Pop singer and model Julio Jose Iglesias Jr. was born February 25, 1973 in Madrid, Spain. He is the son of the famed Spanish singer Julio Iglesias and Filipina journalist Isabel Preysler, and the brother of equally-known artist Enrique Iglesias. In 1981, the Iglesias family moved to Miami after Julio's grandfather was kidnapped. He went to Menlo College in Atherton, California.
He started in show business as a model when he was discovered by Bruce Webber, photographer for Calvin Klein, Abercrombie & Fitch and Ralph Lauren. He then went on and posed for Versace, The Gap and for designer John Bartlett.
In 1996, he was signed into contract by the Travel Channel and he hosted a travel show called Mosaico, a program that allowed him to explore Latin America. Eventually, he was offered to do soap opera for Televisa and for ABC, he was also approached to play Danny on the Grease but he declined, saying that he wanted to concentrate on his music. He has since appeared on countless shows including Eve, The Martin Short Show, The Sharon Osbourne Show,
The View , Club de Flo and
Celebrity Paranormal Project . He also played lead role in a short film entitled The Music of You.
In 1999, his first album Under My Eyes was released and it included two English songs, “One More Chance” and “Under My Eyes”. Iglesias performed “One More Chance” at the Miss Universe Pageant and also opened for Cher on her North American tour. It was also in 1999 when his song “Nothing Else” was included in the soundtrack of the touching film Music of the Heart. His second album, Tercera Dimension, was released in 2003. Iglesias was also part of the Spanish version of
Dancing with the Stars , where he was voted out on the thirteenth week.
In 2008, he joined CMT's reality TV show
Gone Country , where artists from different music genres compete to win a country music contract.
(Photo courtesy of CMT)