Julio Jose` Iglesias de la Cueva was born 79 years ago in Spain’s capital city Madrid, is married and has 8 children. He is a singer and songwriter as well as an ex-professional footballer.
During his teenage years, he was a second division goalkeeper and also studied law at Madrid university. In 1963, he was involved in a serious car accident which caused his career in football to stop abruptly as he was not able to walk and required intensive therapy.
Whilst in hospital, he was given a guitar by a nurse and Julio found out that he had a talent in music. After recovering, he resumed his studies and managed to obtain a Law degree.
His career began in 1968, when he participated with the song ‘La Vida sigue igual’ in a Spanish festival and won. His first album followed shortly after and was very successful, reaching no 3 in the Spanish charts. In 1970, he represented his country in the Eurovision Song Contest, placing 4th with the song ‘Gwendolyne’.
A number one hit named ‘Un canto a Galicia’ was released, followed by a song recorded in Italian ‘Se mi lasci non Vale’, also very successful. In the late 70s, he emigrated to the US and started recording albums in several languages like German, Italian and Portughese.
During the 80s, Julio recorded an album in the English language and instantly became a star. It featured the number one hit ‘To all the Girls I’ve loved Before’ and ‘All of You’, both sung in duet with Willie Nelson and Diana Ross respectively.
In the next decade, Julio once again recorded several songs with various other artists including Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra, Sting and Dolly Parton, amongst others.
Julio’s albums sold around 100 million copies globally, released in 14 languages, and he is thus considered as one of the best-selling artists worldwide. In his native country alone, 23 million records were sold.
During his long career, he released 80 albums and a large number of singles. He has also won 2 Grammy, 1 Country Music Association and an ALMA Award as well as received 2 Spanish National Honours and a French one.