Newspaper Article

Julio Iglesias brings four decades of music to Pechanga

By: SCOTT MCDONALD - For The Californian -
Posted: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 5:00 pm

Just last year, music legend Julio Iglesias celebrated forty years as a singer and songwriter. In that time, he's continuously traveled the world, performed more than 5,000 concerts, and sold over 300 million records. However, it took a car accident that left him bedridden for months to lead him down a musical path.

Iglesias, the eldest of two sons born to Spain's most famous gynecologist, initially had his sights set on a professional soccer career ---- even playing for a time as goalie on Real Madrid's youth team.

Told by doctors after the accident that he would never walk again, Iglesias took up guitar to keep his hands occupied and his mind distracted. And even after he had beat the odds and fully recovered, Iglesias studied at Cambridge University where he earned a law degree.

But a path other than music was not to be. In 1968, he won a Spanish songwriting contest and the rest is history.

Yet Iglesias doesn't give his current milestone much credence.

"It's nothing really," he said recently after arriving in Miami on the heels of a handful of dates in the Dominican Republic. "There are people out there who have been working much more than I have and they deserve more than me. But I am very grateful for it all. I love that I can still go anywhere and they still like the music."

That's putting it mildly. Iglesias performs over a hundred shows a year across the globe and the fans love the music. "Romantic Classics," Iglesias' 2006 English-language offering, was his highest debut ever on the Billboard charts in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Europe, and Asia ---- a significant feat given the fact that he's released nearly 80 albums in 14 languages.

"It's amazing," he said. "I feel very lucky. And I love that I've always been able to play everywhere from Finland to China. And when I go to different countries, I not only sing in the different languages, but I make love in them as well."

Iglesias has kept a keen sense of humor throughout his career and chuckles heartily after half of the things he says. While he has a generally affable personality, the crooner attributes much of his jovial nature to the fun he finds in the day-to-day happenings of his extended family. Iglesias had three children in the 70s, including international recording artist son Enrique, and started another family in the late 90s with current wife Miranda. The couple has three sons and twin girls.

The singer's father also started a second family later in life, fathering two children shortly before he passed in 2005. The Grammy Award winner now has a 5-year-old half-brother and a three-year-old half sister.

"Family in my life is great," Iglesias said. "I have a baby that's two years old. It's wonderful. I could really be his grandfather, but it's OK. To have a baby is a beautiful thing. And it's also good because it's made me very patient. It's a very special situation that I have."

Iglesias continues to draw inspiration from both his extended family and fans all over the world. He'll close out 2009 with a run of American dates ---- including a stop tonight at Pechanga Resort's showroom in Temecula ---- on a tour that has already taken him to Mexico, Uruguay, Brazil, Chile, Lebanon, Canada, Turkey, Spain, Bolivia, Israel, and the Dominican Republic this year. Not one to slow down too much, he has more of the same planned for next year. And while Iglesias' popularity shows no signs of diminishing, the best-selling singer likes to keep his focus on the simpler things.

"Just to wake up every day is an honor," he said. "I think tomorrow is much more important that yesterday. And it will be always be that way. For me, the only business I have in my life is to be alive. And that's a great business."

Julio Iglesias

Pechanga Showroom, Pechanga Resort & Casino, 45000 Pechanga Parkway, Temecula

8 p.m. Nov. 19

$50-$85

877-711-2946

(Source: http://www.nctimes.com/entertainment/music/article_67ec060b-5790-596a-b18c-7ffbd5eea52f.html)