enrique iglesias

Early life

Iglesias was born in Madrid, Spain, and is the third and youngest child of singer Julio Iglesias and socialite and magazine journalist Isabel Preysler. Isabel Preysler's aunt is Neile Adams, first wife of Steve McQueen, making Iglesias second cousins with Steven R. McQueen. He was raised with two older siblings: Chabeli Iglesias and Julio Iglesias, Jr.. His mother is Filipina and his father is of Spanish ancestry from Galicia and Andalusia. His father also claims to have Jewish ancestry on his mother's side. His parents were divorced in 1979.
In 1986, Iglesias' grandfather, Dr. Julio Iglesias Puga, was kidnapped by the armed Basque terrorist group ETA. For their safety, Enrique and his brother, Julio Iglesias, Jr., were sent to live with their father in Miami. He also lived in Belgrade, Serbia, for one year with his mother. As his father's career kept him on the road, the young Iglesias was raised by the family nanny. He attended the prestigious Gulliver Preparatory School, where he made his singing debut in a production of Hello, Dolly!. Although his mother is ethnically Filipino, Enrique does not speak Tagalog. Iglesias is fluent in Spanish and English, the latter influencing and making a regular appearance in his songs. Iglesias later went on to study business at the University of Miami.
Iglesias did not want his father to know about his plans for a musical career and did not want his famous surname to help advance his career. He borrowed money from his family nanny and he recorded a demo cassette tape which consisted of a Spanish song and two English songs. Approaching his father's former publicist, Fernán Martínez, the two promoted the songs under the stage name 'Enrique Martínez' with the backstory of being an unknown singer from Guatemala. Iglesias was signed the Mexican label Fonovisa. After dropping out of college, he traveled to Toronto to record his first album.