Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler was born on May 8, 1975, in Madrid, Spain. His father is Julio Iglesias, the famous playboy, football player, and best-selling Spanish singer of all time; his mother the Filipino socialite and Hola! journalist Isabel Preysler. He has two sisters, Maria Isabel Iglesias Preysler (who went on to become an actress and singer) and Chabeli.
Enrique’s brothers are actor and singer Julio José Iglesias Preysler and Michael Alexander Iglesias. He has two half brothers and twin half sisters whose mother is the Dutch model Miranda Rijnsberger; he also has two half sisters on his mother's side. Enrique’s parents separated when he was three. When he was eight years old his grandfather was kidnapped by the Basque separatist group ETA, and though he was returned unharmed, the shaken family decided to move to Miami, where he still lives today.
Even as a child, Iglesias was attracted to show business, performing in a high school production of Hello Dolly! Nevertheless, he had a grounded attitude to his career, and attended business school before proceeding further with music. Wanting to succeed on his own merits, Iglesias promoted his first singing demos under the name Enrique Martínez, and successfully gained a record contract with Fonovisa.
He then titled his first album Enrique Iglesias and watched it sell half a million copies in one week, a remarkable achievement given that all the songs were in Spanish. His second album, Vivir, also did well, and he used it to launch a tour where he played alongside Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, and Billy Joel.
He has since toured the world several times, filling large arenas, and releasing five more albums, two of them in English. Iglesias has enjoyed unprecedented dominance in the Latin singles chart, winning an American Music Award for Favorite Latin Artist.
He has recorded duets with Whitney Houston, Lionel Richie, and Kelis. In 2000 Enrique made an unexpected appearance on the Howard Stern Show after Stern accused him of faking his singing like Milli Vanilli. Enrique counteracted by singing two acoustic numbers to prove his ability. The subsequent publicity, with praise from Stern, gave his record sales an even greater boost.
Besides working on his own material, Iglesias has written songs for a number of other artists, including Andrea Boccelli, Mel C, and The Hollies. He has written and recorded in Spanish, English, Portuguese, and Italian.
When not making music, Iglesias has taken an interest in film. Having made numerous television appearances as a singer (with Jay Leno, Oprah Winfrey, Rosie O'Donnell, Wayne Brady, and even football star Maradona), and having acted in Spanish-language productions, he moved into Hollywood with Once Upon A Time in Mexico, starring alongside Antonio Banderas, Johnny Depp, Salma Hayek, and Mickey Rourke. He has also appeared as a Roman emperor in a series of Pepsi commercials also featuring Beyonce, Britney Spears, and Pink. Although he doesn't consider himself a sex symbol, he has worked as a model and has been spokesman for Tommy Hilfiger's fragrance True Star Men.
Iglesias has contributed to the soundtracks of several films, with his song "Bailamos" from the Will Smith and Kevin Kline movie Wild, Wild West, which reached #1 in the pop charts. He has also produced work for Fools Rush In, with Matthew Perry and Jon Tenney; Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, with Freddie Prinze Jr. and Sarah Michelle Gellar; and the television show Smallville.
Iglesias has been romantically linked with several famous women, including former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, singer Christina Aguilera, Colombian model Sofia Vergara, and actress Jennifer Love Hewitt. Iglesias has been in a relationship with Russian tennis sensation and model Anna Kournikova since about 2003, and rumors are constantly surfacing that they have secretly been married. Both Iglesias and Kournikova deny the rumors.
YUDDY
