Julio and Wendy sing "All of You" Istanbul, Turkey
(Source: YouTube)
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Julio Interview in "Wine Spectator"
Wine Talk: Julio Iglesias
World-famous singer and would-be sports star has a taste for Old World gems
Eric Arnold
Posted: Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Singer Julio Iglesias, 64, has sold more than 250 million albums worldwide. But becoming an internationally renowned singer was a bit of an accident, since what Iglesias really wanted was to play for legendary soccer team Real Madrid. He enjoyed a short stint with the team as its goalkeeper, but a near-fatal accident in 1962 left him unable to walk for two years. It was during his recuperation that Iglesias began writing songs and learning music, and the rest is history—literally, since Iglesias has sold more albums in more languages than any other artist. And just like that accident that changed his life for the better, it was a whimsical tasting in the early '70s that turned Iglesias into a lifelong wine lover and, eventually, led him to build a vast collection over the past three decades.
Wine Spectator: How and when did you first become interested in wine?Julio Iglesias: I got interested in wines in 1972, one afternoon, having lunch with Roman Polanski and two photographers. I remember I was not interested in wines. But I was having lunch and I asked what was a good wine to the barman, and they took away the glasses from the table and brought a new wine--not in the bottle, but in the carafe. It was a '51 Lafite. And I became crazy about the wine. I understood for the first time the pleasure of the taste of an incredible wine.
WS: What are some of your favorite wines today?
JI: I don't have very many favorite wines. It depends on the circumstances. I started to collect wines in 1973, and I very much appreciate the wine, but tonight I will work until four o'clock, and I will be very tired, so I will not drink a wine tonight. But normally if I have time and it's a casual conversation I will open a good Pauillac or a good Pomerol. I will not open a Romanée-Conti in a casual conversation. But I will open a good wine in a good year. I['ve] collect[ed] wines for 30 or 40 years, [but] I'm not a big buyer like I used to be.
WS: How many bottles do you have?
JI: Fifty thousand? I was buying and buying and buying and buying. I drink wine every night a little and I have tastings with my friends. Unfortunately, for my age, I will not be able to drink all of them! My main cellar is in the south of Spain, in two main rooms. One is underground. I keep maybe 60 percent of my wines there. The other 40 percent is in Florida in my house and in a [rented] wine cellar. And at my house in the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean, I keep three or four thousand wines there.
WS: Is there a wine you don't have that you really want?
JI: Le Pin is quite impossible—it's quite difficult to buy any today. And I'm not interested in buying very many more Romanées because I have a good collection, and I won't have time to drink it all.
WS: If you could only drink one wine from your collection for the rest of your life, what would it be?
JI: If I know, and I would not be disappointed [through the years] with the way the wine is tasting I would go to the Latours. If I had to taste a wine with the same flavor all the time I would take a good Château Pétrus or a Le Pin—a great Pomerol.
WS: Who is the most interesting winemaker you've ever met?
JI: I was very impressed with Robert Mondavi. What he did was not easy. [But] I'm much more impressed with the people who make the wines, who are 65 years old and worked in the same vineyard with their father, and follow the vineyard from the first day to the second week of September to the next September. They really care about the vineyard. That's what I appreciate very much.
WS: If Real Madrid wins the Champions League this year, what wine will you open to celebrate?
JI: I don't think I'll be able to open one, because I don't think they're going to make it! [Ed: He was right--Real Madrid was eliminated in the early rounds of the tournament.] We have great players, but we don’t have a great team. It's like we have a great vineyard, but we don't have a great winemaker. But when they finally win it will be my last '85 Romanée magnum.
Source: http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Features/0,1197,4381,00.html
World-famous singer and would-be sports star has a taste for Old World gems
Eric Arnold
Posted: Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Singer Julio Iglesias, 64, has sold more than 250 million albums worldwide. But becoming an internationally renowned singer was a bit of an accident, since what Iglesias really wanted was to play for legendary soccer team Real Madrid. He enjoyed a short stint with the team as its goalkeeper, but a near-fatal accident in 1962 left him unable to walk for two years. It was during his recuperation that Iglesias began writing songs and learning music, and the rest is history—literally, since Iglesias has sold more albums in more languages than any other artist. And just like that accident that changed his life for the better, it was a whimsical tasting in the early '70s that turned Iglesias into a lifelong wine lover and, eventually, led him to build a vast collection over the past three decades.
Wine Spectator: How and when did you first become interested in wine?Julio Iglesias: I got interested in wines in 1972, one afternoon, having lunch with Roman Polanski and two photographers. I remember I was not interested in wines. But I was having lunch and I asked what was a good wine to the barman, and they took away the glasses from the table and brought a new wine--not in the bottle, but in the carafe. It was a '51 Lafite. And I became crazy about the wine. I understood for the first time the pleasure of the taste of an incredible wine.
WS: What are some of your favorite wines today?
JI: I don't have very many favorite wines. It depends on the circumstances. I started to collect wines in 1973, and I very much appreciate the wine, but tonight I will work until four o'clock, and I will be very tired, so I will not drink a wine tonight. But normally if I have time and it's a casual conversation I will open a good Pauillac or a good Pomerol. I will not open a Romanée-Conti in a casual conversation. But I will open a good wine in a good year. I['ve] collect[ed] wines for 30 or 40 years, [but] I'm not a big buyer like I used to be.
WS: How many bottles do you have?
JI: Fifty thousand? I was buying and buying and buying and buying. I drink wine every night a little and I have tastings with my friends. Unfortunately, for my age, I will not be able to drink all of them! My main cellar is in the south of Spain, in two main rooms. One is underground. I keep maybe 60 percent of my wines there. The other 40 percent is in Florida in my house and in a [rented] wine cellar. And at my house in the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean, I keep three or four thousand wines there.
WS: Is there a wine you don't have that you really want?
JI: Le Pin is quite impossible—it's quite difficult to buy any today. And I'm not interested in buying very many more Romanées because I have a good collection, and I won't have time to drink it all.
WS: If you could only drink one wine from your collection for the rest of your life, what would it be?
JI: If I know, and I would not be disappointed [through the years] with the way the wine is tasting I would go to the Latours. If I had to taste a wine with the same flavor all the time I would take a good Château Pétrus or a Le Pin—a great Pomerol.
WS: Who is the most interesting winemaker you've ever met?
JI: I was very impressed with Robert Mondavi. What he did was not easy. [But] I'm much more impressed with the people who make the wines, who are 65 years old and worked in the same vineyard with their father, and follow the vineyard from the first day to the second week of September to the next September. They really care about the vineyard. That's what I appreciate very much.
WS: If Real Madrid wins the Champions League this year, what wine will you open to celebrate?
JI: I don't think I'll be able to open one, because I don't think they're going to make it! [Ed: He was right--Real Madrid was eliminated in the early rounds of the tournament.] We have great players, but we don’t have a great team. It's like we have a great vineyard, but we don't have a great winemaker. But when they finally win it will be my last '85 Romanée magnum.
Source: http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Features/0,1197,4381,00.html
Sunday, May 18, 2008
RE-SCHEDULED US TOUR DATES
JULIO IGLESIAS
RE-SCHEDULED US TOUR DATES FROM APRIL, 2008
AUGUST 28, 2008
BILOXI, MS- Beau Rivage
AUGUST 30, 2008
NORMAN, OK- Riverwind Casino
AUGUST 31, 2008
THACKERVILLE, OK- Winstar Casino
SEPTEMBER 3, 2008
DALLAS, TX- Meyerson Theatre
SEPTEMBER 5, 2008
EL PASO, TX- Plaza Theatre
RE-SCHEDULED US TOUR DATES FROM APRIL, 2008
AUGUST 28, 2008
BILOXI, MS- Beau Rivage
AUGUST 30, 2008
NORMAN, OK- Riverwind Casino
AUGUST 31, 2008
THACKERVILLE, OK- Winstar Casino
SEPTEMBER 3, 2008
DALLAS, TX- Meyerson Theatre
SEPTEMBER 5, 2008
EL PASO, TX- Plaza Theatre
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Thursday, May 1, 2008
News article on Julio & music industry
Veteran crooner JULIO IGLESIAS has hit out at TV talent contests, accusing them of churning out instant stars who don't have the skills to last.The 64-year-old, who boasts a career spanning 40 years and a staggering 77 albums, insists real singing stars will always shine through.Iglesias explains, "Music is changing. But I always believe what is good will remain. Some people will come along and stay. Others will leave."There are now more opportunities for young people than ever before, but it seems all you have to do is win a contest on Thursday and go on tour on Friday. To be that good in a hurry is not good."
Source: contactmusic.com
http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/iglesias%20blasts%20talent%20shows_1067061
Source: contactmusic.com
http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/iglesias%20blasts%20talent%20shows_1067061
Monday, April 28, 2008
40th jubilee for Julio Iglesias
BY PHIL ROURA
Sunday, April 27th 2008, 4:00 AM
The clear, sexy voice that has entertained millions around the world since 1968 sounds raspy. But Julio Iglesias insists that the virus that hit him earlier this month is gone.
“I’m much better now than I have been in a while,” says Iglesias, though he’s still recovering from the fever that put him in bed for a week.
The international superstar fell sick in the middle of his 2008 world tour, which celebrates his 40th anniversary in show business — a milestone he reaches in July.
Rarely ill, Iglesias was forced to cancel seven shows spanning concert dates in California, Texas, Oklahoma and Mississippi. But he says he will play Mohegan Sun in Connecticut on Wednesday and be able to do a two-night gig at Caesars Atlantic City on Friday and Saturday. (He is also booked for the Capital One Bank Theatre in Westbury, L.I., May 7.)
“I’m feeling very well. Even my sex life is healthy again,” he says with a giggle.
Which means obstetricians should be put on notice. Over the past 11 years, the frisky Iglesias has sired five children with Dutch model Miranda Rijnsburger. Their latest, Guillermo, turns 1 on May 5.
“He is the most beautiful baby,” says the proud papa. “But all of my children are beautiful. They have a beautiful mother, no?”
Papa ain’t so bad, either. At 65, he is a sex symbol to legions around the world, even if he does have three grown children — daughter Chabéli, a journalist, and her singing siblings, Julio Jr. and Enrique — from an annulled first marriage.
“Sure, we see each other,” says Iglesias, a little taken aback when asked about their seeing each other.
“I’m very proud of them. But my older kids are very independent. They have their own lives and careers.”
And so does the head of the family.
“Right now I am enjoying my life,” he says. “If nothing else happens, I am grateful for my fans and my friends, who have always supported me. In the final analysis, the decision [to be a success] is never yours. It is up to the people.
“But I do love what I do. I am proud of the last 40 years. And I am proud as well that I have been accepted by the people in Atlantic City for the past 30 years.”
Iglesias’ tour will also take him to Russia, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Belgium and Holland. Plans for 2009 include concerts in New Zealand, Australia and China, the last, he says “is in a state of confusion” as capitalism and communism try to cohabit.
“I’ve been there many times,” says Iglesias, who has a degree in international law. “I have witnessed [China’s] development. It has been amazing, but there is confusion between its politics and the free-market economy. Shanghai has become another New York. Beijing, which was once a city flooded with bicycles, is now filled with cars. They weren’t prepared for the [resulting] pollution. In 1971 they had maybe 200,000 cars. Now, there are more than 20 million. So now, everyone is worried about the health of the athletes during the upcoming Olympics.”
Iglesias, though, limits his international relations to music. As for that career, he became an entertainer literally by accident. In 1963, Iglesias, then a promising young goalkeeper for the great Real Madrid soccer team, was in a car crash so horrific that doctors thought he’d never walk again. While he was recovering, a nurse handed him a guitar so that he could exercise his fingers — and the rest is history.
Today, “music is changing,” says Iglesias. “But I always believe what is good will remain. Some people will come along and stay. Others will leave.
“There are now more opportunities for young people than ever before, but it seems all you have to do is win a contest on Thursday and go on tour on Friday. To be that much in a hurry is not good.”
Meanwhile, Iglesias is heeding his own advice and will wait at least a year before recording his next CD. His most recent album — a French disk titled “Quelque Chose de France” — was released in 2007.
Doing an album “takes a major commitment,” he explains. “Right now all I want to do is perform.”
(Source: NY Daily News: http://www.nydailynews.com/latino/2008/04/27/2008-04-27_40th_jubilee_for_julio_iglesias.html)
BY PHIL ROURA
Sunday, April 27th 2008, 4:00 AM
The clear, sexy voice that has entertained millions around the world since 1968 sounds raspy. But Julio Iglesias insists that the virus that hit him earlier this month is gone.
“I’m much better now than I have been in a while,” says Iglesias, though he’s still recovering from the fever that put him in bed for a week.
The international superstar fell sick in the middle of his 2008 world tour, which celebrates his 40th anniversary in show business — a milestone he reaches in July.
Rarely ill, Iglesias was forced to cancel seven shows spanning concert dates in California, Texas, Oklahoma and Mississippi. But he says he will play Mohegan Sun in Connecticut on Wednesday and be able to do a two-night gig at Caesars Atlantic City on Friday and Saturday. (He is also booked for the Capital One Bank Theatre in Westbury, L.I., May 7.)
“I’m feeling very well. Even my sex life is healthy again,” he says with a giggle.
Which means obstetricians should be put on notice. Over the past 11 years, the frisky Iglesias has sired five children with Dutch model Miranda Rijnsburger. Their latest, Guillermo, turns 1 on May 5.
“He is the most beautiful baby,” says the proud papa. “But all of my children are beautiful. They have a beautiful mother, no?”
Papa ain’t so bad, either. At 65, he is a sex symbol to legions around the world, even if he does have three grown children — daughter Chabéli, a journalist, and her singing siblings, Julio Jr. and Enrique — from an annulled first marriage.
“Sure, we see each other,” says Iglesias, a little taken aback when asked about their seeing each other.
“I’m very proud of them. But my older kids are very independent. They have their own lives and careers.”
And so does the head of the family.
“Right now I am enjoying my life,” he says. “If nothing else happens, I am grateful for my fans and my friends, who have always supported me. In the final analysis, the decision [to be a success] is never yours. It is up to the people.
“But I do love what I do. I am proud of the last 40 years. And I am proud as well that I have been accepted by the people in Atlantic City for the past 30 years.”
Iglesias’ tour will also take him to Russia, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Belgium and Holland. Plans for 2009 include concerts in New Zealand, Australia and China, the last, he says “is in a state of confusion” as capitalism and communism try to cohabit.
“I’ve been there many times,” says Iglesias, who has a degree in international law. “I have witnessed [China’s] development. It has been amazing, but there is confusion between its politics and the free-market economy. Shanghai has become another New York. Beijing, which was once a city flooded with bicycles, is now filled with cars. They weren’t prepared for the [resulting] pollution. In 1971 they had maybe 200,000 cars. Now, there are more than 20 million. So now, everyone is worried about the health of the athletes during the upcoming Olympics.”
Iglesias, though, limits his international relations to music. As for that career, he became an entertainer literally by accident. In 1963, Iglesias, then a promising young goalkeeper for the great Real Madrid soccer team, was in a car crash so horrific that doctors thought he’d never walk again. While he was recovering, a nurse handed him a guitar so that he could exercise his fingers — and the rest is history.
Today, “music is changing,” says Iglesias. “But I always believe what is good will remain. Some people will come along and stay. Others will leave.
“There are now more opportunities for young people than ever before, but it seems all you have to do is win a contest on Thursday and go on tour on Friday. To be that much in a hurry is not good.”
Meanwhile, Iglesias is heeding his own advice and will wait at least a year before recording his next CD. His most recent album — a French disk titled “Quelque Chose de France” — was released in 2007.
Doing an album “takes a major commitment,” he explains. “Right now all I want to do is perform.”
(Source: NY Daily News: http://www.nydailynews.com/latino/2008/04/27/2008-04-27_40th_jubilee_for_julio_iglesias.html)
Sunday, April 13, 2008
MORE CANCELLED US TOUR DATES
8:00pm
Thu 10
Chumash Casino- Santa Ynez, California
CANCELLED
8:00pm
Fri 11
California Center for the Arts-Escondido, California
CANCELLED
8:00pm
Mon 14
The Plaza Theatre Performing Arts Center-El Paso, Texas
CANCELLED
8:00pm
Wed 16
The Palace Casino-Thackerville, Oklahoma
CANCELLED
Thu 10
Chumash Casino- Santa Ynez, California
CANCELLED
8:00pm
Fri 11
California Center for the Arts-Escondido, California
CANCELLED
8:00pm
Mon 14
The Plaza Theatre Performing Arts Center-El Paso, Texas
CANCELLED
8:00pm
Wed 16
The Palace Casino-Thackerville, Oklahoma
CANCELLED