Spanish Art & Culture
Julio Iglesias
Julio Iglesias' Biography as found at his official website - www.julioiglesias.com
Julio Iglesias was born in Madrid on 23rd September 1943 to Dr. Julio Iglesias Puga and Maria Del Rosario de la Cueva y Perignat. He shared his childhood with his brother Carlos. His father, Dr. Iglesias Puga, was born in Orense, Galicia. On his mother's side, his grandfather was Jose de la Cueva, a famous Andalusian journalist.
He was a remarkable athlete, and he played goalkeeper for the junior Real Madrid soccer team. He wanted to be a professional soccer player, but he never abandoned his studies. He studied Law in the Complutense University of Madrid.
On the night of 22nd September 1963, while returning from Majadahonda to Madrid about two o'clock in the morning with some friends, he suffered a very severe car accident which left him semi-paralyzed for more than a year and a half. The hope that he would walk again was very slight. To develop and increase the dexterity of his hands he started to play the guitar and write poetry.
His personal will to live, and the great support of his family, especially of his father, who even abandoned his profession for more than a year to help his son's rehabilitation, produced a true miracle. After many months of very difficult recuperation Julio began to walk again.
Once recovered, he resumed his studies and travelled to England to study English, first in Ramsgate and then went on to Bell's Language School in Cambridge. Some weekends he would sing in a pub, chanting songs by the artists of the time such as Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck and The Beatles. It was in Cambridge, where he met Gwendolyne Bollore, who would become his girlfriend and the inspiration for one of his most famous songs: Gwendolyne.
Julio continued writing songs, and one day was finally convinced to perform at the then famous Benidorm Music Festival. On 17th July 1968 he was proclaimed the winner of the contest with his famous song La vida sigue igual, and he signed a contract with Columbia Discos.
In 1969 he participated in the Brassow Golden Stag Festival in Romania, sang in the Festival de Viña del Mar in Chile and recorded his first movie: La vida sigue igual.
Julio married Isabel Preysler Arrastria, on 20th January 1971, in Toledo, Spain. They have three children: "Chabeli" María Isabel (1971), Julio José (1973) and Enrique Miguel (1975). They were separated in 1978, and they divorced one year later.
He soon became renowned the world over, recording songs in many languages including Japanese, German, French, Italian and Portuguese as well as Spanish and English. In fact in 1983, Julio Iglesias received the first and only Diamond Record Award ever given to a singer by the Guinness Book of World Records for selling more records in more languages than any other musical artist in history.
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In 1985 he became one of the few Hispanic artists to be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He also received an affectionate tribute from Miami residents, the city in which he resided, granting him a place of honor on the legendary Walk of Latin Stars on Miami's 8th Street.
In 1988, he received the Grammy Award® for Best Latin Singer of the Year 1987 for his album Un hombre solo, and from Aplauso'92 the award of Artist of the Year.
In 1992, he was named "Universal Spaniard" in Florida, and in Spain "Ambassador of Galicia" to the world. In 1997 he received the Monaco World Music Award for the best Latin singer, and he has been the first foreign artist in the history of China to receive the prestigious Golden Record Award in 1995.
Julio Iglesias is the most popular recording artist in the world. He has sold more than 250 million albums, and has been the recipient of more than 2600 Platinum and Gold records in his illustrious musical career, a figure that no other singer has ever managed to achieve in the history of music.
In September 1997, his third son, Miguel Alejandro, was born. He was the first child of his relationship with Miranda Rijnsburger, a beautiful Dutch model whom he met in 1990. Miranda gave birth to their second son, Rodrigo, in April 1999 and two years later she gave birth to twin girls Victoria & Cristina. Their fifth child, Guillermo was born in May 2007.
In 1997, the night of the "ASCAP Awards" Latin pop producer/songwriter Emilio Estefan presented Julio with the ASCAP Pied Piper Award, the Society's most prestigious award for entertainers. As the first Latin artist to receive the Pied Piper, Julio joins past winners Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Barbara Streisand, among others.
On May 18th, 2004, when Julio was 61 years old, his second brother, Jaime, was born and in July 2006 his little sister Ruth was born. Sadly his father, at the age of 90, passed away before the event.
Julio continues his unstoppable triumphal march throughout the world. It is estimated that every thirty seconds one of his songs is played on a radio station somewhere in the world. He continues to perform in concerts and his albums continue to be successful in sales.
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