Julio Iglesias made multilingual pop a Guinness-level career
Madrid-born Julio Iglesias (born 1943) is counted as the world's most commercially successful Spanish singer, with more than 300 million records sold in 14 languages. He might never have sung at all: a car crash ended his career as a Real Madrid reserve goalkeeper, and a hospital nurse handed him a guitar.
His father, Julio Iglesias Puga, came from Ourense and became one of Spain's youngest gynecologists; one maternal grandmother was born in Guayama, Puerto Rico. Iglesias says his mother's line was Jewish and reads the surname de la Cueva, of the cave, as a reference to Jews in hiding. His own surname means churches.
As a young man he kept goal for Real Madrid Castilla in the second division while studying law in Madrid. A serious car accident in 1963 crushed his lower spine and left him unable to walk for two years. During his recovery a nurse, Eladio Magdaleno, gave him a guitar to restore his hand dexterity, and he found he could make music. After rehabilitation he spent three months at a language school in Cambridge, and he finally completed his law degree at Complutense University in 2001.
Victory at the 1968 Benidorm festival with La vida sigue igual led to a film of the same name about a version of his life and a Columbia deal; his debut Yo Canto reached number three in Spain. He came fourth for Spain at Eurovision 1970 in Amsterdam with Gwendolyne, then scored a Europe-wide hit with Un canto a Galicia, sung in Galician for his father, which sold a million copies in Germany alone. Italian and French songs followed through the 1970s.
By one estimate he has given upwards of 5,000 shows, reaching some 60 million fans across six continents. In Spain he has sold 23 million records, more than anyone, and he is the top foreign seller in Brazil, France and Italy. His honours include France's Legion of Honour, a UNICEF ambassadorship from 1989 and a Hollywood star since 1985.
Source: Julio Iglesias
