AZERBAIJAN: JULIO IGLESIAS VISITS BAKU, AZERBAIJAN BECOMING THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL MUSICIAN TO PERFORM THERE

Record ID: 386660

  • Title: AZERBAIJAN: JULIO IGLESIAS VISITS BAKU, AZERBAIJAN BECOMING THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL MUSICIAN TO PERFORM THERE
  • Date: 22nd July 1999
  • Summary: IGLESIAS SINGING WITH A FAN
  • Embargoed: 6th August 1999 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAKU, IMISHLI, AZERBAIJAN
  • Country: Azerbaijan
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA3CVX3XL3AS4QSJOIFMNDY613O
  • Story Text: Spanish crooner Julio Iglesias became the first international superstar to perform in Baku, Azerbaijan when he appeared at the city's Dvaretz Respublic concert hall on Saturday (July 24), in front of a sell-out audience which included the country's President Heydar Aliyev.
    Before entertaining his fans, Iglesias, a Special Representative for UNICEF, made a field trip to a refugee camp near Imishli, 200 kilometres west of Baku to see UNICEF-assisted activities at first hand.
    The world's leading Latin heartthrob arrived in Baku on Thursday (July 22) where he was greeted by Azerbaijani Government officials and fans.
    His decision to take the tour to Azerbaijan caused a ripple of excitement among life-long followers and the Government due to the fact that western artists of any calibre, rarely visit the region.
    Iglesias' concerts in Baku, held on Saturday (July 24) and Sunday (July 25) were just two dates from the European leg of his current, "My Life" World Tour.
    Having kicked off the tour in September 1998 in the United States, Iglesias and his band have performed in front of hundreds of thousands of fans in South America before coming to Europe where the tour began in the Ukraine on Wednesday (July 21).
    Iglesias turned to music following an horrific car accident at the age of 19 which left him paralysed for two years.After taking up the guitar to help him recover from his near-fatal injuries, the former Real Madrid goalkeeper has achieved phenomenal heights in the record industry.Iglesias admits he's been driven from the very beginning of his career.
    "In a way, everything in my life has been a challenge until yesterday, it will be tomorrow, it will be always and it's a way to survive, a way to be and I will not change in that situation."
    The master of malisma (singing technique) who has been - and continues to be - worshipped and adored by millions of girls around the world, recorded his first song in 1968."La Vida Sigue Igual" became an instant success, rocketing straight to the number one spot in Spain.
    Since then Iglesias has recorded 76 albums, in six different languages and has sold a staggering 250 million albums across the globe, establishing him as one of the world's leading international artists.
    As much as he likes writing and recording albums, however, Iglesias admits his first love is performing live and after more than thirty years in business on and off the road, singing live remains as important to him now as it ever was.
    "First I love to sing, that's my main thing more than anything, I love to perform it's an expression of me, it's what I know, it's how I express my life singing.So I will not have another expression to survive, I would survive another way but very badly so that's the first situation with me, I can't live without singing.And second it's also very important when you receive the answer of the eyes of the people, so beautiful you become addicted, you wake up in the morning and you open the door of your room and immediately somebody says, 'hello Julio how are you?'.You cannot live without that, maybe there are people that could I would not be able to make it.But the main thing in my life will be always, that I adore to sing.Music which is my professional life is the most important thing in my life," he said.
    Iglesias is also passionate about his family.He is the proud father of five children, two of whom have followed in their fathers' footsteps, Julio Junior and Enrique and with the current musical climate and their inherited good looks, they are bound for success.
    Apart from notching up dozens of gold and platinum albums and music awards for his talents, Iglesias has recorded duets with the biggest names in rock and pop and country music.
    Having recorded "Summer Wind" with Frank Sinatra in 1993, he sang with Dolly Parton on "When You Tell Me That You Love Me" and followed it with a duet with Sting, "Fragile".Even Stevie Wonder wrote the song "My Love" for him but the duet for which he is most renowned is "To All The Girls I've Loved Before" which he recorded with American Willie Nelson.These collaborations hold dear memories for Iglesias.
    "It's like making love, it's like you trying to match together and to give life to the meaning of a song and as beautiful as the vocals are the people are singing with you because those singers you are talking of are master singers you feel much more...you prove yourself more because you have much more inspiration because you try to sing as well as they sing which is sometimes very difficult..all the time very difficult."
    His English album "Crazy" released in 1984, garnered much critical acclaim worldwide.
    Iglesias has long been a pioneering performer willing to venture further afield to give concerts and meet his fans.He was the first international singer to perform in China in front of a television audience of 200 million viewers and in 1999 became the biggest foreign artist in the history of Brazil to perform before a crowd of more than 150 000 people at the country's most famous park, the Parque do Ibirapuera in Sao Paulo.
    In 1989, Iglesias was selected by UNICEF as a Special Representative In The Performing Arts, a role he takes very seriously.Aside from performing charity concerts, Iglesias insists on visiting children in need whereever and whenever he can whilst touring.
    Following the collapse of the USSR in 1991, Azerbaijan regained its independence but due to the country's conflict with neighbouring Armenia and dispute over the Nagorno Karabagh region in the early nineties, it has been left with more than one million refugees living in camps dotted all over the country.
    Before giving his concerts in Baku, Iglesias chose to visit one of the camps in Imishli, which is assisted by UNICEF, to see the plight of the children, many of whom were born in the camp and have little hope of returning to their homes.
    Iglesias is due to record a new album in Spanish next year, in the meantime his most recent, single "La Gota Fria"
    released before Christmas in 1998, is being revamped by the New York DJ, David Morales.Clubbers can expect to hear the remixed version soon.
    Iglesias' "My Life" World Tour is scheduled to stage concerts in Portugal, Turkey, Slovenia, Moldova, Romania, Holland, Belgium and Germany in the next two months.
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