Julio Iglesias Jr. ’Gone Country’ with new country single

The winner of Country Music Television’s “Gone Country” reality show was born in Madrid, Spain, and raised in Miami, but these days Julio Iglesias Jr. is spending a lot of time in Nashville.

Iglesias, the son of the well-known Spanish singer Julio Iglesias, lived with six other contestants – R&B singers Bobby Brown and Sisqo, Twister Sister’s Dee Snider, “American Idol” finalist Diana DeGarmo, Carnie Wilson of Wilson Phillips fame and “The Brady Bunch” star Maureen McCormick – as they competed for a record deal.

The series, taped over 10 days in October at country star Barbara Mandrell’s former home, concluded Friday on CMT with Iglesias proclaimed the winner.

“The whole experience was amazing, especially trying to lasso horses and clean out horse stalls at Gretchen Wilson’s house,” Iglesias said of the show, which was hosted by John Rich of the duo Big & Rich.

His debut country single, “The Way I Want You,” is produced by Rich and expected to begin airing this week. Iglesias co-wrote the tune with Tammy Hyler and James Slater.

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“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,” he said.

Iglesias, 35, has recorded two albums during his career, one in English and one in Spanish. He’s also worked as a model and an actor and hosted a series on The Travel Channel.

“The thing I saw in Julio was passion,” Rich said. “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.”

Iglesias says he will continue writing with some of Nashville’s top songwriters and will appear at upcoming country music events.