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Julio Iglesias - The Spanish singer
By Stephen Maher
Julio Iglesias is a world famous Latin singer-song writer whose name is synonymous with love ballads and dreamy poems dressed in music. But what many may not know is that the man and the music were discovered almost by accident. As a result of being bed-ridden from an almost fatal car crash, Julio passed the time strumming a guitar given to him by a nurse. The rest, as they say, is history.
Iglesias was born in Madrid, Spain, September 23rd 1943. Julio is the eldest of two sons by Dr. Julio Iglesias Puga and Maria Del Rosario de la Cueva y Perignat. Growing up in Spain, Julio played football and was a great athlete. He was a goalkeeper for the Real Madrid youth club football team and aspired to be a professional athlete. Iglesias completed his education and studied Law at Madridīs Complutense University.
On September 22nd, 1963, the 20yr old would be re-born a superstar and his life would be forever changed. Coming home from a bar in Madrid close to 2am, Iglesias was in a devastating auto accident that left him semi-paralysed for more than a year and a half. The chances that he would ever walk again were slim.
His father, Dr. Iglesias, was a constant source of encouragement and dedication during the recovery. The two of them spent hours on the beaches of Malaga and Alicante re-learning how to use his motor skills. While Iglesias was in bed, strumming the guitar nurse Eladio Magdaleno gave him, he wrote sombre poems with romantic undertones about the purpose of man. Iglesias expressed his remorse through melancholic themes, a former athlete - now unable to walk.
Iglesias would miraculously recover and continued his studies in England to learn English. He continued to write songs and even played in a pub called the Airport Pub. At this point he still never considered himself a singer, but with a notebook full of songs he approached a record company to offer his lyrics.
On July 17th, 1968 Iglesias reluctantly entered in a music festival competition at Columbia Discos request with his song La vida sigue igual at the Benidorm Music Festival - he won the competition then signed with the label. In 1969 he participated in the Brassow Golden Stag Festival in Romania and in the same year toured in America as a proper Spanish music artist and singer for the first time, and later in Chile at the Festival de Viņa del Mar.
Iglesias married on January 20th, 1971 in Toledo, Spain and spent his honeymoon in Gran Canaria. From this marriage he had three children, one of them being popstar Enrique Iglesias.
Through the 1970s and 80s Iglesias recorded albums and collected awards. Specifically in 1983, he won the Diamond Record Award from the Guinness Book of World Records for selling more records in more languages than any other artist (Spanish, German, English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Tagalog and Japanese). In 1988 he received a Grammy Award for the Best Latin Singer.
Iglesias eventually divorced and remarried and had five other children during the 1990s. His hits as an international as well as a Spanish singer and music artist continue to be played worldwide and while he is not being a father he spends his time in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, Miami in the U.S., or Marbella in Spain.Latest Student Articles
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