Sunday, March 9, 2008 – Julio Iglesias Jr. has "Gone Country" by winning the show Friday in which seven non-country singers competed.
Iglesias' first country single, "The Way I Want You," was produced by the show's host John Rich, of Big & Rich, and was serviced to radio stations Friday night.
"I really had no idea what to expect when I agreed to do 'Gone Country,' and I really didn't expect to make such great friends with the cast and the songwriters I worked with," said Iglesias,. "The whole experience was amazing - especially trying to lasso horses and clean out horse stalls at Gretchen Wilson's house. John Rich was a lot tougher than I thought he would be, but he absolutely loves country music and respects its history. I'm not sure where all of this will take me, but I really hope country radio likes this single as much as we enjoyed writing and recording it."
Iglesias was born in Madrid, Spain, to well-known singer, Julio Iglesias, and Isabel Preysler. At a very young age, he moved to Miami, where he continues to split his time with Madrid. Although he has spent his life surrounded by music, his own personal journey into the music didn't begin until the late '90s when he released his first album in English. In Iglesias' second album, he had the desire to go back to his roots and chose to sing in Spanish.
All of the "Gone Country" contestants - R&B singer Bobby Brown, Twisted Sister's Dee Snider, American Idol finalist Diana DeGarmo, Carnie Wilson of Wilson Phillips fame, Brady Bunch star Maureen McCormick, R&B singer Sisqo and Iglesias - lived together in the Fontanel Music Mansion outside Nashville and competed against each other both musically and physically to see who best adapted to the country lifestyle.
Episodes in the top-rated series ranged from performing with the MuzikMafia, the collaborative formed by Wilson, Rich and others, and visiting Vanderbilt Children's Hospital to meeting with renowned designer Manuel and pairing up with some of the best songwriters in Nashville to write and demo a country song. Rich and Randy Owen, of Alabama, critiqued the songs in last week's episode.
"The thing I saw in Julio was passion," said Rich. "Here's a guy who's had an incredibly diverse career in the public eye, but everything always comes back to music for him - it's who he is. We've always preached 'music without prejudice', and that's exactly what Julio is and that's the kind of music he's making."
Iglesias' country single "The Way I Want You," which he co-wrote with Tammy Hyler and James Slater will begin hitting airwaves the week of March 10, and he continues to write with some of Nashville's top songwriters.
