The son of multimillion-selling singer Julio Iglesias,
Enrique Iglesias 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, FL, with their father. The young Enrique was left in the charge of the family nanny, who effectively raised him while his globe-trotting father was away on tour. Julio's lengthy absences meanthe had little inkling of his son's burgeoning musical talent. At 13 Enrique was already indulging his passion for music by keeping a "secret diary" of songs and by 15 he was playing in secret with two older musicians - one of whom, Robert Morales, would collaborate on Enrique's platinum-selling first album, which was dedicated to his nanny. In Miami, Enrique was exposed to three different cultures and musical influences --Hispanic, European, and American. Enrique's own career started when he was still attending Gulliver Private School, a very prestigious school in Miami. His singing debut was in a play called "Hello Dolly", after which he started to practice his singing without his parents knowing. After a year studying business at the University of Miami, he decided to follow his passion for music. His transition from beach hunk � watersports and hanging out on Hawaiian beaches were his favorite occupations � to budding star came when he plucked up the courage to ask one of his father's ex-managers to go along and see him play. In 1995, he sang in person for his soon-to-be manager, the former Iglesias staff-member and was stunned by the young man's dedication and stubborn insistence that he wouldn't use the family name until he landed a recording contract. His manager 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. At the dawn of the new millennium, Enrique Iglesias was the best-selling Latin recording artist in the world.
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), has 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, Enrique 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. The songs on his first and second album are the songs that Enrique Iglesias wrote when he was 17 years old. With Cosas Del Amor he moved to more mature content, singing about love and about life. Then came Enrique, Enrique Iglesias' first Interscope album and first in English, bringing his global album sales to a total of more than 23 million. Enrique achieved gold or platinum status in 32 countries. In 2001 he released the follow-up, Escape.
