Julio Jose Iglesias de la Cueva is a Spanish singer, songwriter and former professional footballer.
29 Facts About Julio Iglesias
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In 1983, Julio Iglesias was celebrated as having recorded songs in the most languages in the world, and in 2013 for being the artist in Latin music with the most records sold in history.
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In Brazil, France, Italy and elsewhere, Julio Iglesias is the most successful foreign record seller, while in his home country, Spain, he has sold the most records in history, with 23 million records.
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Julio Iglesias has been awarded the Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts of Spain and the Legion of Honour of France.
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Julio Iglesias has had a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame since 1985.
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Julio Iglesias's maternal grandparents were Jose de la Cueva y Orejuela and Dolores de Perignat y Ruiz de Benavides, who was a native of Guayama, Puerto Rico.
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Julio Iglesias says that he is of Jewish ancestry on his maternal side, and that his mother's family name, "de la Cueva", meaning literally "of the cave" and referring to Jewish people in hiding, is a common Jewish name.
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Julio Iglesias has proclaimed himself Jewish "from the waist up".
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Julio Iglesias alternated playing professional football with studying law at the CEU San Pablo University in Madrid.
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Julio Iglesias has said of those years, "I had more courage and attitude than talent".
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Julio Iglesias then signed a deal with Discos Columbia, the Spanish branch of the Columbia Records company, and released his first studio album, titled Yo Canto, or I Sing.
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Julio Iglesias represented Spain in the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing in fourth place behind Ireland's winning entry, performed by Dana.
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Julio Iglesias won a Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album in the 1988 Grammy Awards for the album Un hombre solo.
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Julio Iglesias made a cameo appearance as himself on The Golden Girls as Sophia Petrillo's date on St Valentine's Day 1989.
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In 1995, Julio Iglesias was the recipient of the Excellence Award at the 1995 Lo Nuestro Awards.
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In 2001, Julio Iglesias was recognized as the Person of the Year by the Latin Recording Academy.
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In 2003 and 2004, aided by the success of his Divorcio album, Julio Iglesias went on a ten-month world tour which took him from Europe to Asia and then on to North America, South America and Africa.
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In December 2004, his Dutch girlfriend Miranda Rijnsburger and Julio Iglesias himself recorded a duet of the Christmas song "Silent Night".
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In 2008, Julio Iglesias recorded another song as a gift to his fans.
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Julio Iglesias made investments in the Dominican Republic's eastern town of Punta Cana, a major tourist destination, where he took to spending most of the year.
21.
In September 2006, Julio Iglesias released a new English-language album, which he titled Romantic Classics.
22.
Julio Iglesias returned to the studio to record songs in Filipino and Indonesian for his Asian releases of Romantic Classics, which helped propel record sales in the Asian entertainment industry.
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Julio Iglesias promoted Romantic Classics in 2006; it was seen all over the world on television shows.
24.
In 2008, Julio Iglesias made a music video with Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov.
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On 29 January 1971, Julio Iglesias married Isabel Preysler, a Filipina television host.
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Whenever Julio Iglesias was not on tour, he spent his time at his Miami residence, purchased in 1978 for $650,000.
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On 19 December 2005, Julio Iglesias's father died of a heart attack at the age of 90.
28.
In 2019, a court in Valencia ruled that Julio Iglesias is the father of Javier Sanchez, son of Portuguese former dancer Maria Edite Santos.
29.
Julio Iglesias appealed the verdict and the Provincial Court of Valencia reversed Judge Bort's ruling, declaring it cannot be proven that Sanchez is the son of Julio Iglesias.