The Intro

Singer-songwriter Julio Iglesias is the most commercially successful Spanish singer in the world and the best-selling male Latin artist in history. However, it took his cover of Cole Porter’s Begin the Beguine to finally take him to number 1 in the Uk singles chart.

Before

Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva was born in Madrid on 23 September 1943. His father, Julio Iglesias Sr, was one of Spain’s youngest gynaecologists and María del Rosario de la Cueva y Perignat was of Jewish descent.

Growing up, young Iglesias spent most of his time either playing professional football as a goalkeeper or studying law. But his time as the former came to an abrupt end when he was involved in a serious car accident in 1963. Unable to walk for two years, Iglesias was given a guitar in hospital from a nurse who thought it would help him concentrate on new skills he could learn with his hands. After rehabilitation, he passed his law degree.

In 1968, Iglesias won the Benidorm International Song Festival with La vida sigue igual, which was used in the 1969 film of the same name, in which he played a fictionalised version of himself. He then signed to Discos Columbia (the Spanish branch of Columbia Records) and released his first album, Yo Canto, which was a huge hit. In 1970 Iglesias represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest, where he came fourth with Gwendolyne.

Throughout the 1970s, Iglesias would score hits around the globe in various languages, including Un canto a Galicia (1971), A flor de piel (1974), Corazón, corazón (1975) and Quiéreme mucho (1979).

In 1979, Iglesias moved to Miami, Florida, where he signed with CBS International. The title track to the LP Hey! became his first charting track in the UK, peaking at 31. 1981 saw Iglesias release the album De Niña a Mujer, which featured his version of Begin the Beguine.

Porter had written Begin the Beguine while on a Pacific cruise in 1935 and it quickly became a part of his Broadway musical Jubilee. The song refers to the dance and music form beguine, which is similar to a slow rhumba, had originated in the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, and was steadily growing in popularity at the time. Begin the Beguine was considered too long to become a hit, but Artie Shaw and His Orchestra’s version became a hit in 1938.

A year later Joe Loss and Chick Henderson recorded their version, which went on to become the first record to sell a million. The song featured in Metro-Goldywn-Mayer’s musical Broadway Melody of 1940 twice and soon became a pop standard, covered by Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Elvis Presley.

Iglesias wrote new lyrics for his version – titled Volver a Empezar in Spanish. Only the first line, ‘When they begin the beguine’, is in English, which makes it the first mostly foreign language chart-topper since Manhattan Transfer’s Chanson D’Amour in 1977. It was the first Spanish song to become number 1 here, but Iglesias was the second Spanish act to do so, after Baccara, also in 1977.

Review

It’s astounding to think that this track managed a week at number 1 inbetween two all-time classics in Under Pressure and Don’t You Want Me. It’s very dated for 1981 and would have sounded more contemporary had it been released in the balmy summer of 1976. Over the lightest of disco backings, Iglesias sings about lost love, rather than dancing the beguine. However, the words, translated into English, are empty and bland. One doesn’t feel Iglesias has ever felt such emotion.

A strange number 1 for 1981, indeed – perhaps the older record buyer liked the easy listening stylings of the handsome middle-aged crooner, while younger listeners fancied something that reminded them of summer, just as one of the coldest winters of all time began (see ‘Meanwhile…‘.

The video is also very uninspiring, featuring a suave Iglesias crooning against a multi-coloured disco backdrop.

After

Iglesias tried to repeat the success of Begin the Beguine with Yours (Quiéreme Mucho), This cover of a criollo-bolero nearly did just as well, peaking at three in 1982. The 1943 song Amor was less successful, only climbing to 32.

A greatest hits collection, Julio, was released in 1983, and became the first foreign language LP to sell more than two million in the US. A year later came 1100 Bel Air Place, his first to be mostly recorded in English. It was a smash hit and included the popular duet To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before, which he recorded with country music legend Willie Nelson. It peaked at five in the US and 17 here. The album also featured his cover of The Hollies’ The Air That I Breathe, which featured backing vocals from The Beach Boys. The relevance of the album title? It was a former home of Iglesias, and superstar producer Quincy Jones resided there until 2005.

Iglesias continued to record with huge stars. In 1988 he released My Love with Stevie Wonder, which is to date his last UK hit, peaking at five. In 1993 he recorded Summer Wind with Frank Sinatra, and a year later, the album Crazy, which included duets with Sting, Dolly Parton and Art Garfunkel.

In 2003 he released one of his most successful albums, Divorcio, which I’m ashamed to say I can only hear being exclaimed in the same way as ‘Scorchio!’ from The Fast Show. 2006 saw Iglesias release Romantic Classics, which consisted of covers of songs he believed would become future standards, such as I Want to Know What Love Is and Careless Whisper.

Already boasting, no doubt, of shelves full of international awards, in 2013 Iglesias also was recognised by Guinness World Records as the best-selling male Latin artist, and he was also inducted into the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame.

The Outro

Iglesias hasn’t released new material since México & Amigos in 2017, but to be fair, he is now in his 80s, and could very easily choose to retire and rest on his considerable laurels. Divorcio!

The Info

Written by

Cole Porter (Spanish version Julio Iglesias)

Producer

Ramón Arcusa

Weeks at number 1

1 (5-11 December)

Trivia

Deaths

7 December: Author Gordon Rattray Taylor
8 December: Burnley FC chairman Bob Lord
9 December: Rugby league player Brian McTigue/Scottish playwright CP Taylor
10 December: Metallurgist John D Eshelby

Meanwhile…

8 December: Following the freaky weather that brought 104 tornadoes to the country, a severe wave of cold weather, later to become known as ‘The Big Snow of 1982’ begins with severe snow storms across the UK. Temperatures plummet to the lowest in any December on record since 1874 and the heaviest snow storms since 1878. The storms continue in waves until 27 December.
Also on this day, Arthur Scargill becomes the leader of the National Union of Mineworkers.