To Know What Love Is", "Careless Whisper", and "Right Here Waiting".
Romantic Classics was Julio's highest debut on the BILLBOARD charts entering at number 31 in the USA, 21 in Canada, 10 in Australia, and top spots across Europe and Asia.
In late September, Julio returned to the studio to record songs in Bahasa Indonesian and in Filipino for the Asian releases of "Romantic Classics"- which helped propel sales in the Asian Markets.
Julio promoted "Romantic Classics" very heavily in the remainder of 2006, and was seen all over the world on popular TV shows, and in the USA, he appeared on Dancing With The Stars where he sang his hit "I Want To know what Love Is," "Good Morning America," "The View," "Fox and Friends," and "Martha Stewart."
Tour dates in Florida, and the Southeast USA have started to appear for early 2007, however no "official" world tour for "Romantic Classics" has been released as yet.
[edit] Discography
This list contains all albums of original material plus notable collections.
- Gwendolyne (1970)
- Julio Iglesias (1972)
- Un Canto a Galicia (1973)
- A Flor de Piel (1974)
- A Mexico (1974)
- El Amor (1975)
- En El Olympia (1976) recorded live at the Paris Olympia
- Si Mi Lasci (1976)
- Yo Canto (1977)
- A Mis 33 Anos (1977)
- Sono Un Pirata, Sono Un Signore (1978)
- Soy (1978)
- The 24 Greatest Songs (1978)
- A Vous Les Femmes (1979)
- Aimer La Vie (1979)
- America (1979)
- Emociones (1979)
- Innamorarsi Alla Mia Eta (1979)
- Hey! (1980)
- Sentimental (1980)
- Fidele (1981)
- Zärtlichkeiten (1981)
- From A Child To A Woman (1981)
- Minhas Cancoes Prefidas (1981)
- Moments (1982) also Momento or Momenti
- Por Una Mujer (1982)
- In Concert (1983)
- Pelo Amor di Uma Mulher (1983)
- Julio (1983)
- 1100 Bel Air Place (1984) Reissued, 2006 Legacy Recordings
- Libra (1985)
- Un Hombre Solo (1987)
- Tutto L'Amore Che Ti Manca (1987)
- Non Stop (1988)
- Latinamente (1989)
- Raices (1989)
- Starry Night (1990)
- Ein Weihnachtsabend Mit Julio Iglesias (1992)
- Calor (1992)
- Crazy (1994)
- La Carretera (1995)
- Tango (1996) Reissued, 2006 Legacy Recordings
- My Life: The Greatest Hits (1998)
- Noche de Cuatro Lunas (2000)
- Una Donna Puo Cambiar la Vita (2001)
- Ao Meu Brasil (2001)
- Personalidad: 20 Exitos (2002)
- Divorcio (2003)
- Love Songs (2004)
- l'homme que je suis (2005)
- Romantic Classics (2006)
[edit] Trivia
- Julio briefly played as a goalkeeper for the junior Real Madrid soccer team, which was cut short by his 1963 car accident (see above)
- Satirical punk band The Dead Milkmen's song "Now Everybody's Me" contains a reference to Julio, and the singer of the song claiming to have sang a duet with Julio entitled, "Me and Julio Down By the Crackhouse".
- Spanish songwriter Joaquin Sabina defined Iglesias music style as "Julio vende chorizos" ("Julio sell chorizos").
[edit] References
- ^ Iglesias dynasty. Hello Magazine.
- ^ http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/05/14/sunday/main617636.shtml
- ^ http://breaking.examiner.ie/2004/05/15/story147669.html
- ^ click bio section of http://www.julioiglesias.com/mainen.htm
- ^ click bio section of http://www.julioiglesias.com/mainen.htm
- ^ click bio section of http://www.julioiglesias.com/mainen.htm
[edit] External links
Categories: Wikipedia articles needing style editing | Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | Cleanup from March 2007 | All pages needing cleanup | 1943 births | Living people | Eurovision contestants | Grammy Award winners | Male singers | People from Madrid | Roman Catholic entertainers | Spanish singers | Real Madrid Castilla footballers | Spanish footballers | Hollywood Walk of Fame