Julio Iglesias, at the height of his fame in the mid-1980s, once joked in an interview that choosing between a psychiatrist and the Bahamas might be easier than choosing which obligation to honor next. He had retreated to a Nassau mansion to rest after a grueling world tour that stretched more than 90,000 kilometers and included about 120 performances. Even amid exhaustion, the singer found genuine happiness, having achieved one of his deepest aspirations: to be recognized as one of the planet’s most popular voices and to win over audiences in the United States and Canada.
In the years that followed, Iglesias reached notable milestones with best-selling solo albums such as Un hombre and La Carretera. Yet as the global show business machine kept turning, some sensed that his era had reached a peak. The reviewer and author Hans Laguna, in his 2022 book Hey! Julio Iglesias and the Conquest of America, revisits Iglesias’ half-century-long career. The 400-page work, filled with archival material, analyzes how Iglesias navigated success in a country that would shape the modern entertainment industry. It highlights his media savvy, the crafting of a powerful personal brand, and the sheer commitment behind it all.
“My early days in North America were tough—frank, revealing, and far from easy,” Iglesias recalled about landing in Miami. In Europe and Latin America, he was held in high esteem, yet in many circles of society and the press he faced mockery and indifference. The experience uprooted him from the familiar meanings of home.
“People thought I was affable enough, but why this orange?” Barbra Streisand once asked her manager. When asked whether she should record a duet with him, the manager declined. Newspapers mocked his imperfect English, and some described his music as little more than “iron music” that served as background for daily routines. He was labeled the “sex symbol of menopause,” a dig Iglesias answered with humor: many autograph requests came from fans explaining that the signatures were really for their mothers. A few years into his surge of recognition, he even made a cameo on a popular American television show, enhancing his visibility in the United States.
“Part of the rejection stemmed from the fact that US cultural and musical criticism was dominated by men steeped in rock, viewing him as artificial and patronized because his audience skewed female,” Laguna notes. “That macho arrogance hid a deeper bias against him.”
The press also reflected xenophobia and racial bias. Despite his immense fame and wealth, Iglesias often found himself playing a melodrama-like role, charming audiences across the United States while confronting stereotypes about his image. In those early years, he carried a mix of machismo, racism, and class expectations that sometimes clashed with his broader ambitions.
Yet Iglesias did not waver. To grow influence with American opinion leaders, he enlisted a public relations firm that launched a sharp, focused campaign with the lean slogan: Who is Julio? [¿Julio quién?]
“The campaign borrowed tactics that helped propel the Beatles in the 1960s, and similar strategies echo in contemporary releases by artists like Rosalia,” Laguna states. “Iglesias learned early that beyond singing, there is always a character or brand that must generate content.”
Alongside the PR effort, Iglesias appeared on television programs, recorded a duet with Willie Nelson, and later collaborated with Diana Ross. He also secured a landmark contract to be the image of a major beverage campaign, aligning his star power with a broad, media-driven outreach. These partnerships funded the ambitious tours in the mid-1980s, including the extensive world circuit that culminated in a period of reflection in Nassau. For some observers, sponsorships marked the beginning of a shift in momentum for his career. A subsequent period in the late 1990s saw additional sponsorships and campaigns that reinforced the delicate balance between commercial partnerships and artistic identity on the international stage.
Even when public relations misfires occurred, Iglesias’ team pressed on. The campaign’s concise, memorable slogan kept him in the public eye and relevant, a reminder that sustained visibility often requires a careful blend of image management and musical artistry. The later Spain tour years also featured brand associations, underscoring the intricate relationship between image, commerce, and art on the global music stage.