After dropping out of college, he went to Toronto to record his first album. Iglesias was signed by a record label called Fonovisa. Approaching his father’s former publicist, Fernan Martinez, the two promoted the songs under the stage name ‘Enrique Martinez’ with the backstory of being an unknown singer from Guatemala. He borrowed money from his family nanny and he recorded a demo cassette tape which consisted of a Spanish song and two English songs. Iglesias did not want his father to know about his plans for a musical career and did not want his famous surname to help advance his career. He attended Gulliver Preparatory School and went on to study business at the University of Miami. As his father’s career kept him on the road, the young Iglesias was raised by the family nanny. He also lived in Belgrade, Serbia, for one year with his mother. For their safety, Enrique and his brother, Julio Iglesias, Jr., were sent to live with their father in Miami. Julio Iglesias Puga, was kidnapped by the armed Basque separatist group ETA. His parents’ marriage was annulled in 1979.
His mother is a Filipina and his father is of Spanish ancestry from Galicia. Iglesias was born in Madrid, Spain, and is the third and youngest child of singer Julio Iglesias and socialite and magazine journalist Isabel Preysler.