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ENRIQUE IGLESIAS BIOGRAPHY |
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At the dawn of the new millennium, Enrique Iglesias was the
best-selling Latin recording artist in the world. The son of
multimillion-selling singer Julio Iglesias, Enrique was born in
Madrid, Spain, where he lived with his mother, his brother
Julio, and his sister Chabeli. In 1982, his mother sent them to
live in Miami with their father. While there, Enrique was
exposed to three different cultures and musical influences --
Hispanic, European, and American.
Iglesias' own career started when he was still attending
Gulliver Private School, a very prestigious school in Miami. He
made his singing debut in a production of Hello, Dolly, after
which he began practicing his singing without his parents
knowing. After a year studying business at the University of
Miami, he decided to follow his passion for music. In 1995, he
sang in person for his soon-to-be manager, who at Iglesias'
insistence of not wanting to use his family name, first shopped
his demos as an unknown Central American singer named Enrique
Martinez. It wasn't until he earned a record deal with Fonovisa
that Enrique told his father and mother of his aspirations. Then
he flew to Toronto where no one knew him and he could
concentrate just on music, to record for five months.
That first album, Enrique Iglesias (1996), sold more than a
million copies in three months (it earned him his first gold
record in Portugal in a mere seven days) and to date has sold
more than six million worldwide. The second album, Vivir (1997),
enjoyed global sales of more than five million discs and
launched his first world tour, backed by sidemen for Elton John,
Bruce Springsteen, and Billy Joel. In a mere three years,
Iglesias had sold more than 17 million Spanish-language albums,
more than anyone else during that period. (The U.S. was his
biggest market.) He also won the 1996 Grammy for Best Latin
Performer, 1996's Billboard Artist of the Year, Billboard's
Album of the Year for Vivir, two American Music Awards, a World
Music Award, eight Premio Lo Nuestro Awards, two ACE Performer
of the Year Awards, and ASCAP prizes for Best Composer of 1996
and 1997, in addition to countless accolades around the world.
With 1998's Cosas del Amor, Iglesias moved to more mature
content; his earlier material had been written when he was 17
years old. Then came Enrique, Enrique Iglesias' first Interscope
album and first in English, which achieved gold or platinum
status in 32 countries and brought his global album sales to a
total of more than 23 million. In 2001 he released the follow-up,
Escape. Iglesias alternated Spanish- and English-language albums
during the next two years, first offering the ballad collection
Quizás in 2002, then the mainstream English record Seven in
2003. |
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