Julio Iglesias on backing vocals at Eurovision. Biography

Julio Iglesias (full name Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva) is a Spanish singer and artist, one of the world's legendary musicians. Thanks to his creative activities and the sale of over 300 million records, he achieved the status of a successful commercial artist in Spain. The biography of the great personality is filled with bright events that arouse extraordinary interest among his fans.

Childhood and youth

Julio was born in Madrid (year of birth - September 23, 1943). The musician's father, Julio Iglesias Puga, was a famous gynecologist in the country, and his mother, Maria del Rosario, was the homemaker of a happy family (housewife). Another boy grew up in the family of the future singer - his younger brother Carlos; the age difference between the children was very small.

According to Iglesias’s childhood dreams and plans, he was supposed to become a diplomat, a lawyer, or build a sports career, because while studying after school at St. Paul’s Catholic College, he became seriously interested in football. From the age of 16, a young and promising young man played for the Real Madrid club as a goalkeeper, he was distinguished by excellent athletic abilities, and high hopes were placed on the guy.

But life decreed otherwise. On September 22, 1963, Julio was in a terrible car accident and lay in a hospital bed for 2 years. The lower limb was crushed, the spine was damaged, there was practically no hope that Julio would walk again. Fortunately, the hands of the would-be football player turned out to be uninjured, therefore, in order to somehow distract the young man, the attending physician allowed him to play the guitar.

Here in the hospital, a young guy discovered a new talent - composing music and songs. At night, suffering from insomnia and body pain, he often listened to the radio and wrote poems on high topics (romanticism, human destiny).

Iglesias did not give up, first he stood on crutches, diligently developed his legs, read a lot of books on neurology and defeated the disease. Now only a minor scar on his face and a slight limp remind him of that terrible period.

After being discharged from the medical institution, Iglesias returned to university, and after graduation he moved to England to study English. He studied in London and Cambridge, returning to Madrid and enrolled in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, where he received an education in opera (tenor). But even at St. Paul's College, the choir director, having heard the boy's vocal abilities, recommended that he choose any profession in life with the exception of musical activity.

Music

Julio decided to study English deeply for a reason. Friends liked his songs, so they invited the future musician to take part in a national competition, which was to be held in the resort town of Benidorm. To participate, you had to choose an English song.

In England, Julio Jose had the first impromptu concert in his life. The singer accidentally visited the Air Port Pub in the company of friends. There, in the hands of a stranger, he saw a guitar and asked him to perform a song. The Spanish composition “Guantanamero,” which tells the story of the unhappy love of a Cuban girl, was magnificently performed by a young man and shocked the audience present here. On this day, Julio received his first musical fee.

Later, the talented guy began performing in the pub on weekends, performing songs by popular musicians of that time: The Beatles, Engelbert Humperdinck, etc.

In Cambridge, Julio met one person - a French student Gwendoline Bollore. It was she who became his muse and close friend. Julio dedicated a song to her, which became a worldwide hit (“Gwendolyne” - 1970) and brought the singer a future fourth place at Eurovision.

Returning from England to his hometown, the aspiring musician and composer began searching for performers for his songs. Having donated several musical products to one of the Madrid recording studios, Julio soon receives a lucrative offer - to sing on his own and become a participant in a Spanish song competition.

Then, performing a song under the symbolic title “La Vida Sique Igual” (“Life Goes On”), the still unknown singer managed to win three awards simultaneously in the following categories:

1. "For the best performance."
2. "For the best text"
3. "For the best song."

It was a success. After a short period of time, Julio Iglesias worthily represents Spain at Eurovision (1970), participates in long foreign tours, and performs at prestigious European venues.

The talented musician stood out among the idols of those years. Julio always appeared on stage in a black tuxedo, a white shirt with a bow tie, and while singing he actively gesticulated, which aroused both admiration and ridicule among the audience. This manner of behavior was liked by the public, and his career quickly took off.

Within a few years of the Spanish Song Contest, Iglesias had won the title of his country's most famous and successful singer, as well as the most popular Spanish-language artist on the planet.

In 1969, Julio recorded his first disc. The musician’s hard work and unique talent led to the release of more than 80 albums performed by him. Over 300 million Julio Iglesias records have been sold worldwide. He has performed more than 5,000 concerts in various cities around the world, including Moscow.

The musician performed in a duet with the most famous performers of our time: maestro, and other celebrities. The big name of Julio Iglesias is included in the Guinness Book of Records.

Among the singer’s best compositions are: “Amor Amor”, “Besame Mucho”, “Abrazame”, “Baila Morena” and others. Thousands of views of the artist’s music videos on YouTube indicate his constant demand among listeners. It is possible to compare Ilesias’s performance with vocal hypnosis, which has an amazing effect on a person’s psychological state.

Personal life

In 1970, a young but already famous musician met the amazingly beautiful model and journalist Isabel Preysler. After interviewing Julio, the girl received an invitation to his next concert, and already in 1971 their wedding took place. But in 1979 the family broke up. From the first barque, the musician left three children: son Julio Iglesias Jr., daughter Maria Isabel, a famous son, with whom he continued to maintain relations.

The marriage to Isabel turned out to be strange and unsuccessful for various reasons. The famous musician was constantly jealous of his wife, making her a hostage to the “golden cage,” while he himself enjoyed amorous relationships with different women. Soon after the divorce, Julio's children moved to live with him in Miami, because... It was not safe for them to be in Spain. The singer's father, Julio Iglesias Puga, was kidnapped by terrorists who demanded a huge ransom, and his mother decided to send Mario, Julio and Enrique to America.

On the one hand, the children were comfortable here, they did not need anything except the attention of their famous and constantly touring dad.

The second and real marriage of Julio Iglesias was with a girl 22 years younger than him. Miranda Rinisburger is a former model who gave birth to the artist three sons (Rodrigo, Miguel and Alejandro) and twin daughters (Victoria and Christina). Despite her status as a mother of many children, Miranda managed to maintain a beautiful figure, and at the wedding ceremony, which took place after 20 years of marriage, she looked charming. This woman managed to win the heart of a famous performer, who claims that he is ready to live with her until the end of his days. Their love only grows stronger over the years.

Julio Iglesias's age can be called venerable, but the musician continues to write songs, release new albums, and travel around countries on tour. On May 25, 2016, he visited Moscow, performing a solo concert at the Kremlin Palace and presenting his new album “Mexico” to the audience. Julio boldly compared the Russian audience with the Spanish audience, finding similarities in temperament.

The great Spaniard admitted to Russian journalists that he adores and respects women, considers them life teachers and believes in energetic feminine power that can change the world.

Discography

• Yo canto - 1969
• Gwendolyne - 1970
• El amor - 1975
• Aimer la vie - 1978
• Hey! - 1980
• En concierto -1983
• Starry Night - 1990
• Tango - 1996
• Love Songs - 2003
• Romantic Classics - 2006
• The Collection - 2014
• Mexico - 2015

Singer and composer Julio Iglesias is one of the most famous Spanish-language pop artists. During his period of greatest popularity, he gave concerts at the largest stage venues in the world: on the stage of London's Odeon Theater, at the Olympia Concert Hall in France and at New York's Madison Square Garden. More than fifty albums were released under the Julio Iglesias brand. The total number of concerts of the singer exceeds four and a half thousand. Several times the Spanish artist came on tour to Russia, where a warm welcome always awaited him.

Biography of Julio Iglesias

Julio Iglesias grew up in the Spanish capital. He was the eldest son in the family of a famous doctor throughout Madrid. On his mother's side, his family traced its history back to a noble Spanish family. Iglesias' father specialized in gynecology and had a thriving practice. The younger brother Carlos also planned to study medicine following the example of his father, and Julio himself planned to become a lawyer. He liked music since childhood, but in the Catholic college choir he was advised never to take up singing, which he later often recalled with irony. He spent a lot of time on the football field and at the age of sixteen he joined the youth team of the Real Madrid club. The coaches predicted a brilliant sports future for the young man as a goalkeeper.

After college, Iglesias entered the law department of the University of Madrid. He would have become a lawyer if he had not been involved in a car accident that completely changed his life. A 20-year-old student got into an accident in the company of three friends when he was driving them to Madrid late in the evening after a trip out of town and lost control. His friends escaped with scratches, but Julio seriously injured his leg and spine. He spent the next year and a half in bed. The diagnosis was disappointing - a spinal cyst. The eight-hour operation did not bring any improvement. Doctors were inclined to think that he would never be able to walk. The nurse who cared for him one day brought a guitar so that he would not succumb to depression and could play music. Deprived of the ability to walk, the young man learned to play and began to compose songs. Doctors did not give favorable prognosis for recovery, but Iglesias managed to defeat the disease. This was not a miracle; Julio was constantly working out his failing muscles and joints, and when he was able to move, he spent 12 hours on crutches. Character and perseverance helped him recover. In the future, the consequences of the accident reminded of themselves only with a slight limp and scars on the cheek.

In 1963, Julio left for the UK, where he studied English at a language school in Cambridge. At the same time, he began performing in local bars, performing his songs, hits of the Beatles and other popular groups of the 60s for visitors. In Cambridge, he met a student from France, Gwendoline Bollore, and began dating her. The song "Gwendolyne", which he composed especially for her, a few years later brought the singer 4th place at the Eurovision Song Contest.

In 1967, Iglesias returned to his first year of university, where he planned to obtain a law degree at the insistence of his father. A year later, he won three categories at the Benidorm Song Festival with the composition "La Vida Sigue Igual", composed during his illness. Immediately after this, he was offered a contract with Columbia Records, and Iglesias switched to a musical career. In Madrid he graduated from an opera school in vocal class. His father was skeptical about his idea of ​​becoming a singer, but helped him record his first record and supported him financially at first.

On the stage of the 60s, Julio differed from professional Spanish artists in his formal suits and modest manner of performance. In 1970 he represented Spain at Eurovision. He did not make it to the finals of the competition, but this performance increased the number of his fans around the world. The singer began touring with concerts throughout Europe, performing songs in Spanish and other European languages.

Over the many years of his creative career, Julio Iglesias has released more than fifty solo albums and given a huge number of concerts in Europe, America and Asia. He collaborated with famous pop and opera singers Frank Sinatra, Placido Domingo, Paul Anka, Manolo Escobar and Willie Nelson.

In 1983, his name was included in the Guinness Book of Records for the record number of sold music discs released in different languages.

Personal life of Julio Iglesias

In 1970, during an interview, Iglesias met journalist Isabel Preysler. The singer invited her to his concert immediately after the end of the conversation, and a few months later he asked her to marry him. They were together for seven years until Isabel asked for a divorce. In this marriage, the singer had three children: Maria Isabel, Julio Jr. and Enrique. Both sons, following the example of their father, studied music and singing. Enrique later became a famous pop singer.

Five more children were given to Iglesias by the former Dutch model Miranda Rijnsburger, with whom he lived in a civil marriage for twenty years. Their youngest son, Guillermo, was born when his illustrious father turned 63 years old. By this time, Iglesias had already become a grandfather: his daughter from a previous marriage, Maria, gave birth to a son.

Latest news about Julio Iglesias

In 2008, during a tour in Yekaterinburg, the 65-year-old singer suffered a heart attack, due to which he had to cancel the performance. Two days later he returned to the stage and performed a two-hour concert.

It’s hard to believe, but fate could have turned out that Julio Iglesias would have been known to us for his sporting achievements, and not as a famous singer and composer. A fatal coincidence of circumstances influenced the fact that he became the record holder for the number of studio albums sold worldwide. The geography of his tours covers five continents of planet Earth, and the number of organized concerts breaks all imaginable and unimaginable records: this is more than five thousand performances. As Iglesias himself recalled, after the car accident he felt a lack of communication and a lack of human warmth. Music became the source of their search. It was just entertainment, which over time changed the whole world around the singer.

Biography of Julio Iglesias

It all started when, on September 23, 1943, the famous Spanish gynecologist Julio Iglesias Pugo and his wife Maria del Rosario became happy parents. A son was born into their family, who was named after his father - Julio.

Growing up, the boy became a student at the Sagrados Cosasones school, then entered St. Paul's College. At the age of 16, Julio Iglesias began playing football and showed great promise in this sport. He was considered the most talented player among his peers. He studied at the Real Madrid youth school. From a very early age, Julio had excellent physical shape and stood out compared to the rest of the team, in which he was a striker. His dream was to become a professional football player. After graduating from high school, he became a law student at university and began to consider a career in law.

However, on an autumn night in September 1963, just before his 20th birthday, the fate of Julio Iglesias took a sharp turn. On the way to Madrid, the car in which the young football player and his friends were in was involved in a car accident, after which Julio was partially paralyzed for almost a year and a half. Doctors did not make any positive predictions that he would be able to move independently, much less return to sports.

The only thing that was not damaged and moved were the arms. While in one of the hospitals in Madrid, until recently, a young guy who was almost a hope was left alone. Suffering from insomnia, Julio was entertained only by the radio turned on at night and the process of writing sad and romantic poems, the main themes of which were the meaning of life and the destiny of man. One day, a guitar appeared in Julio’s room, brought by a young nurse who was caring for him. Never before had Julio Iglesias even thought about connecting his life with music and starting to sing.

First steps on a new path

While still in college, Julio Iglesias was encouraged to be anything but a singer. Then he began to devote even more time to sports. Maybe over time there would be one more brilliant football player in Spain, but history doesn’t know

He started playing music while in a hospital bed in order to think less about football. Gradually, Julio learned to play the guitar and write poetry to music.

After leaving the hospital, he leaves the University of Madrid. Improving his English, he went to England, where he sang in clubs, performing compositions by the Beatles and other popular musicians of that time.

While in Cambridge, he meets Gwendoline Bollore, who later became his close friend. It is about her that he is sung in his song “Gwendolyne”, which became his first musical success.

For a long time he has been looking for an artist for his songs. Having taken them to one of the recording studios in Madrid, he receives a surprising offer to sing on his own and for the first time becomes a participant in a music competition for Spanish song performers.

In 1968, the unknown singer Julio Iglesias won three awards: for best song, best lyrics and best performance. The title of the song became symbolic in the fate of the young performer - “La Vida Sique Igual” (“Life Goes On”). He was very different from the idols of the audience of that time, appearing on stage in a black tuxedo with a bow tie and a white shirt. His singing was not accompanied by active gestures; his behavior on stage caused both reproaches and ridicule. But the public was delighted with the new singer who appeared on the stage, and Julio’s musical career took off.

The Rising Star of Julio Iglesias

Within a few years, Julio Iglesias had won the title of the most famous singer in Spain and the most popular Spanish-speaking artist in the world. Long-term foreign tours to the most prestigious European venues begin. Iglesias takes part in many music festivals, including the Eurovision Song Contest, where he takes 4th place, which is a very good result for a novice performer. The music charts of countries around the world are topped by his songs: Mexico, Argentina, Japan, and his native Spain.

The work of Julio Iglesias has received many different awards. In 1983, he received a Diamond Record for the most number of albums sold worldwide. He is also one of the few artists in Spain whose name was unveiled on the Walk of Stars in Hollywood. Julio is the holder of the honorary titles “Ambassador of Galicia” in his homeland, Spain, and “Great Spaniard”. Julio Iglesias is the only foreigner in Chinese history to date to receive the prestigious Golden Record Award. In 1997, he was recognized as the best Latin American singer and received the Monaco Music Prize. Then he became the owner of the main and most prestigious award in his life from the American Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers. Its past laureates included Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra, and Ella Fitzgerald.

However, it should be noted that all awards go to Julio Iglesias with sweat and blood. He is a very meticulous person in everything related to his work, and does not miss a single detail in the process of recording songs. The result of this painstaking work is what all the singer’s fans listen to today: iron discipline gives birth to a melody of the soul, overflowing with a variety of feelings, running like a red thread through each composition.

Family ties of Julio Iglesias

Throughout his creative career, Julio Iglesias creates the image of a passionate heartthrob and lover. He doesn’t like to talk about his age, although he is already 70. Sometimes it seems that such a man has a lot of women. However, his family life is not as stormy as it might seem at first glance.

In 1971, Julio married Isabel Preysler. From this union three children were born: daughter Shabeli (Chabeli), son Julio Iglesias Jr., and Enrique, who later became no less popular and famous than his father. In 1978, Julio separated from Isabel, and an official divorce was later filed.

Then the singer was paired with the Danish Miranda, who was 22 years younger than him. From this union five children were born, who in 2010 attended the wedding of their parents in Andalusia.

At the age of 57, Julio Iglesias became a grandfather. His eldest daughter gave birth to a son, so far the only grandson of the famous singer.

Young in both soul and body

Answering questions about why he continues to work so hard, Iglesias Sr. always says that he is going crazy from idleness, and he needs work like air.

The beautiful half of humanity will always listen to his songs. The reason for this is simple: when Julio Iglesias sings, every woman thinks that he sings only for her, and the whole atmosphere of his concerts creates this feeling. All fans are sure that each of them is the only muse of the romantic Spaniard, and all his songs are dedicated only to her.

Iglesias often talks about the fact that he became a singer, and was not born one. The reason for this is an accident, which later turned out to be the “hand of heaven”, which gave Julio worldwide fame and popular love. The most pleasant thing for the many fans of Iglesias Sr. is that the main Spanish romantic does not plan to leave the stage.

Some interesting facts about Julio Iglesias

Julio Iglesias is the most commercially successful Spanish-language singer of all time. His records have sold a total of more than three hundred million copies. The albums are recorded mainly in three languages: French, English and his native Spanish.

Iglesias Sr.'s repertoire is replete with Italian, German, Neapolitan, Portuguese, Japanese songs, compositions in Hebrew and many other languages. For some time, his stage partner was the legendary Diana Ross. He was a Eurovision participant and a Grammy Award winner.

In 2007, Meilland introduced a variety of roses named “Julio Iglesias” in honor of the famous Spanish singer.

Biography
JULIO IGLESIAS (full name Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva) was born in Madrid, at 2 a.m. on September 23, 1943, in the old and now defunct Mesón Hospital on Paredes Street. He is the eldest son in the family of a successful gynecologist, member of the Academy of Medicine, Julio Iglesias Puga and Maria del Rosario De La Cueva Perinan (better known as "Charo"). Julio has a brother, Carlos. Julio Iglesias's paternal ancestors (grandmother Manuela and grandfather Ulpiano) come from the Spanish province of Galicia. His father, Dr. Iglesias, was born in Orgenza. On his mother's side, his grandmother, Dolores de Perinan, is the heiress of a noble noble family.
(Her uncle was the Marquis of Perinan, and her cousin, also a marquis, was the Spanish Ambassador to Great Britain for 20 years). Julio's family lived on Calle Altamiro in Madrid, where he spent the first three years of his life. In 1946 they moved to 27 Benito Gutierrez Street and lived there until his marriage in 1971.
Even at school, Julio loved to be the center of attention. The future singer grew up in difficult times, when the country, led by dictator Franco, was on the verge of economic collapse. The guy’s peers were mainly concerned about where to get food, but Julio even then dreamed of becoming special. He grew up in a happy, prosperous family of a gynecologist and a housewife mother. His brother Carlos dreamed of following in his father's footsteps, and Julio was fond of music and dreamed of becoming a successful lawyer and diplomat.
Julio studied at the Sagrado Corazones school, then graduated from the Catholic College of St. Paul, where Padre Axelmo, who led the choir, after Julio’s attempt to perform “Ave Maria,” quite categorically advised him to do anything but sing. And he happily switched to football, where he achieved outstanding results and at the age of 15 was invited as a reserve goalkeeper to the youth team of the most famous football club in the country - Real Madrid. Being a 19-year-old law student at the University of Madrid and a member of elite youth clubs, Julio drove around his native Madrid in a Renault Dauphine, the latest model at that time, and dreamed of becoming the second Ricardo Zamora (the famous Real Madrid goalkeeper). And, apparently, after a while another brilliant football player would have appeared in Spain, and the world would never have heard the songs of Julio Iglesias, but it’s not for nothing that they say: “If there was no happiness, but misfortune would help”...
On September 22, 1963, at 2 a.m., the day before his 20th birthday, Julio suffered a misfortune that almost cost him his life. When he, in the company of 3 of his friends (Enrique Clemente Criado, Toto Arroya and Pedro Luis Iglesias), was traveling from a fiesta from the small town of Mahadagonda, 20 km away. from the capital in his Renault Dauphine to Madrid, he lost control and the car overturned at full speed, fell down a steep slope and crashed into a tree... Fortunately, three of his friends escaped with only slight fright and minor injuries. Julio ends up in the Eloy Gonzalo clinic in Madrid with a crushed right leg, a severe spinal injury and a severely damaged left side of his face. After first aid was provided, he was sent home. But after a few months he developed back pain, and on January 6, 1964, he was unable to get out of bed. He recalls that time like this: “First of all, I felt fear. From the faces of the people around me, I tried to understand whether I would survive or not. Later, when I realized that I would live, I began to think about how to live further...” To establish cause of the disease, they tested the most difficult diagnostic method on him - spinal puncture, when, without anesthesia, liquid was injected into the spine with a long needle and its movement was monitored using X-rays. The diagnosis was: spinal cyst. The emergency operation lasted eight hours, but did not produce any results: the legs were motionless. Doctors believed that he was doomed to "lifelong paralysis." For more than 1.5 years, Julio remained semi-paralyzed. For the first six months he was practically bedridden. There was no hope that Julio would be able to walk again. The young man becomes depressed. The fear of being a burden to the family prevails. “I had neither body nor muscles left,” he later recalled, “only my brain was strong as an ox.” But not having come to terms with the words of the doctors that it is better not to torture himself and get used to a wheelchair, Julio shows a character unexpected for the darling of fate: cutting back on sleep and overcoming pain, he crawls around the room at night (so that the doctors don’t know), trying to get to his feet, studying books on neurology, and when the first improvements began, he walked on crutches for 12 hours a day, developing his legs. And the will defeated a serious illness, which now reminds of itself only by a slight limp and a small scar on his face (that’s why he always asks to photograph himself on the right side).
“I was not born a singer, I became one,” Iglesias likes to repeat. It was in the hospital, due to forced inactivity, insomnia and painful experiences, that his poetic and musical talent developed. At night, Julio listened to the radio and wrote poetry - sad, romantic poems dedicated to the meaning of a person’s life, why he comes into this world. Eladio Magdaleno, a young orderly who was caring for Julio, once brought him a guitar so that he would not get bored. Julio began to study it greedily. By that time, he did not even think about being a singer, remembering Padre Axelmo. “Lying in bed, I lacked human warmth and communication, and I began to look for them in music. I just wanted to have fun,” the singer once shared his memories, but the music hit me like a storm. It completely changed everything around me ". And it was in a hospital bed that he composed his first song - “La Vida Sigue Igual” (Life Goes On), which became a manifesto of his will to live and a pass to the future heights of the musical Olympus. “You'll see me at the festival soon,” he assured his mother from her wheelchair.
In 1966, when 23-year-old Julio had finally recovered, he wanted to continue his studies. “Higher education became for me then a kind of return to life, but by no means a calling,” he once admitted to journalists. To dispel his son's sadness, his father sends him to England for a year to improve his English, first at Ramsgate and then at the Bell Language School in Cambridge. One day Julio and his friends went into a beer bar at Cambridge airport, where several guys were sitting at tables. One of them played the guitar. Julio asked him for an instrument and performed the then popular Cuban song “Guantanamera” - about a girl’s unhappy love. While he was singing, there was deathly silence in the pub: the customers, putting their mugs aside, listened to the stranger. As soon as Julio stopped singing, applause rang out in the hall. This was Iglesias's first performance in front of an audience and his first "fee." Then very often he performed in that bar on weekends, performing songs by Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck, the Beatles... And there, in Cambridge, he met the French student Gwendoline Bollore, who became his friend and one of his musical successes. (The song he dedicated to her - “Gwendolyne”, will bring him 4th place at the Eurovision Song Contest, and more than 400 million people around the world will immediately recognize his name). In 1967, he re-entered the first year of the Faculty of Law at the University of Madrid with the determination to graduate. But along the way, he does not give up hope of starting a musical career.
In 1968, still not believing in his own abilities, he brought his first song to a Madrid recording studio in search of a singer who would agree to perform his music. He was stunned when the manager asked him: “Why don’t you perform it yourself, you have a good voice?” The answer was, "Because I'm not a singer." But Julio still sent his song to the competition and never regretted it. Superstitious Spaniards love to bet among themselves on luck. As Iglesias once admitted to his fans, “I gave my word to my father that if I don’t win the competition once and for all, I will stop singing and get a law degree.”
And on July 18, 1968, Julio Iglesias, an unknown newcomer at the time, brilliantly won the national Spanish Song Festival in the resort town of Benidorm with his song “La Vida Sigue Igual”, winning three awards at once: “For Best Performance”, “For best poems" and "For the best song"! Immediately after the performance, he signed a contract with Columbia Records.
“I pulled my voice from the depths of my soul and began to sing,” Julio recalled his first performance. Unable to hold himself on stage, he was incredibly glad that the audience did not throw anything at him... So a singer appeared in Spain, completely different from the public idols of the late 60s. Julio always went on stage in a dark suit, white shirt and black tie. He gestured very little while singing, which caused reproaches and even ridicule from journalists who were accustomed to a more temperamental style of performance. However, the listeners, and especially the female listeners, were delighted with Julio. After all, his weapon on stage was and is not gestures and movements, but his enchanting voice, which has a downright hypnotic effect, once you hear it you will never be able to confuse it with anyone else. The mesmerizing timbre of Julio Iglesias's voice plunges you into the abyss of true love and passion, makes you empathize with his joys and sorrows. And that is why his listeners liked his such a romantic image.
Since the bet was won, Julio took a sabbatical from the University, and his father, reconciled with his son’s choice, helped him with the release of his first record. “Fortunately, fortune smiled on me, and I speak to you not as a lawyer, but as a singer,” Julio later joked.
But was it luck alone that helped Iglesias become famous and rich? It is unlikely that even one of his close people saw him lying on the sofa watching TV, idly spending time at some picnic, or traveling around countries as a tourist. Since then, his career began to develop rapidly. Iglesias successfully represents Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest, his songs becoming national hits: “Gwendoline”, “Un Canto A Galicia”... It only took Iglesias a few years to become the No. 1 Spanish singer and by far the most famous Spanish-language performer in the world. He begins to tour abroad for a long time and performs triumphantly at the most prestigious European venues: at the Olympia in Paris and at the Odeon in London. Listeners from different countries like that the Spaniard sings many songs from his repertoire in their native languages. This not only expands the singer’s audience, but also significantly increases the sales of his discs.

Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva (this is the singer's full name) was born on September 23, 1943 in Madrid, in the family of a doctor. He graduated from a Catholic college, where the choir director, having tested the boy’s vocal capabilities, strongly advised him to do anything but sing.

And the fifteen-year-old boy gladly switched to football, where success was obvious, and was soon invited to the youth team of the most famous club in the country - Real Madrid. Perhaps, after a while, another good football player would have appeared in Spain, and we would never have heard the songs of Julio Iglesias, but there would have been no happiness, but misfortune helped."
At the age of 19, while a law student at the capital's university, Julio gets into a terrible car accident and spends almost two years semi-paralyzed in a hospital bed. The singer recalled that time like this: “When I realized that I would live, I began to think about how to live further... I missed human warmth and communication, and I began to look for them, writing songs and playing along with myself on the guitar.” .

Having found his feet, Julio, on the advice of friends who liked his soulful songs, decided to try himself on the professional stage and take part in a national competition in the resort town of Benidorm. And immediately a great success! An unknown newcomer won three awards: “For Best Performance”, “For Best Lyrics” and “For Best Song”. And the winning song bore a very symbolic name for the young singer - “La Vida Sique Igual” (“Life Goes On”). This is how a singer appeared in Spain, completely different from the public idols of the late 60s. Julio went on stage in a dark suit, white shirt and black tie. He gestured very little while singing, which caused reproaches and even ridicule from journalists who were accustomed to a more temperamental style of performance. However, the listeners, and especially the female listeners, were delighted with Julio. They liked his pronounced romantic image. His creative career has been developing upward: Iglesias successfully represents Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest, his songs become national hits: “Gwendoline”, “Un Canto A Galicia”...

It only took Iglesias a few years to become Spain's No. 1 singer and by far the most famous Spanish-language artist in the world. He begins to tour abroad for a long time and performs triumphantly at the most prestigious European venues: at the Olympia in Paris and at the Odeon in London.

In 1978, Julio Iglesias decides to move to Miami, where he buys a luxurious villa with several swimming pools, a private pier and two snow-white yachts. Iglesias' albums are beginning to be released in English. He records songs with such superstars as country singer Willie Nelson, Stevie Wonder, the Beach Boys, but his collaboration with Diane Ross was especially successful. Subsequently, Julio Iglesias continued this tradition in his work on the super-successful album "Crazy", where he sang along with Sting, Art Garfunkle and Dolly Parton. And after the patriarch of American pop music, Frank Sinatra, invited Iglesias to sing a duet with him on a disc called “Duets,” the Spaniard achieved his goal and conquered the American Olympus. During his long creative career, Julio Iglesias has released more than 70 discs, the total circulation of which has exceeded 250 million copies, he is the winner of almost all the most prestigious music awards, including the Grammy, and he has millions of listeners all over the world. Iglesias is, by the way, a record holder of the Guinness Book of Records, which awarded him a unique diamond disc as “the musician who has sold the largest number of albums in different languages ​​of the world.”

In terms of the number of concerts he has worked, Julio Iglesias is also not far from the main workaholic of world show business, James Brown. Iglesias performed about 4,600 concerts on five continents of the globe. One music critic wrote: “Musical fashions and tastes often change, but the fashion for Julio Iglesias does not go away, and the famous Spaniard, like good wine, gets better over the years.”