Enrique Iglesias: 1975—: Singer, Songwriter

All the money and hard work paid off. Iglesias's first album—the Spanish-language Enrique Iglesias released in September of 1995—eventually sold almost five million copies worldwide, according to Rock on the Net. The album was certified gold, then platinum. In 1996 Iglesias won the Billboard Award for Album of the Year, New Artist, as well as a World Music Award. In January of 1997, Iglesias released his follow-up album, Vivir (Living), which scored two top 10 singles on the Billboard charts. The following month the young singer won a Grammy for his first album. In January of 1998, according to Rock on the Net, he was nominated for an American Music Award for Favorite Latin Artist but lost out to his father.

Iglesias released his third album, Cosas Del Amor (Things of Love), in 1998. Newsmakers reported that Iglesias was the only artist to simultaneously top the Hot 100 Dance/Club Play, Hot Latin Tracks, and Latin 50 album charts in 1998. In a mere three years, Iglesias had sold more than 17 million Spanish-language albums, more than anyone else during that period, according to allmusic.com. The United States was his biggest market. In January of 1999, Iglesias won an American Music Award for Favorite Latin Artist Performance. That summer, Iglesias scored a pop radio hit with "Bailamos"—translated as "We Dance"—a hypnotic dance song featured in the film Wild, Wild West starring Will Smith. The song hit number onr on the top 40 charts for three weeks in September of 1999. As Iglesias's records topped the charts, many of the studios that had rejected the singer early in his career tried to woo him. BMG and Warner ardently courted Iglesias, but the young artist chose Universal Music Group/Interscope Records instead. In 1999 Igesias left Fonovisa for a six-album with Interscope worth an estimated $44 million, according to Billboard.

In November of 1999 Iglesias released Enrique, his first album in English and his first with Interscope Records. Like many artists with cross-cultural appeal, Iglesias included Spanish-language versions of a few of his songs on the album. Enrique brought the singer's global sales to more than 23 million, according to allmusic.com. Several singles from the album joined "Bailamos" on the charts: "Rhythm Divine,&rrdquo; "Be With You," "Could I Have This Kiss Forever," and "Sad Eyes." Enrique achieved gold or platinum status in an extraordinary 32 countries.