Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias – To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before

“To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before” – Single by Julio Iglesias and Willie Nelson from the album 1100 Bel Air Place
Released February 1984
Recorded 1983
Songwriters Albert Hammond and Hal David

Popularized by Julio Iglesias and Willie Nelson, this Hal David and Albert Hammond-penned tune was originally envisioned for Frank Sinatra, who turned it down. Hammond ended up being the first to record it for his 1975 album, 99 Miles From LA. The lyrics show appreciation for all of his past partners, whose love helped him grow into the man he is today.

Pairing the Latin star and country singer was not a record-industry machination – in fact, on paper, they seemed like a rather odd pairing. The duet came about after Nelson heard Iglesias on the radio while he and his wife Connie were in London.

“I liked his music immediately,” he recalled in The Billboard Book of Number One Country Hits. “Connie suggested I record with him, and I thought it was a good idea.”

Nelson put the word out through his manager, who got in touch with Iglesias. He didn’t have charts or dollar signs on the brain, because he had no idea how famous the Spanish singer was outside the US.

“Julio said, sure, he’d like to do a song with me. I didn’t know Julio was selling more records at that time than anybody in the world,” he admitted.

Albert Hammond, who was producing some tracks on Iglesias’ album, turned to his own catalog to find a suitable tune for the pair. Although “To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before” had been recorded a couple times – by Hammond himself and Bobby Vinton – it had never been a hit. But Hammond pulled a bit of a fast one on Iglesias.

“When Julio asked me to produce his record in 1983, I thought this song would be perfect for him,” he explained in a 2012 interview. “I sang the song to him with my guitar and told him it was a new song, he fell in love with it. But it was 11 years old by that time.”

Iglesias and Nelson cut the vocal track in about two hours at Nelson’s studio in Austin, and Iglesias took the tape back with him to Los Angeles, where he continued to work on his English to improve the final result.

“To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before” went to number one on the country chart, and was one of two entries on the country chart for Julio Iglesias and Willie Nelson as duo (the second was “Spanish Eyes”, which peaked at #8 in late 1988).

It was Iglesias’ biggest hit in the United States and Canada, and Nelson’s biggest European hit. The record also appeared on Australian, New Zealand and South African charts. The song has become Iglesias’s signature English-language tune, prominently performed at his concerts since the single’s release. Thanks to this song, 1100 Bel Air Place became Iglesias’ worldwide best selling album.

In 1984, Nelson and Iglesias were also named “Duo of the year” by the Country Music Association, and “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before” was named single of the year by the Academy of Country Music.

Embed

Copy and paste this HTML code into your webpage to embed.

Willie Nelson, Julio Iglesias - To All The Girls I've Loved Before

Willie Nelson, Julio Iglesias - To All The Girls I've Loved Before04:19

Visits: 1