Julio Iglesias

He married a Filipino journalist and television host Maria Isabel Preysler Arrastia, who came from a rich aristocratic family, in 1971. They had three children, of whom Enrique Iglesias grew up to become a famous Spanish singer like his father. Unfortunately the couple divorced in 1979.

Julio Iglesias then went on to live with the Dutch model Miranda Rijnsburger, who was 22 years younger than him. They later got married in 2010 and had five children. He lives with his family in the Dominican Republic, where he owns several hotel complexes.

He has contributed huge amounts for charity and was recognised with the prestigious ‘Paul Harris Medal’ by Rotary International.

Julio Jose Iglesias de la Cueva was born on September 23, 1943 in Madrid, Spain. His father, Julio Iglesias Sr was a well-known Spanish gynaecologist from Ourense. His mother, Rosario de la Cueva y Perignat was from Puerto Rico. Iglesias means churches and Julio comes from Jewish ancestry.

After his high school, he studied law from the CEU San Pablo University in Madrid and played professional football as a goalkeeper for Real Madrid Castilla in the Segunda Division, which is the second professional level of association in the Spanish football league system.

He was involved in a major car accident due to which he injured his spine and legs as a result of which he had to give up his football career. While he was in hospital, a nurse Eladio Magdaleno presented him a guitar. Music came as a therapy to heal his body and get him out of depression.

After recovering from the accident he studied at Bell Educational Trust’s Language School in Cambridge for a while and went on to complete his degree in law at the Complutense University in Madrid.

Julio got recognised as a singer in 1968 when he won an award at the Benidorm International Song Festival for his number ‘La Vida Sigue Igual’ from the movie with the same name.

He soon signed a contract with the recording company Discos Columbia, and released his first studio album titled ‘Yo Canto’ which peaked at number three on the Spanish charts.

In 1970, he represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest, where he performed the number ‘Gwendolyne’ and stood fourth.

Besides Spanish and English, Julio Iglesias has performed in a number of languages including his number one hit, ‘Un Canto A Galicia’ in Galician, ‘Se Mi Lasci Non Vale’ in Italian and ‘Je n’ai pas Change’ in French.

In 1979, he moved to the United States and signed an agreement with CBS International to sing in different languages including Portuguese and German. His album ‘De Nina a Mujer’ was followed by his first English hit ‘Begin the Beguine’ which peaked at number one on the British charts.

Julio Iglesias has a number of hit albums that are all time favourites. Most popular of them are ‘El Amor’ (1975), ‘Julio’ (1983), ‘1100 Bel Air Place’ (1984), ‘Un Hombre Solo’ (1987), ‘My Life: The Greatest Hits’ (1998), ‘Divorcio’ (2003) and ‘Romantic Classics’ (2006).

His latest albums released in 2017 are ‘Mexico y Amigos’ and ‘Dois Coracoes’.