Enrique Iglesias was born in Madrid, Spain, on May 8, 1975. His parents, superstar singer Julio Iglesias and model Isabel Preysler, separated when Enrique was three. Five years later young Enrique moved to Miami to be with father Julio. While his childhood was blessed to the extent that his parents were successful, Enrique was not spoiled or fazed by his privileged position. He grew up as a normal, well-adjusted teen with common growing pains.He attended business school at the University of Miami, but left after a year to follow in the family business: entertainment. His start came in 1995 in Spanish when he promoted himself as Enrique Martinez from Central America. Iglesias was intent not to be accused of nepotism and did the legwork required to hawk his demo tape around town.
His last name stuck however, and he moved to Toronto to record his first album, which was named Enrique Iglesias. It sold more than a million units in three months, which was a phenomenal achievement for a Spanish album. Before his first English release that sent his fame into the stratosphere in fact, Iglesias was a household name in the Latin world. His world tours filled stadium after stadium and his albums sold millions everywhere. The awards piled up and Enrique built a name for himself, separate from his father.
In 1999, his song "Bailamos" became the most requested radio track in Los Angeles and New York, and was featured on the sountrack for Wild Wild West. The song later went to #1 on Billboard and Enrique was a superstar. His first English album, Enrique, went double platinum in the US and quadruple platinum worldwide. His global appeal has been considerable, with record sales in Canada, India and Taiwan. His tours have taken him to the Middle East, Russia and Turkey. In order to serve his international fan base, Iglesias has recorded in four languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and English.Next up for Iglesias is a venture into the world of Hollywood. Look for him to appear in Once Upon A Time In Mexico with Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek and Johnny Depp. The film is set for a 2003 release.
Interview
Lucky Number 702/15/2004 9:00 AM, LAUNCHDave DiMartino Enrique Iglesias has firmly established himself as one of the world's top Latin crossover artists with massive hit albums like his 1999 English-language breakthrough Enrique, 2001's Escape, and his latest and seventh release, 7--not to mention sizzling videos featuring sirens like Jennifer Love Hewitt, The O.C.'s Mischa Barton, and his real-life girlfriend, tennis star Anna Kornikova. And in case there was any doubt, Jimmy Fallon's highly entertaining parody of Enrique on the MTV Music Awards a couple years ago confirmed that the son of crooner Julio Iglesias is an official household name.
LAUNCH's executive editor, Dave DiMartino, recently met up with Enrique to find out what exactly it is about him that appeals to people of so many different languages, ethnicities, and musical tastes. Here's how it went:
LAUNCH: You've had tremendous success in both the Spanish- and English-speaking worlds. When you construct an album, is there something you do differently in terms of song styles or approach, depending on the language?
ENRIQUE: I don't actually think about what kind of an album I'm going to make when I go into the studio, because that kind of limits me. I just want my albums to do something different; I don't want the prior one to sound like the new one. What I do, what I try to do is mainly, what I try to focus on in an album, is a song. The main thing is the song. If I like the song, then from there it goes on--but it's not so much the sound of the album or where I'm going to take it to with the beats or with the guitar. For me, it all starts with if I can sing a song with a guitar and it still sounds good acoustically, then I'll stick it on the album. The arrangement and the rest just comes naturally.
LAUNCH: It's an interesting point to make about the songs, that you say they have to have a certain context to them. Sounds like a good way to write a good song.
ENRIQUE: I'm so much into the melody. I mean, lyrics are crucial, but melody--it's so much about that. I think nowadays a lot of the music is not based on the song, it's based on the production, and for me it goes both ways. I mean, you need a good production, but the essence, what makes a song timeless, is the melody, the lyric, and of course the production. But it's those three combined that makes a song timeless.
LAUNCH: You're so well-known; certainly people have heard of you because of your success in the Latin world, and you're seen as a pop artist in the States. Has that been something that's helped or hurt you in terms of overall acceptance?
ENRIQUE: Well, I was doing an interview the other day because they were talking about this whole Latin explosion a few years back and what did I think about it--did I think it was over, did I think that it was going to go away? What I said to this interviewer was it all comes down to the song, no matter where you come from, and that's one thing I love about this business. At the end, there's always justice and it all depends on the song. But I'm never going to deny where I come from. I'm Latino, and that's obvious. But my influence musically...now that's something different. I mean, I do consider that my music is pop because I've been influenced by pop music my whole life; I grew up in the States and '80s pop music was my biggest influence. When something explodes and becomes popular, that's what "pop" means.
LAUNCH: I hear some '80s influences in your music, but it doesn't sound like a retro kind of sound.
ENRIQUE: Yeah, you're right about that, it does have a little of that '80s, but updated a little. That's cool that you picked that up.
LAUNCH: What's do you consider to have been your big break?
ENRIQUE: I've had a few lucky moments, more than just lucky breaks; it's been the timings of my albums. My first record contract was for three records in Spanish, and right when that was over, that was a perfect time for me to release an English album, and that's when it all happened. Just things like that. Even when I released my first Spanish album, it was a perfect time for an artist like me to release the kind of album that I released. So timing-wise, that's where I think I've been lucky with all the albums I've released.
LAUNCH: You have a reputation as a balladeer, especially since "Hero." is more like that than any other song track. How did that direction come about?
ENRIQUE: Well, in English I had never released a slow song, a ballad--except the duet I did with Whitney Houston, but then it was remixed and put to a faster tempo. That's why I wanted to release "Hero." There were a lot of people Midwest or in middle America who didn't know me singing a ballad--they knew me singing "Bailamos" or something popular like "Be With You," but not something like "Hero." That's why for me "Hero" was so crucial, so important, because I wanted people to know that I can do that type of song and that's what I love to write. Not that I don't like the other songs, but I love ballads, and I think it's always a risk-taker when you come up with a ballad. But if it's a good song that touches people's hearts people will come see you in concert 10 years from now just to hear you sing that song. But at the same time, it's not that upbeat or easy for the radio, so it's a risk-taker. But if you make it with that song, it can definitely be a career song.
LAUNCH: Many artists come from a background of poverty, but you obviously did not. Does that give you a weird feeling?
ENRIQUE: That's the first time I got asked that sort of question. Not really, because a lot of these artists that you're talking about write about love, falling out of love...I mean, if you turn on the radio, love is 90 percent of the music. And that's why for artists, no matter what your background is, no matter what religion, what nationality, or what class you come from, no matter if you're rich or poor, no matter what, that's where we all join together and where we're all similar. Because at the end of the day, it all comes down to the music, and love is the main theme in music. We all feel love, and that might sound kind of corny, but I really feel that's what joins musicians together around the world.
LAUNCH: That's a really great answer to that question.
ENRIQUE: Yeah, exactly, you can talk about politics in music, you can talk about something else, but that's always going to change, and love is never going to change. And the artists that you're talking about, their biggest songs are love songs, you know. But it's funny--when I was doing the Tribute To Heroes in New York City, I was watching Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young singing songs that were so amazing and so powerful, and for the first time in my career, I said, "I really want to be like them. I really want to write songs that have meaning, I really want to write songs that are going to define my career." Like "Hero," that I know can define my career; I know I can sing it 20 years from now and be proud of writing and singing that song.
LAUNCH: That's what's interesting about Springsteen and Neil Young: They sing songs from back then, but they sound contemporary.
ENRIQUE: Yeah, that went through my head, and I said, "I want to be that way when I'm their age."
LAUNCH: You've been all over the world, your albums have gone gold or platinum in 32 countries...what advice might you offer to artists that have stayed in Spanish music?
ENRIQUE: Realistically, English is a universal language; it's the number one language for music and for communicating with the rest of the world. I think no matter what language you sing in, you have a chance, but with English of course it's a little bit easier. You can do it in any language, but it's not as easy. I used to travel to so many different countries with my Spanish albums, and some of them would listen to my music and some of them wouldn't, just because it was in Spanish. And when I went back to my English album, most of them would listen to it. But at the same time I had a hit song, which is why they listened to it, because all the people who have English albums aren't going to listen to it. You know, I just said English is the number one language in the world; actually, Chinese is probably the biggest language in the world. There's probably more Chinese. But in all, I don't know. I'm really bad for giving advice to other artists. If you're going to sing in another language, you should feel the other language. And by that, I mean don't do it just because you think you're going to sell more albums. I sang in English because I grew up in the States. I grew up with American influence, I grew up with American music, I went to American schools, I went to college here in the States. I lived my whole life here in the States, and that's why I wanted to sing in English. The first song I ever wrote was in English. You shouldn't do it just because you're going to sell a lot of albums. You should do whatever language you feel is the perfect language for you to sing in and then try to strive to do the best. The one thing about music is that there are no rules. I say that when you sing in English, it's easier and it does open a lot more markets, but there's exceptions, and there are artists out there that have done it in Portuguese, Spanish, and French. They have been around the world singing in those languages. But it's just not as easy, it takes a lot of work. But if you control that language, then strive to be the best you can in that language and put no barriers.
LAUNCH: Tell me about the work you did for a Robert Rodriguez film.
ENRIQUE: Yeah, that was shot in Mexico. I'd just finished my album and Robert Rodriguez's people called me and asked if I want to do this movie. It was a short role, a small role in Once Upon A Time In Mexico. I liked the script, I liked the character, and I'm a big Robert Rodriquez fan. And he made me feel so good. He told me, "You know what, all I want you to do is come here and have fun. Be natural." He just made me feel like I could do it. So I went there--it was my first movie, and I actually had a lot of fun. I was a little nervous the first day, but then I had a lot of fun.
LAUNCH: Do you think acting might be a second career for you?
ENRIQUE: I don't know if it's a second...I'll do it in between music if they offer me things like what Robert offered me. I don't know. I always go to the movies a lot and I always wondered what it would feel like to see yourself on the big screen, so it would be kinda cool.
LAUNCH: What is the one record that changed your life?
ENRIQUE: I can't say one record. I can say that I got hooked into pop music, English-speaking pop music, the first time I went to camp. I was 7 years old, first time going to camp, and there was a bunch of huts and I was in the youngest of the huts. It was all 7-year-old kids in there and the counselor must have been like 16, 17, and all he played was Synchronicity by the Police. You know, "Every Breath You Take" just stuck in my head. I mean, it stuck in there forever, forever, forever, and that was when I got into Anglo/English-speaking pop music.
LAUNCH: You've been all over and played more stages than almost anybody. What's the strangest thing that's happened to you onstage?
ENRIQUE: The weirdest show I ever played was in Russia, in the Kremlin. That was weird, because I think the Kremlin seats 6,000 people, and you couldn't even bring a production. You couldn't even touch anything. It's like an old wooden floor, and the band just goes in there--no lights, nothing. So we go in there and the audience comes in in five minutes and sits down, and the minute I go onstage, I'm used hear people clapping or going nuts or singing the song, and this was complete silence. Nobody moved--it was like I was doing a soundcheck with nobody there. I got so freaked out and it was so different to me that my voice completely shut off halfway through the first song. It was very freaky. I don't know if it was the shock to me of what was going on or what. It was just so different. And nobody could get up because the police would make them sit down again. And it was funny, because I would try to get to the audience or just go to the side of the stage to get a little closer, and the police would push me back. So it was just a strange concert. When I say strange, I don't mean that it was bad, but it was very different. But it was also amazing to play in a place as the Kremlin.
LAUNCH: You seem like a guy who's got his head on straight.
ENRIQUE: I just know how to do interviews.
LAUNCH: Is it cool to be known or associated as the son of someone else?
ENRIQUE: I don't even think about it. It's never been anything negative in my life. I'm so proud of who I am and where I come from and who my father is. In school, kids never really looked at me a different way because I think it was a different generation; they didn't really know who my father was. They just knew he was a singer. Maybe if my father would have been the guy from Twisted Sister or something like that, they would have been like, "Whoa!" But it didn't really hit the generation I grew up with, my father's music. It didn't really change the way people act around me, when it came to my career and doing my own thing. I still never really think about it that much. It was never like people are going to be comparing me or saying I'm worse or better or anything like that. No, I never really thought about it.
LAUNCH: You've done a great job of defining yourself.
ENRIQUE: I mean, when you do the same thing as your father...I always want it to be better than my father as a singer. But I think that's normal. I think that if I one day have kids and one of them is a singer, I expect him to be better than me.
LAUNCH: My dad was 5'3", 160 pounds. I'm glad I beat him in that regard.
ENRIQUE: Me too--I'm taller and I sell more records. I'm kidding!
LAUNCH: Do you consider yourself a private person?
ENRIQUE: With the press, if it's a professional interview and I feel comfortable, I don't mind talking about my personal life. If it's just for National Enquirer kind of press...well, no, of course not. And people coming up asking for autographs, there's only one time when it kind of bothers me: when I'm eating. That's the only time of the day--when you're about to stick a piece of meat in your mouth and you're starving and somebody goes, "Hey, hey, could I please have a picture?" So I try to relax and go, "You know what? The day I gotta worry is the day that nobody bothers me when I'm eating." That's the day when I'm really going to have to worry, because that's the day that nobody's going to care. So that means they like my music and they listen to it, and that makes me feel good. I try to think about that so I won't go nuts.
LAUNCH: Do you have a certain song that think is a turning point for you?
ENRIQUE: The song that I think is a turning point musically is "Don't Turn Off The Lights." I was in the studio and I came up with this riff and we just played it, and from there the song--the whole album--took a turning point. That's where the whole song became more aggressive, the whole album became more aggressive. It was the kind of song that I went back to L.A. and I was sitting down with Jimmy Iovine, the president of Interscope, and I played it for him, I could tell by the look in his face. He's a music man, and I could tell it sparked something good; I knew the song was special, it had something different.
LAUNCH: What is your long-term goal?
ENRIQUE: I used to set goals, but I don't like setting goals anymore. I want to go as far as possible. Now in my career I feel like I want to go all the way, wherever that takes me, and I just want to be involved with music. I don't know, directly or indirectly, about 10 years from now. I know I want to work in a record company. You know, sometimes when I walk into Jimmy Iovine's office and I see him sitting on a sofa with a big TV in front of him, watching MTV and saying, "You do this" and "You do that," I go, "God, that's what I want to do!" He goes home to his family every day. I mean, he's a very hard-working man and he's gifted, otherwise he wouldn't be where he's at. But I look at him and I say, "That's not a bad job," you know?
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