Julio Iglesias is the eldest son of Dr. Julio Iglesias Puga (from Galicia) and Maria del Rosario de la Cueva y Perignat; Carlos is his younger brother. When the singer was 61 years old, his 89-year-old father sired more children: half brother Jaime (18 May 2004), half-sister Ruth (26 July 2006). Julio's siblings were born of Dr. Iglesias's second marriage to Ronna Keitt.

In the early sixties, when he was a law student in Madrid, he briefly was goalkeeper for one of Real Madrid's youth soccer teams; however, a 22 September 1963 car crash truncated his footballer's career: I had a car accident; [a] very, very strange car accident . . . I lost control of the car, and rolled it, resulting in what they call 'paraparexia', which is not a paraplegi[a]. It's a compression in the [spinal] cord, in the sense of the neck . . . my spinal cord; and I was very, very ill for three years.

His doctors thought he would never walk again, but slowly, he began recovering his health. To develop and increase the dexterity of his hands, he began playing guitar. When recovered of health, he resumed academic studies, and travelled to England to study English language, first in Ramsgate, then at Bell Educational Trust's Language School in Cambridge.

In 1968, he won the Benidorm International Song Festival, a songwriter's contest in Spain, and signed a contract with Discos Columbia, the Latin music label of the Columbia Records company. He represented Spain in the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest, earning fourth place, after Northern Irish singer Dana Scallon, and the Welsh singer Mary Hopkin.

His entry was the song 'Gwendolyne', his first recording. Notable albums from this decade are A Flor de Piel (1974, with the European hit 'Manuela'), El Amor (1975), and Soy (1978). He also sang in French. One of his popular song is Je n'ai pas changé

In 1978, he signed a contract for CBS International, adding English, French, Portuguese, German, and Italian to his languages repertoire. Iglesias released the album De Niña a Mujer (1981), from it came the first English-language hit, a Spanish cover of "Begin the Beguine" (N. 1 in the U.K.); he also released a collection, Julio (1983).

In 1984, he released 1100 Bel Air Place, the hit album which gave him great fame in the Anglophone markets. It sold three million copies in the U.S., with the first single "To All the Girls I've Loved Before", a duet with Willie Nelson, earning fifth place in the Billboard Hot 100; it also featured "All of You", with Diana Ross.

In 1985, Julio Iglesias, Sr, was kidnapped, but found alive two weeks later, prompting Julio (divorced from Isabel Preysler) to move his family to Miami, Florida. That year he recorded duets with Diana Ross and Willie Nelson. In 1986, it was rumoured that Julio, seeking a day's solace from fame, was found walking the streets of Cayey, Puerto Rico, after a seven-days'-disappearance. After visiting the Dominican Republic. In which he became a citizen of in 2005.

Iglesias won a Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album in the 1988 Grammy Awards for the album Un Hombre Solo ("A Man Alone"). He recorded a duet with Stevie Wonder on "My Love", in his Non Stop album, a crossover success in 1988.

Stories of his private jets, boats, and houses were legendary that decade; his world-wide tours were sold out — mostly to women.

In the 1990s, Julio Iglesias returned to his Spanish music roots in Tango (1996), nominated for Best Latin Pop Album at the 1998 Grammy Awards, losing to the Romances album by Luis Miguel. Also that year, his youngest son, Enrique Iglesias, also was nominated for the Vivir album.

With him continually touring and recording, to ensure his music reaches the world, Julio Iglesias has said, that singing, as an admirable activity, is something he can't picture not in his life. He is thrilled being a singer, and always wants to be a singer, loving the life so much, he would rather die on stage than in bed.

He is proud of his achievements, and proud of Enrique's achievements, and of how much his music has enhanced peoples' lives. Julio Iglesias is amenable to signing autographs, though he can be difficult to reach, because of the security guards they have hired since 1985, after the kidnapping.