Enrique Iglesias Biography
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Born May 8, 1975 in Madrid, Spain, Enrique Iglesias has followed in his father’s large footsteps with even larger footsteps of his own. The hot singer that just released his first English language album has had a long history in the music industry and already is the best selling Latin recording artist in the world, though Ricky Martin may claim the same distinction. Enrique released his first album in 1995 although secretly had been planning the release since the age of 16. Although he was the son of a famous musician, Enrique and Julio are not very close, as during his childhood his father was mostly away from home busy with his own music career.
His mother also was distant as well, being a Madrid journalist. Enrique counted on the guidance of his nanny, Elvira Olivares, during his childhood in Miami. He moved from Spain to Miami when he was only 7, mostly because of terrorism threats in his home country, where his grandfather had been kidnapped just prior. Before you think Enrique used his father to gain acceptance as a musician, think again, as he kept his musical aspirations a secret, saying “I never wanted to tell my parents. It felt funny.
I respected it so much, and I wanted it so much. Like, if you’re eating dinner with your parents and you tell them, “Dad, I want to be a pilot,” he’s like, “Shut up and keep on eating.” I never wanted to hear that.”
His first album was a huge success and to date has sold over 6 million copies and his second album, Vivir, has also sold multi-millions. Enrique’s talent stretches across several languages, having recorded in Italian, Portugese, English, and his native Spanish. He recently told MTV “Yeah. I just have the best of both worlds. I can do English and I can do Spanish.
In 1995, he released his first album in Spanish. Titled Enrique Iglesias, this was a collection of light rock ballads, including such mega-hits as “Si Tú Te Vas”, “Experiencia Religiosa”, and others. The record sold half a million copies in its first week, a rare accomplishment then for an album recorded in a language other than English.
His song “Por Amarte” was included in Televisa’s telenovela Marisol, but with a twist: instead of Por amarte yo moriría (To love you, I’d die), the words were Por amarte Marisol, moriría (To love you, Marisol, I’d die). The CD also yielded Italian and Portuguese editions of the album, with most of the songs translated into those languages.
Five singles released from this album, such as “Por Amarte”, “No Llores por Mí” and “Trapecista”, topped the Latin charts. The album went on to win Iglesias a Grammy award as Best Latin Artist.
What I used to do in Spanish was mainstream, mainstream pop music. That’s what I wanted to do in English. When I was doing this album, that’s what I wanted to create: a mainstream pop album. Because that was mainly my influence growing up, as a little kid. That kind of music.” But don’t label Enrique a crossover artist, as he says “Everyone is talking about this whole Latino movement and this “crossover.” I hate that word, “crossover.” I don’t know if it’s because it puts too much pressure… not really, in a way, but I just don’t like that word.” Before the dreaded crossover, Enrique enjoyed his greatest success as in 1996 Enrique won a Grammy for Best Latin Performer, and in 1997 Billboard awarded him Album of the Year. He did recently get awarded as the Favorite Latino Artist at the Sixth Annual Blockbuster Awards as well.
Enrique’s career is not without controversy though, as in 1999 two executives from his label Fonovisa, pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles to charges related to illegally paying radio stations to play songs by their artists, which included Enrique. It also is known that Enrique and Ricky Martin are very competitive rivals, much in the same way as Jennifer Lopez and Salma Hayek are on the big screen. In fact, Enrique was recently dumped by model Adriana Beiga supposedly in favor of Martin.
Although Adriana says in a recent interview that she is seeing neither since both do not have time for relationships because of the workload involved in their careers. It also was reported that Enrique’s longtime lover Sofia Vergara also ended her relationship with him. Most recently he was seen grinding on the dance floor with Christina Aguilera after their performance in VH1′s Men Strike Back.
It is interesting to note though that Enrique has claimed to many to be a virgin, though interviews with Beiga and Vergara seem to dispute that. If it is the case, likely it is due to the messy divorce between his parents when Enrique was growing up. That being said, don’t feel too bad for Enrique, as he is one of the most desired men on the planet, even being awarded People magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People distinction in 1998.
He reponded to MTV’s questioning about women on Miami chasing him all the time by saying “That’s a good side of my job.” His video, Be With You, features a kissing scene with hot young actress Shannon Elizabeth, although its unclear what if any the two’s relations are off the camera (it should be noted though that Shannon is engaged and says the two are only friends).
Enrique also played the part of an evil Roman emperor in an ambitous TV commercial for Pepsi, which sponsored his last world tour. He starred alongside Britney Spears, Beyonce and Pink, who turn the tables on him in the commercial.
Enrique has been linked to a number of women, from former Miss Universe Alicia Machado to teen queen Christina Aguilera. He currently dates Russian tennis star and model Anna Kournikova.
More recently, Enrique has been a guest on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show, surprising one of his fans and spending the day with her. Enrique will soon appear in a commercial for the Tommy Hilfiger fragrance called “True Star Men”, which Enrique is endorsing.
In 2002, Iglesias chose to release a fourth Spanish-language album titled Quizás (Perhaps). A more polished musical production than his previous Spanish albums and containing more introspective songs, the album’s title track is a song about the strained relationship Iglesias has with his famous father.
The album debuted at number 12 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, the highest placement of a Spanish language album on the chart at the time. Quizás sold a million copies in a week, making it the fastest-selling album in Spanish in 5 years. The three singles released from the album all ended up topping the Latin chart, giving Iglesias a total of 16 number ones on the chart. He currently holds the record for the most number one singles on Billboard’s Latin Chart. His last single from the album, “Para Que la Vida”, reached a million spins on U.S. radio, the only Spanish language song to do so.
The video to the song “Quizás” was the first Spanish language music video to be added to the selection on MTV’s popular show Total Request Live. Iglesias performed the song on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, becoming the first to sing a Spanish song on the show, and opening doors for other artists such as Ricky Martin, Juanes and Jorge Drexler to perform their Spanish material. Iglesias included songs from Quizás in his “Don’t Turn Off the Lights Tour”, and the album went on to win a Latin Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album.
In 2003, Iglesias released his seventh album, which he called 7, the second to be co-written by Iglesias. Among its more 1980s-inspired material, it features the song “Roamer”, which he wrote with his friend and longtime guitarist, Tony Bruno. The CD also contained the song “Be Yourself”, a song about independence (the chorus talks about how Iglesias’ own parents didn’t believe he’d ever succeed in his singing career). The first single was the song “Addicted”, and was followed closely by a remix of the song “Not in Love”, featuring Kelis.
With this album, Iglesias went on his biggest world tour to date. The highly publicised tour started with twelve shows in the United States ending with Iglesias playing at Houston Rodeo and continued on to several countries, most of which he’d never previously visited playing to sold-out arenas and stadiums in Australia, India, Egypt and Singapore before ending his tour in South Africa.
Iglesias released his new album Insomniac on June 12, 2007. The album was so named due to it being recorded mainly at night. The album contained a more contemporary pop style than that of previous albums. The album’s highlights include “Push”, with rapper Lil’ Wayne, as well as “Ring My Bells”, and a cover of Ringside’s “Tired of Being Sorry”.
The first single Do You Know? (The Ping Pong Song) was released on April 10, 2007. It was the Iglesias’s highest charting song on the Hot 100 since “Escape” it was also a it throughout Europe peaking in the top 10 in many countries and the Spanish version entitled “Dímelo” was #1 on Hot Latin Tracks from 12 weeks becoming his second best performing song on that chart.
Iglesias followed up with the ballad “Somebody’s Me”, which was released as a single in the American continent. The song was played extensively on AC radio and peaked high on Billboard’s Hot AC, where the Spanish version also performed well. In Europe, the second single was “Tired of Being Sorry”, which performed well in many countries; he recorded a version of the song with French singer Nâdiya which was #1 in France for one week.
On July 4, Enrique Iglesias became the first Western artist to play a concert in Syria in three decades when he performed for a sold-out crowd of 10,000 in the capital city of Damascus and in the same week performed on Live Earth.
The Insomniac World Tour was launched at the Dome in Johannesburg, South Africa, the same venue he ended his last world Tour and took him to sold out arenas throughout Europe. It was his first arena tour of the UK with him playing venues such as Manchester’s MEN Arena and Wembley Arena. The tour ended with Iglesias performing at newly opened L.A. Live. A second leg of the tour has taken him throughout Latin America from Mexico to Argentina.
A solo version of “Push” was added to the soundtrack of the movie Step Up 2 the Streets. The song was regarded as the third single from the album. A music video was shot which features the film’s lead actors. Despite never being officially added to radio the song has charted in several countries and is one of his most highly rated songs amongst fans.
Enrique’s song “Can You Hear Me” has been chosen as the official song of the UEFA Euro 2008 football tournament. He performed the song live at the June 29, 2008 final in Vienna, Austria. The song featured on a re-issue of the Insomniac album being released in certain countries.
Enrique released a Spanish Greatest Hits album on 25 March 2008 which included his seventeen #1 songs on Hot Latin Tracks chart, plus two new songs. The first single was the song “Dónde Están Corazón”, which is written by Argentine star Coti and became Iglesias’s 18th #1 single on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs. The album debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Latin Album Charts and #18 on Billboards top 200 Album chart. It was Enrique’s second Spanish Album to debut in the top 20 Billboards Top 200 Albums (Quizás debuted at 12 in 2002). The album has been recently certified double platinum in the U.S.and in some Latin American countries.
The album’s second single Lloro Por Ti had an official remix featuring Wisin y Yandel which also reached #1. Iglesias did a tour of the US. Beginning in Laredo, Texas and ending at the Izod Center in New Jersey he was accompanied though most of the tour with Bachata band Aventura who also performed “Lloro Por Ti” with him at the Premios Juventud.
Iglesias was a surprise performer at the Lo Nuestro Awards, opening the show with a medley of “Dónde Están Corazón” and “Dimelo”. He also performed at the Billboard Latin Music Awards, where he received a special award.
After the success of his Spanish Greatest Hits compilation, Iglesias released a compilation of his English language hits on November 11. The album includes “Can You Hear Me” as well two new songs. The first single is entitled “Away” ft Sean Garrett and was followed by “Takin’ Back My Love” ft Ciara.
The compilation includes English hit songs such as “Bailamos”, “Hero”, “Be With You”, “Not In Love” and “Escape” which have topped the various Billboard Charts (two of which on Hot 100) as well as songs such as Rhythm Divine, Tired Of Being Sorry and Do You Know (The ping pong song) which have also topped charts in Europe.
After the successful collaboration with Nadiya Iglesias has recorded a second duet with her called “Miss You” which featured on a delux edition of the album. The album debuted at #3 on The Official Uk Album Chart and sold over 80,000 copies in its first 2 weeks alone.
Enrique was the winner for two World Music Awards in the categories of “World’s Best Selling Latin Performer” and “World’s Best Selling Spanish Artist”, in the ceremony held in Monaco on November 9, 2008.
In July 2010 Iglesias released his ninth studio album Euphoria. His first work to be released under his new label Universal Republic the album is pioneering as it’s Iglesias’s first bilingual album with seven original English songs and six original Spanish songs.
Iglesias worked with three producers whome he’d worked with before; RedOne, Mark Taylor and Carlos Paucer. The album features collaborations with Akon, Usher, Nicole Scherzinger, Pitbull, Juan Luis Guerra and his third duet with Wisin y Yandel. In a joint venture with Universal Latino Iglesias will release different singles in both languages simultaneously to different formats.
The first English single, the Dance-Pop song I Like It has been a return to form for Iglesias becoming one of his biggest worldwide hits. In many countries including the US it is his best performing song since “Hero” and is currently #4 on the Hot 100 and has sold over a million downloads in the US. The song is also his twentyfourth #1 on Billboards Dance Chart.
The Spanish single, the Bachata tinged Cuando Me Enamoro has been #1 for nine weeks on Hot Latin Songs and has been nominated for a Latin Grammy in the song of the year category.
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