Julio José Iglesias Preysler (born 25 February 1973) is a Spanish singer. In 2008, he was declared the winner of the CMT competition '' Gone Country''.

Early life

He was born Julio José Iglesias-Preysler (before a later name change) in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

, the son of Spanish singer

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 ...

and Filipina socialite and "Hola!" magazine journalist Isabel Preysler. He is the younger brother of Chabeli Iglesias and the older brother of

Enrique Iglesias Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler (; (born 8 May 1975) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He started his recording career in the mid-1990s on the Mexican indie label Fonovisa and became the bestselling Spanish-language act of the decade. By th ...

. His parents divorced in 1979. Iglesias Jr. and his siblings moved to Miami to live with their father. Iglesias Jr. went to college near San Francisco at

Menlo College Menlo College is a private college specializing in business and is located in Atherton, California. Campus Menlo College is situated on 45-acre (0.18 km2) campus in Atherton, California, 25 miles southeast of San Francisco and 20 miles nort ...

Atherton, California Atherton () is an incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, United States. Its population was 7,188 as of 2020. Atherton is known for its wealth; in 1990 and 2019, Atherton was ranked as having the highest per capita income among U.S. t ...

. He won a chance to participate in

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

's ''

Out of the Blue Out of the Blue may refer to: Film and television Film * ''Out of the Blue'' (1931 film), a British musical by Gene Gerrard * ''Out of the Blue'' (1947 film), an American comedy directed by Leigh Jason *'' Out of the Blue: Live at Wembley'', a ...

'' and he worked for the

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, which had previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in New York, New York, United ...

, where he hosted a travel show that took him to Latin America.

Career

Iglesias Jr., with the help of his friend and manager Darius Jordi Lassus, first got into show business as a model. It was his manager that negotiated an exclusive male modeling agreement with Joey Hunter (at the time he was the president of the Male Model division) at the

Ford Models Ford Models, originally the Ford Modeling Agency, is an American international modeling agency based in New York City. It was established in 1946 by Eileen Ford and her husband Gerard W. Ford. Company Ford Models was started in 1946 by Eile ...

Agency in New York. It was through Joey Hunter, that Iglesias Jr. was discovered by photographer Bruce Weber. He went on to campaign for

Versace Gianni Versace S.r.l. (), usually referred to as Versace ( ), is an Italian luxury fashion company founded by Gianni Versace in 1978 known for flashy prints and bright colors. The company produces Italian-made ready-to-wear and accessories, as ...

. Shortly after, Iglesias Jr. signed on with publicity executive Ruben Malaret who began a press campaign to further gain exposure of Iglesias Jr. to the English speaking entertainment industry. Some of his notable accomplishments was his participation on Oprah Winfrey's talk show and was featured in an advertisement for Gap and he modeled for designer John Bartlett VII on Sixth Fashion Show. He was offered two soap opera jobs, one at

Televisa Grupo Televisa is a Mexican multimedia mass media company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content. In April 2021, Televisa and Univision Communications announce ...

and one in the ABC soap opera ''

All My Children ''All My Children'' (often shortened to ''AMC'') is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network (TOLN) from April 29 to September 2, 2013, via Hulu, Hulu Plus, and ...

''. Iglesias Jr. also received an offer from the Producers of the Broadway show Grease to star as Danny, but decided to turn down these job offers because he wanted to focus on his music. Iglesias Jr. signed a recording agreement with Epic Records and he traveled to Miami where he began to record his first album, ''Under My Eyes'', with Rodolfo Castillo. Released in 1999, the recording of this album took them to New York City and Los Angeles, two songs released from this English language album are "One More Chance" and "Under My Eyes". Among promotional appearances for the album, Iglesias Jr. performed "One More Chance" at the

Miss Universe 1999 Miss Universe 1999, the 48th Miss Universe pageant, was held on 26 May 1999 at the Chaguaramas Convention Centre in Chaguaramas, Trinidad, Chaguaramas, Trinidad and Tobago. Mpule Kwelagobe of Botswana was crowned by Wendy Fitzwilliam of Trinidad ...

Pageant and opened for

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female autonomy in a male-dominated industr ...

on her tour of North America. The album failed to gain success in the United States and soon after Iglesias Jr. departed from Epic Records. Iglesias Jr's. second album, ''Tercera Dimension'', was released in 2003 on the

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. (trade name, d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational entertainment and record label Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in New York C ...

and featured Spanish pop rock songs with the singles "Los Demas" and "Dejame Volar". Both albums received public interest from the

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

media in the United States but attained minority success. He worked for Hola Magazine, appearing in several photoshoots. More recently he has taken part in a series in Spain called ''Club de Flo'', in which Spanish politicians and celebrities have to present a comedy routine. The show was unsuccessful and cancelled after several episodes. He has moved back to Spain and is living with his mother Isabel Preysler. He appeared on the Spanish version of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series ''Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the form ...

'' called "¡Mira quien baila!" but was voted out in the thirteenth week. He has played the lead role in a drama film entitled ''The Music of You'' directed by Lloyd DeSouza. Iglesias Jr. was the winner of the CMT reality Television show '' Gone Country,'' in which artists from other genres of music lived together in a house in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

and competed to win a country music contract. His single "The Way I Want You" was released to country radio on 10 March 2008 and was produced by ''Gone Country'' host

John Rich John Rich (born January 7, 1974) is an American country music singer-songwriter. From 1992 to 1998, he was a member of the country music band Lonestar, in which he played bass guitar and alternated with Richie McDonald as lead vocalist. After d ...

. Iglesias Jr. also appeared on the ABC TV show ''the superstars''. He was partnered with soccer player Brandi Chastain; they finished in fourth place in the competition. In 2014, he joined the band '' Latin Lovers'' with

Nuno Resende Nuno Resende (born 25 June 1973) is a Portuguese singer. Biography Early life Nuno was born in Porto, and is an only child. He enrolled at the French school of Porto when he was 5. His family moved to Belgium when he was 12. He is also a Be ...

and

Damien Sargue Damien Sargue (born 26 June 1981) is a French pop singer known for his performance of Romeo in Gérard Presgurvic's '' Roméo et Juliette, de la Haine à l'Amour''. A French native, he grew up in Caen, Normandy, France with his mother Miri ...

. In 2015, he performed a concert (complete show) for the first time with his father

in a tour in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

, on 22 May at Sala Polivalentă in

Cluj-Napoca ; hu, kincses város) , official_name=Cluj-Napoca , native_name= , image_skyline= , subdivision_type1 = County , subdivision_name1 = Cluj County , subdivision_type2 = Status , subdivision_name2 = County seat , settlement_type = City , ...

and 2 July at Sala Palatului in the capital

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north ...

Personal life

In October 1999, he legally changed his name from Julio José Iglesias to Julio Iglesias Jr. In May 2011, Iglesias Jr. was engaged to Belgian model Charisse Verhaert (born 1982) after 7 years of dating; the religious wedding took place on 3 November 2012 in

Aldea del Fresno Aldea del Fresno () is a municipality of the autonomous community of the Community of Madrid in central Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto ...

, Spain. In August 2020, a petition for divorce was filed in the Miami Court. Iglesias is a Catholic and descendant of the religious Filipino-Spanish clan Arrastia from the Arrastia family of Lubao,

Bulacan Bulacan, officially the Province of Bulacan ( tl, Lalawigan ng Bulacan), is a province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is the city of Malolos. Bulacan was established on August 15, 1578, and part of the Me ...

the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

Official Site Latin Lovers
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Iglesias, Julio Jr. 1973 births Living people 21st-century Spanish singers Bailando por un Sueño (Argentine TV series) participants EMI Records artists English-language singers from Spain Julio Jr. Participants in American reality television series Participants in Argentine reality television series People from Madrid Singers from Madrid Singing talent show winners Spanish emigrants to the United States Spanish expatriates in the United States Spanish male models Spanish male singers Spanish people of American descent Spanish people of Filipino descent Spanish people of Jewish descent Spanish people of Kapampangan descent Spanish people of Puerto Rican descent