Julio Iglesias

Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva born 23 September 1943 is a Spanish singer songwriter and former professional footballer Iglesias is recognized as the most commercially successful Spanish singer in the world and one of the top record sellers in music history having sold more than 100 million records worldwide in 14 languages It is estimated that during his career he has performed in more than 5000 concerts for over 60 million people in five continents In April 2013 Iglesias was inducted into the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame In 1983 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 In April 2013 in Beijing he was honoured as the most popular international artist in China In Brazil France Italy and elsewhere 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 During his career Iglesias has won many awards in the music industry including the Grammy Latin Grammy World Music Award Billboard Music Award American Music Award and Lo Nuestro Award He has been awarded the Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts of Spain and the Legion of Honour of France UNICEF named him Special Ambassador for the Performing Arts in 1989 He has had a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame since 1985 Iglesias was born in Madrid to Julio Iglesias Sr a medical doctor from Ourense who became one of the youngest gynecologists in the country and María del Rosario de la Cueva y Perignat His paternal grandparents Manuela Puga Noguerol and Ulpiano Iglesias Sarria were of Galician ancestry His maternal grandparents were José de la Cueva y Orejuela 188719553 and Dolores de Perignat y Ruiz de Benavides4 who was a native of Guayama Puerto Rico The name Iglesias translates as churches Iglesias says that he is of Jewish ancestry on his maternal side and that his mothers family name de la Cueva meaning literally of the cave and referring to Jewish people in hiding is a common Jewish name He has proclaimed himself Jewish from the waist up He alternated playing professional football with studying law at the CEU San Pablo University in Madrid In his youth he was a goalkeeper for Real Madrid Castilla in the Segunda División His professional football career was ruined when he was involved in a serious automobile accident in 1963 that left him unable to walk for two years The accident smashed his lower spine and left his legs permanently weakened and requiring therapy for several years He has said of those years I had more courage and attitude than talent While he was in hospital after the accident a nurse named Eladio Magdaleno gave him a guitar so that he could recover the dexterity of his hands In learning to play he discovered his musical talent After his rehabilitation Iglesias studied for three months at Bell Educational Trusts Language School in Cambridge England After that he returned to obtain his law degree at Complutense University of Madrid Source Article Julio Iglesias from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA