- Spanish singer, songwriter born Enrique Iglesias Preysler in 1975 in Madrid Spain. He is the son of Julio Iglesias, the most commercially successful European singer of all time.
- Enrique lived in Spain with his mother after his mother and father divorced, but at the age of 6, he moved to Miami to be with his father, after his grandfather was kidnapped by terrorists. He was raised by a nanny. He did not want his father to know that he aspired to a career in music, and he did not want the Iglesias name to help his career, so he borrowed money from his nanny’s family and recorded a demo tape of a Spanish song and 2 English songs, using the name Enrique Martinez, saying that he was from Guatemala. He was signed to a American record label that produces Spanish music.
- He released 3 albums with the label from 1995 to 1998. All 3 were top 10 albums in Spain, while in the U.S. the album Vivir reached #33. Vivir and his debut album Enrique Iglesias ultimately sold over 1 million copies in the U.S. Ten songs from the albums reached #1 on the U.S. Latin charts, but none of them charted in the Hot 100. His debut album was recorded in 3 languages – Spanish, Italian and Portuguese – and it won his only Grammy award, for Best Latin Pop Album (Iglesias has managed to win 5 Latin Grammy awards).
- By 1999, he was ready to crossover into the English language pop music world. Will Smith asked him to contribute to the soundtrack for the film Wild Wild West. The result was the single Bailamos, which would go to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, selling over 5 million copies worldwide. The song was included in his next album, Enrique, released after signing a new record contract. It was his first album in English, and included a second single that topped the Hot 100 chart – Be With You.
- In 2001, he released his most successful album, Escape. The album reached #2 in the U.S. and was certified 3x platinum, with over 10 million copies sold worldwide. The single Hero peaked at #3, while the title track Escape reached #12 (they were #1 and #2 respectively on the Latin chart).
- He followed this with another Spanish album, Quizás. Three more #1 songs on the Latin chart – he has had a total of 26 #1 songs on this chart – more than any other artist ever. He also has the most #1 songs of any male artist on the Billboard Dance chart, recently passing Michael Jackson on the list.
- 2003 saw the release of his next album, titled 7. It was his seventh album, and his third English album. It was less successful than earlier albums – neither single from the album – Addicted and Not In Love – charted in the Hot 100, though they reached #9 and #37 on the Latin chart. 2007’s Insomniac and the compilation album 95/08 Éxitos had several hits on the Latin chart, but nothing that made it big on the Hot 100.
- That changed with 2010’s Euphoria. The album had several songs with featured artists performing with Iglesias, and 2 were major hits on the Hot 100 – both I Like It (featuring Pitbull) and Tonight (I’m Lovin’ You) (featuring Ludacris and DJ Frank E) peaked at #4. Tonight (I’m Loving You) actually is the censored version of the song – his original song is Tonight (I’m F**kin’ You).
- His most recent album was released in 2014. Sex and Love includes the song Bailando (featuring Cuban artists Descemer Bueno and Gente de Zona). It reached #12 on the Hot 100 and #1 on the Latin chart – it stayed #1 on this chart for 41 consecutive weeks, by far the longest in history (the previous record was 25 non-consecutive weeks by Shakira for La Tortura). It won 3 Latin Grammy awards for Iglesias, and sold over 4 million downloads in the U.S.
- Since 2016, he has released 4 singles which may end up on a new studio album. Duele el Corazón topped the Latin chart in 2016 and Súbeme la Radio reached #2.
- Apparently, he has gotten over his fear that his father would not approve of a career in music. He has been crowned The King of Latin Pop. Here’s his cleaned-up video of Tonight (I’m Lovin’ You). It’s very 2010’s Dance-able!