Julio Iglesias, first Spaniard to win Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award
Sunday, February 10, 2019 @ 8:29 PM
LEGENDARY crooner Julio Iglesias has become the first Spaniard to win an honorary Grammy Award – and joins a list of timeless artists such as Elvis Presley and Freddy Mercury’s band Queen.
And ahead of his Lifetime Achievement Award due to be presented to him on Sunday, Julio – father of Miami-based pop sensation Enrique – has revealed some startling facts about himself.
Firstly, that he wanted to be a footballer, not a singer; secondly, that it was a car accident putting paid to his sporting career that led to his opting for a musical career.
Now 75 years old – and with a 15-year-old brother – Julio has added a Spanish name to the honorary Grammy line-up, which includes the late greats Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin and Frank Sinatra, Nobel Literature Prize winner Bob Dylan, and Yendl star Barbra Streisand.
Julio Iglesias is the top-selling Latin artist in history, and in his more than 50 years on the music scene, has achieved more than any other Spanish singer, according to the Grammy organisation.
“Spanish music has never had such an international impact for so long, and nobody can boast such a huge discography,” the Grammy press release says.
The Madrid-born star, who was once married to half-Philippine model and presenter Isabel Preysler – mother of Enrique and now wife of Peruvian Nobel novelist Mario Vargas Llosa – was left lying on his back and with very few hopes of ever being able to walk again after a car crash in 1962, when he was just 20.
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