20th July Issue 54
Fifty years of Julio
Fifty years ago this week, on a balmy July evening, a shy young singer from Madrid took to the stage in Benidorm Bull Ring and gave a performance that would change his life forever. Although there has been no official celebration of the event, many people still fondly remember that night of July 17th 1968, when Julio Iglesias, won the Benidorm International Song Festival, a contest that ran from 1959 to 2006 and launched a career which saw him become the biggest selling Latin music artist in history. Iglesias had only turned to music after a car accident left him with spinal injuries that forced him to abandon his ambitions of becoming a goalkeeper for Real Madrid. Whilst recovering in hospital, he was given a guitar by a kindly nurse, which gave him the opportunity to write the song, “La Vida Sigue Igual”, translated as “Life Goes On The Same”, about his own life experiences, which went on to win the contest. Friends who witnessed the winning performance, reported that, that the inexperienced Iglesias was not a natural performer at the time and unsure of what to do with hands whilst he was singing. “There was even talk about sewing the pockets of his pants so he could not put his hands in them,” said one of the witnesses. However, the unfancied singer’s winning performance gave him first position, ten thousand pesetas in prize money and brought him to the attention of the Spanish division of Columbia Records, who
by Andy Mansell
offered him a recording deal. The rest, as the saying goes, is history, as the twenty four year old musician began a meteoric rise, which saw him go on to sell more than 350 million albums worldwide, recorded in fourteen different languages. During his illustrious career, Iglesias has won many
prestigious music awards, including Grammy’s, Latin Grammy, World Music Award, Billboard Music Award, American Music Award and Lo Nuestro Award. He has also been awarded the Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts of Spain and the Legion of Honour of France. Now in semi retirement, the US based, seventy four
year old singer has never forgotten Benidorm and often claims the resort to be the ‘birthplace’ of his career. During the intervening fifty years, the lives of both Benidorm and Julio Iglesias have altered, almost beyond recognition, but both are still loved by millions, but, using a line from his winning song “the good guys are left, the others go away”.