"Gwendolyne" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Julio Iglesias | ||||
from the album Gwendolyne | ||||
Language | Spanish | |||
B-side | "Bla, bla, bla" | |||
Released | 1970 | |||
Genre | Ballad | |||
Length | 2:39 | |||
Label | Columbia Records | |||
Songwriter(s) | Julio Iglesias, Leo Johns | |||
Julio Iglesias singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Eurovision Song Contest 1970 entry | ||||
Country | ||||
Artist(s) | ||||
Language | ||||
Composer(s) | Julio Iglesias,
Leo Johns | |||
Lyricist(s) | Julio Iglesias, Leo Johns | |||
Conductor | ||||
Finals performance | ||||
Final result | 4th | |||
Final points | 8 | |||
Entry chronology | ||||
◄ "Vivo cantando" (1969) | ||||
"En un mundo nuevo" (1971) ► |
"Gwendolyne" (Spanish pronunciation: [ɡwendoˈlin]), sometimes spelt "Gwendoline", is a song composed and recorded by Spanish singer Julio Iglesias, co-written by Leo Johns. It represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 1970, held in Amsterdam.
Iglesias released the song in five languages: Spanish, English, French, German, and Italian. The single was also one of the final records to be issued in the by then obsolete 78 RPM format, only being released in that format by Columbia.
The song is a ballad, with both music and lyrics co-written by Iglesias himself and Leo Johns, written about his first girlfriend, the titular Gwendolyne, a French girl whom he met at the age of twenty while still a law student and a goalkeeper for Spanish football team Real Madrid Castilla. In 1963, Iglesias was involved in a near-fatal car accident, which ended his football career, left him in rehabilitation for considerable time and indirectly led him to start learning the guitar, as a means of physical therapy. [1]
Iglesias began composing his own music; in 1968 he entered and won the Benidorm International Song Festival with the song " La vida sigue igual " and shortly thereafter he signed with the Spanish branch of Columbia Records.
On 12–14 February 1970, "Gwendolyne" performed by both Julio Iglesias and Rosy Armen competed in the national final organized by Televisión Española (TVE) to select the song and performer for the next Eurovision Song Contest. The song won the competition so it became the Spanish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1970, to be held in Amsterdam. As Rosy Armen was a French singer, Julio Iglesias became automatically the performer for Eurovision. [2] [3] He released "Gwendolyne" in five languages: Spanish, English, French, German, and Italian. [4]
On 21 March 1970, the Eurovision Song Contest was held at the RAI Congrescentrum in Amsterdam hosted by Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS), and broadcast live throughout the continent. [5] Iglesias performed "Gwendolyne" ninth on the night accompanied by Trío La La La –María Jesús Aguirre, María Dolores Arenas, and Mercedes Valimaña Macaria– as backing singers, [6] following Luxembourg's " Je suis tombé du ciel" by David Alexandre Winter and preceding Monaco's " Marlène" by Dominique Dussault. Augusto Algueró conducted the event's live orchestra in the performance of the Spanish entry.
At the close of voting, it had received eight points, placing fourth in a field of twelve. [7] It was succeeded as Spanish entry at the 1971 contest by " En un mundo nuevo" by Karina. [8]
His participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 1970 was his first major international television appearance. "Gwendolyne" went on to become his first number 1 single in Spain and was also a modest commercial success in a few other countries in Europe and South America. [9] His international breakthrough single " Un canto a Galicia " followed in 1972. [10]
The song was also the title track to his second studio album , released in Spain in 1970, and subsequently also included on his eponymous international debut album in 1972.
The song was subsequently covered many times and released by different singers: