Enrique Iglesias

A son of Latin pop veteran Julio Iglesias, Enrique Iglesias followed the footsteps of his father as a singer. When his father moved from Madrid to Miami after getting divorce from his mother Isabel Preysler in 1978, he stayed in Spain with his brother Julio Iglesias, Jr. In 1985 however, he and his brother were sent to live with his father for their own safety following the kidnapping of their uncle by ETA.

Despite being a son of a big singer, Enrique who was born on May 8, 1975 didn't want to take the advantage of his father's famous name. Without telling his father, he borrowed money from his nanny and recorded a demo which was later handed to his father's former publicist Fernan Martinez. Together, they then promoted the songs under the stage name Enrique Martinez with the backstory of being an unknown singer from Guatemala.

After securing a record deal with a label called Fonovisa, he decided to focus more in music. He was hard at work on his debut album and dropped a self-titled effort "Enrique Iglesias" in 1995 when he was just 20. He indeed got the talent and proved it by selling half a million copies in its first week despite the fact that the album was recorded in non-English language, Spanish.

Two years in the making, a sophomore set "Vivir" finally made its way out in 1997. It led him to compete against his father and other acclaimed Latin musicians such as Luis Miguel for Favorite Latin Artist at 2008 American Music Awards. He also received a Grammy nomination for Best Latin Pop Album in the next year. Although he lost the first coveted prize to his father and the latter to Luis, he managed to snatch one trophy for Pop Album of the Year at Premio Lo Nuestro Awards.

Enrique apparently worked on his next album while he was traveling across the globe for his first tour to support his second album for in 1998 he already had a bunch of new songs, enough to fill one full-length record. Without waiting any longer, he released the album "Cosas Del Amor" in September the same year. Through this effort, he won the award he lost the previous year, Favorite Latin Artist at AMAs, beating Ricky Martin.

It took him four albums before he finally cracked the Top 10 of Billboard Hot 200. In 1999, he made it to the tenth position on the U.S. albums chart with a record called "Enrique" which boasted a duet with Whitney Houston. Due to the success of this album, Interscope exec Jimmy Iovine signed him for multi-album deal and asked him to record his first English set.

Enrique answered the challenge by spending the next three years crafting materials for his first English album. Teaming with Kara DioGuardi and Steve Morales among others, he wrote such hit singles as "Hero" and "Escape". When dropping the album in 2002, he claimed a worldwide fame as it ruled various charts around the globe. Stateside, it soared straight to the second place.

Just a month after releasing "Escape", he came out with another Spanish record "Quizas". After three years writing songs, he apparently had enough tracks to fill more than one album. Although it could only peak at No. 12 on Hot 200, it managed to rule Billboard Latin Albums chart. On top of that, all his hard work was paid off as he won a Latin Grammy prize for Best Male Pop Vocal Album in 2003.

Enrique didn't slow down even a bit. In November 2003, just few months after taking the podium to receive his first Grammy, he treated his devotees with "7" which is promised to have "lifetime" songs. Even he had taken "special care" on the songwriting however, the album was not as successful as its two predecessors. It became his album under Interscope with the worst chart performance by reaching only at No. 34 on Hot 200.

Knowing no creative boundaries and wanting to give something different, he crossed genres in his next effort. He embraced Hip-Hop music by hooking up with rap mogul Lil Wayne. The result of incorporating a more contemporary pop style with R&B elements is "Insomniac", an album which was raved on by favorable reviews.

On July 13, 2010, two years after compiling his hit singles for a greatest hits album, he dropped his first bilingual album "Euphoria". Pitbull, Akon, Nicole Scherzinger, Usher and Wisin y Yandel were lined up for featured guests. The lead single, fist-pumping "I Like It", was picked up as an official anthem for MTV's hit reality show "Jersey Shore".

Year after year, Enrique never took a step back. His career was very productive with eight albums being released since 1997. His love life was also a crowded and busy one. Before dating tennis player Anna Kournikova in 2002, he was once romantically linked to Sofia Vergara, Samantha Torres, Alicia Machado, Christina Aguilera and Jennifer Love Hewitt.