This Monday, Telecinco broadcast a special on the life of one of the most important and international Spanish singers of the last half century. We are talking about Julio Iglesias. Life goes on the same, a documentary about the transformation of a young soccer player with sporting aspirations who, one day, a car accident cut short those dreams, but opened the door to a completely new life full of success.
Perhaps there are people who no longer remember the story of Julio Iglesias' improvement, however, thanks to this program some of his closest friends have wanted to recover the story of how this transformation occurred in the life of the current singer.
Throughout this first chapter on the life of Julio Iglesias, figures from the world of communication, culture and sport have outlined a biography of the singer from his beginnings in the world of football as a Real Madrid player. Here one of the most difficult episodes in the protagonist's life has come to light: a traffic accident.
In fact, last summer, Iglesias himself shared on his networks what this event meant in his life. “55 years ago my life changed forever. I was studying law, I played soccer on my favorite team with the youth team and an accident frustrated all my dreams. But that accident, as I always say, brought my soul together with my head and I began to live an adventure that has not yet ended,” he wrote.
As could be seen last night in the documentary, that accident occurred on September 22, 1963 in Madrid after colliding with some bushes while heading home. The consequence of this incident was fatal for his health. First, he started with severe back pain and negligence in the diagnosis, which led him to be immobilized for practically a year and a half.
Two years later, and after going to other specialists, they discovered that the condition, which prevented him from moving his legs, was due to compression in the spine due to a malignant tumor. “They decide to operate on him. It is a delicate operation because the compression that Julio suffered in his spinal cord was so serious that he lost functions,” they explained in the Telecinco documentary.
He then underwent radiotherapy, but this caused fatal consequences that worsened his health. Until, one day, Iglesias' father, Dr. Puga, made the decision to interrupt the treatment. Fortunately the tumor was benign. From there, came his long recovery: regaining mobility and lost functions.
It was an arduous, complicated change, full of pain, but music helped him overcome it. And that's when his best-known song arrived: Life remains the same. “I wrote it thinking about what I felt in those moments after my operation. I drew strength that I didn't have with the music that a guitar gave me and I wrote these little verses without knowing where they were going to end or where they were going to start,” he wrote on his social networks.
And, indeed, his life changed 180 degrees. Julio Iglesias appeared at the 1968 Benidorm Festival, the current Benidorm Fest, and won. “Everything became a dream that lasts until today,” said the singer. And, although initially that song was going to be performed by the group Los Gritos, the fact that they finally asked him to be the one to go on stage changed his life.
“At first Julio didn't want to, but finally, they convinced him,” explained journalist Miguel de los Santos. From that moment on, her artistic career began and with it her unstoppable success to this day.
