It is no secret to anyone that Enrique Iglesias is one of the most successful Spanish-speaking artists of pop worldwide. And although his career has stood out for staying out of controversy, he has had to face one or another rather curious issue. So, Do you remember the controversy between Enrique Iglesias and Howard Stern?
Yes, the Spanish singer and the famous American radio presenter had a media clash back in the year 2000. The situation: Stern pointed out that the interpreter of “Religious Experience” did not know how to sing and that he possibly did playbacks in his shows.
The success of Enrique Iglesias in the Anglo music market
After having achieved success in the Spanish and Latin markets throughout the 90s, Enrique Iglesias was ready to try his luck in the Anglo music industry. So he launched in 1999 Enriquehis fourth studio album and the first that he would compose entirely in English.
And he did it, huh. At the end of the nineties and at the beginning of the new millennium, she would join that litter of artists like Ricky Martin or Shakira who would manage to put the Latino and Hispanic scene on the international scene. Just to size it up, the native of Madrid was one of the guests at the Super Bowl halftime show in 2000, along with Christina Aguilera, Phil Collins and more.
But with everything and the good reception that Iglesias had in his foray into the Anglo market, perhaps many were not convinced of his abilities as a singer… And there would come the controversy between Enrique Iglesias and Howard Stern.
The controversy between Enrique Iglesias and Howard Stern: Did the Spaniard not know how to sing?
It turns out that in that same year 2000, someone sent Howard Stern – who was already a legend of American radio – a rather strange recording. On that tape, you could hear Enrique Iglesias singing his song “Rhythm Divine” disgustingly out of tunewith a noticeable inability to reach and hold notes.
Stern played those audios on his show in June of that year. He himself said in the broadcasts that “A guy sent me a tape. They say it’s real, but I’m not sure I believe it.”in statements collected by the New York Post. Robin Quivers, Stern’s partner, said that “this is real. Apparently, he lip-syncs to a pre-recorded track.”.
It was a serious accusation, especially since Stern and the production team of his program claimed that the tape of Enrique singing horrible corresponded to a concert, in addition to the fact that the audio they had been given to him by a trusted person in the music industry. The controversy between Enrique Iglesias and Howard Stern became quite tense.
Enrique Iglesias went to the Howard Stern program and showed that he knows how to sing
evidently, the controversy between Enrique Iglesias and Howard Stern made people remember the case of Milli Vanillithe pair of successful German dancers whose fraud was discovered in the early 90s when it became public that they did not sing in their songs, but other people.
Those artists even had a Grammy withdrawn and were condemned by the industry to near oblivion. Did the same thing happen to Iglesias and should he return his recognitions? Some surely hoped so, but the Spaniard confronted Stern in the indicated way: He appeared on his show and sang completely live to check his talent.
We leave you the video of that moment here below, and forgive the poor quality but it’s what’s on YouTube. In any case, it can be seen how HEdward Stern acknowledges that Enrique actually knew how to sing.
So if Enrique Iglesias knew how to sing, where did the tape come from with his voice out of tune? The artist himself mentioned to Stern that this controversial audio could be his; that maybe someone recorded it when he appeared in some television program where he had to lip-sync (because well, there are TV shows that ask for playback instead of live performance).
“Yeah it’s me, I’m definitely the one who’s screwing it up (in the audios)… The music is so loud on those recordings you can’t even hear yourself”, said Enrique while insisting that the horrendous recording It did not correspond to a concert, but to a presentation on a TV show.
And well, the rest is history. The controversy between Enrique Iglesias and Howard Stern was soon forgotten and remained just another anecdote in the collective imagination of pop music. What a case…
