Childhood and youth
Enrique was born into the family of opera singer Julio Iglesias and his wife Isabel Preysler, a journalist. He has an older brother named Julio, also a singer, and an older sister, Maria Isabel, who became a journalist.
When the boy was three, Julio and Isabel divorced. The children remained to live with their mother in the capital of Spain, and the eldest Julio moved to Miami, where he recorded his songs. The nanny Maria Olivares was involved in raising the future pop star.
Since Basque terrorists from ETA threatened the family in the mid-80s, the mother sent the children to the States to live with their father. There the boy studied at a prestigious school and later complained that his father did not help him. However, after his father married the Dutch model Miranda Rijnsburger, things began to go even worse.
Although the young man wanted to become a singer, his father insisted that his son receive higher education at a local university. As a student, he sent his demos to various labels under the pseudonym Enrique Martinez.
Biography of Enrique Iglesias
Enrique Iglesias's birthday is May 8, 1975, under the sign of Taurus. The birthplace of the future star was the capital of Spain, Madrid. The boy is the third and youngest child in the family.
The father was the world famous Julio Iglesias, winner of the Guinness World Record for selling the largest number of copies of music albums.
Isabelle Preysler's mother, a famous journalist, TV presenter, and model, worked hard all her life and had virtually no time left to raise her children. Therefore, the nanny, Maria Olivares, took care of the baby. Now in his interviews, Enrique speaks of her as a full member of the family.
2. Family breakdown
Despite the wealth and financial well-being of the family, the boy’s parents separated 3 years after his birth. The “star” daddy went to Miami for further creative success in the acting business.
3. Moving to Miami
Little Iglesias spent his childhood in the company of his mother, older brother Julio and sister Maria. Soon the separatists of the Basque left-wing, nationalist organization captured his grandfather. Threats began to come towards the mother, children and nanny. Isabel made a decision - the children would be safer in Miami, next to their biological father. This is how the guy came to America.
4. Anthropometric data
Height - 187 cm; weight - 79 kg.
5. An oppressive father
From early childhood the boy was attracted to the stage. He passionately dreamed of singing for the general public. The father did not take his son’s hobby seriously, considering him mediocre and narrow-minded. He got Enrique into the prestigious Gulliver Preparatory School. Here the teenager felt extremely constrained and uncomfortable. He could not fit into the group of “golden youth”, who had expensive cars and other expensive luxuries.
Julio Sr. was not particularly worried about the fact that his child drove an old wreck and was radically different from his peers. The ridicule and mockery of his classmates did not arouse his sympathy, and the father did not spoil his son financially. Dreams of becoming a singer caused him outright irritation.
6. Salvation in verses
Today Iglesias is considered one of the most beautiful people on the planet. At that time, he did not attract even the most modest plain girl in school. He never made friends or comrades. Coming home from school, the guy locked himself in his room and wrote poetry. This was the only outlet, salvation from a harsh, unfair world. This work was more like a personal diary, where he could throw out what had been hurting in his soul over many years. The thought of speaking in front of a large audience filled him with numbing horror, but at the same time attracted him like a magnet. Enrique irresistibly wanted to achieve what scared him so much.
7. Father's dreams
Julio Sr.'s goal was to make his son a successful businessman, and this decision was not discussed. With the appearance of his stepmother in the house, the situation worsened, the teenager’s life turned into a real nightmare. Under the harsh pressure of his wayward father, Enrique entered the university to study economics, but he did not forget the dream of a big stage and promised himself to achieve it by any means.
Career in music
At 19, Iglesias dropped out of school and signed an agreement with the Mexican label FonoMusic. This step did not meet with understanding from the father, but the son did not listen to him, but went to Canada, where he recorded his debut album for five months. Already in October 1995, the first single from it was released - Si tú te vas, and at the end of November the disc itself, simply called Enrique Iglesias, was released.
The millionth edition was sold out in a week. The song Por Amarte was included in the series “Marisol”, becoming its main theme. The disc was re-released in Italy and Portugal with translation into the languages of these countries. The singer himself received a Grammy nomination as “Best Latino.”
Having released his second album Vivir in early 1997, the performer went on his first tour. During the tour, the Spaniard gave 78 concerts in 16 countries.
At the end of the year there was almost a scandal. Father and son Iglesias competed for the American Music Awards in the category “Best Latin American”. Before the ceremony, the father went to a forbidden reception: he warned that if his son received the award, he would defiantly leave the ceremony. In order not to worsen his relationship with his father, Enrique refused the bonus.
The young artist's third album was released in September 1998. It was called Cosas del amor. This album earned him an American Music Award.
Songs from Cosas del amor were featured in TV series and movies. Thus, the famous composition Bailamos was included in the soundtrack of the film “Wild Wild West” starring Will Smith.
Although the film with Smith was not a big success, the song Bailamos reached number one on the American chart. Iglesias decided that it was necessary to conquer the English-language market and agreed with the Interscope Records label. It was on it that the artist’s first English-language disc, Enrique, appeared. This album contains two interesting duets - with Whitney Houston and Alsou.
In October 2001, the Spaniard released his most successful album, Escape. After which he presented the disc in Spanish – Quizás. But Iglesias' seventh album, entitled Seven, failed. The performer could have been especially offended by the fact that his father’s album, released at the same time, turned out to be very, very successful.
After the failure of Seven, the singer did not release new discs for seven years. Only in the summer of 2007 did he introduce a new product - Insomniac. Having subsequently released the Greatest Hits collection, in the fall of 2008 the performer was awarded the World Music Awards as the best-selling Latin American.
The ninth album, Euphoria, was released in the summer of 2010. The release turned out to be successful for the singer; it brought him 14 nominations for the Billboard de la Musica Latina award, and ultimately nine statuettes.
The singer's tenth studio album, Sex + Love, again bilingual, was released in 2014. It was currently the last for the performer.
Career of Enrique Iglesias
8. Discord with father and first performances
While studying at school, the future singer gave performances to small audiences and recorded records with his songs, which were sold in almost all stores. Iglesias achieved his long-awaited first fame. Not many people have heard that the singer was then recognized under the pseudonym Enrique Martinas. The young man explained this by saying that he did not want to fade in the rays of his father's glory. The guy wanted to prove that he could achieve everything on his own, without the big name of Julio.
9. First career successes
In 1994, luck smiled on the young man: he managed to sign a contract with the FonoMusic studio, famous throughout Mexico. Enrique left the university without hesitation, although his father’s indignation and dissatisfaction knew no bounds.
The guy went to Canada to record the first single. 5 months later, his first recording, entitled Si Tú Te Vas (“If You Leave”), was released. After a short period of time, his first album debuted; its name did not present any difficulties for the artist - Enrique Iglesias. In just 7 days, about a million discs were sold, which became a record for a disc released in a language other than English. Thus began the dizzying career of a rising star.
In 1996, all songs from the new album were translated into Spanish and Portuguese. They became even more famous. The Spaniards, Portuguese, and Italians were delighted with the sweet voice of the aspiring artist.
10. Career take off
In January 97, the next album of the already famous singer called “Vivir” was released, which in Russian means “Live”. Radio stations release the song “Enomorado Por Primera Vez”, which has been occupying a leading position in all charts in America for more than 3 months. The first Vivir Tour also took place in 1997. The singer traveled to 16 countries, performed 78 performances, 19 of them took place in the USA.
11. Awards and a new scandal with my father
1997 became the most memorable year in the artist’s life. Enrique became one of the nominees for the prestigious American Music Awards. Iglesias Sr. and Luis Miguel were also contenders for the main prize. The young man’s father was furious and, in a conversation with reporters, openly declared that he would leave the hall for everyone to see if Enrique was awarded. In order not to push his father into another scandal, the guy refused to fight for the coveted prize. At the concert, the singer sang the song “Lluvia Cae”.
In September 1998, the singer’s third studio album, entitled “Cosas del Amor,” was released. Subsequent albums were released every year, and the artist's tracks were played on radio waves millions of times. The famous young man's discs were sold with the same success in different parts of the world. So the hot Latino became a world-famous idol of the big stage.
12. Acting
Having won the hearts of millions of fans with his impeccable vocals and hot performance style, Enrique decides to try himself as an actor. He made his debut in the filming of a commercial for McDonald's, since they were the ones who invested money in most of his appearances.
He then became the face of the True Star Man brand perfume. In 2003, Robert Rodriguez invited Enrique to participate in the filming of the film Once Upon a Time in Mexico. This became an opportunity for the singer to collaborate with world-class stars such as Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderas. The inexperienced actor was very nervous before filming the film and was terribly worried that he would do something wrong. However, the film was successfully shot and received public approval.
After this, the young man was invited to (2007) and “Two and a Half Men” (2007). In the first series, Enrique is the Argentine musician Gael, in the second he got the role of the plumber Fernando.
According to Iglesias, he would love to star in several more films or TV series, but lack of time does not allow him to fully develop his acting skills. After the listed films and videos, Enrique no longer took part in the filming.
Personal life
The Spaniard has been living with one of the most famous domestic tennis players in the West, Anna Kournikova, for a long time. Recently, at the end of January, they had another daughter, named Masha*.
Enrique Iglesias and Anna Kournikova met back in 2002, when the performer was filming a video clip for the song Escape. The company that did business with the Russian woman agreed that she would star in the video.
On the set, the singer behaved arrogantly, calling Anna a “pimply youngster” (he is six years older than his current wife), but soon the newspapers started talking about their romance.
A year after meeting Enrique Iglesias, Anna Kournikova got a wedding ring on her ring finger. The media interpreted this as a sign of engagement, but no information about the upcoming wedding appeared.
Personal life of Enrique Iglesias
13. Father's influence
Despite his popularity among women, Enrique had relatively few romantic relationships. The reason for this was a traumatized psyche in childhood. Even at an early age, the teenager saw the behavior of his father, who constantly cheated on his mother, starting another affair on the side. As an adult, the singer decided not to follow in Julio's footsteps and took relationships with women very seriously.
14. Love Hewitt and other Iglesias girls
In 2000, Iglesias Jr. began a relationship with the charming Jennifer Love Hewitt. But this union did not last long, and the couple soon broke up. In the role of the young heartthrob's lovers, Alicia Machado, Sofia Vergara and other famous beauties.
15. Enrique Iglesias and Anna Kournikova
In 2001, Enrique met the love of his life, Anna Kournikova. Their first meeting took place on the set of the “Escape” video, where the singer was supposed to kiss a luxurious blonde. But the kiss did not take place, as the guy said that he noticed a cold on the girl’s lip. Anna was offended and ran away from the set in tears.
Subsequently, the young man admitted that in this way he decided to attract the attention of the proud beauty. Still, the shooting of the video went well, and the kiss took place. After this, the young man realized that he had finally met the one with whom he wanted to connect his life forever.
Information that the couple got married appeared when journalists noticed a wedding ring on Anya’s finger. Soon after this, a photo of Enrique with actress Estella Warren appeared in one of the British publications. When meeting her lover at the airport, Kournikova did not show to journalists that she was upset by photographs of her husband in the presence of another woman. As usual, smiling, they got into the car and drove away. The artist justified his behavior by saying that he had too much alcohol at the bar and did not understand how the girl ended up on his lap.
16. Enrique's children
The married couple has been together for more than 15 years. As a devoted and responsible wife, Anya provides her husband with homeliness and comfort. In 2021, the couple welcomed twins - daughter Lucy and son Nicholas.
