Enrique Martín-Garea, discoverer of Julio Iglesias and the man who found Lola Flores' earring: "He was a very hardworking, self-made man"

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Some days, when she finishes her working day as director of communication and marketing in a car company, Sonsoles Martín-Garea feels the need to go to the cemetery of La Almudena in Madrid and visits the grave of her father, Enrique Martín Garea, historical record manager, who died five years ago. "There I tell him my things and I play some of the songs that I know he would like to hear: from songs by Rocío Jurado, of whom he was a good friend, to Los Panchos or, of course, Ojos Verdes, in the version of Lola Flores," his daughter tells LOC.

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"Tite", as his grandchildren referred to him, had eyes "like basil" and his professional career had "shine of facas". He and his wife, Milagros Perez, 92, lived in La Moraleja, near El Lerele. La Faraona invited the couple to her legendary revelries where they spread from Ava Gardner to the Duchess of Alba, but the Martín-Garea Pérez almost always used to decline the invitations. The relationship became closer when, in 1977, during the recording of the program Esta noche fiesta, in the Florida Park of the capital, Lola lost her tendril – "the earring, Íñigo, I do not want to lose it, eh? That my little work has cost me" - and ended up at the feet of Milagros. But they never imagined that they would end up becoming family. It was exactly two years ago, in 2021, when Gonzalo Sierra, his grandson, married Elena Furiase, granddaughter of the singer, in Vejer de la Frontera (Cádiz). The couple had known each other since they were 16 years old, they had already been parents to Noah in 2018, who was born exactly the same day Enrique Martín Garea died, and in 2022 they expanded the family with Nala.

However, these days the name of Enrique Martín-Garea stands out in the chronicles as the main driver of the career of Julio Iglesias, who this coming Saturday, September 23, will celebrate his 80th birthday in the Bahamas with his family. "He came to the office of my father, who was CEO of Columbia, through Enrique Herreros, his first representative. It was typical: through a friend's friend. Julio didn't want to sing, just compose and pass the song to the one that was then fashionable. My father made him play Life Is Still the Same. He loved it and said, 'Why don't you dare to play it?' 'I'm ashamed,' he replied," says Sonsoles, one of the four daughters of the executive, who died at age 91 in 2018.

He had his suit pockets sewn up so he wouldn't put his hands in during the Benidorm Festival. With all the modesty in the world, he believed he was the first to believe in Julius.

Little by little, he was convinced. Julio Iglesias, son of gynecologist Julio Iglesias Puga and María del Rosario Cueva, had been a goalkeeper for Real Madrid, but a traffic accident took him away from the pitch forever in 1963. In the months he spent hospitalized, he composed that song in the hospital bed. It had style, presence, good plant.... But also a problem. "It was very unstopped. My father called him 'Mateo and his guitar', because he didn't move. He put his hand in his jacket pocket and just took out his thumb," laughs Sonsoles, Lolita Flores' mother-in-law, who has resisted a duet with Julio. "If I can do something, count on me," Sonsoles laughs. However, Lola Flores and Julio did perform a duet: the exciting Somos dos caminantes.

Martín Garea's trick: sewing Julio's pockets

Finally, Julio was encouraged to participate in the Benidorm Festival of 1968, the most important in Spain, with that song. Enrique Martín Garea literally pushed him onto the stage. "He had his suit pockets sewn up so he wouldn't put his hands in. With all the modesty in the world, I think he was the first to believe in Julio," Sonsoles confesses to LOC. And he won. But, Sonsoles also remembers the day his father screwed up with Julio. He showed Un canto a Galicia and snapped: "Where are you going? You're going to crash." He was wrong. He was not foolproof. But he loved it well and accompanied him in his first performances in Milan, London or Tokyo. "He was persecuted by women. It was beastly. They were literally thrown on him." Poor Elizabeth.

However, one day, the tandem of Enrique and Julio broke down, when the former sold it to CBS and the Madrilenian became a world star. Their relationship was never broken, although it naturally cooled. "Still, if my father traveled to Miami they would see each other. We have all the Christmas he sent us at Christmas. First there was a child... and in the end there were eight," laughs Sonsoles, who studied journalism. Long before, when she celebrated her 13th anniversary at her home in Madrid's Parque de las Avenidas, Julio surprised her. He arrived at the apartment with a black two-seater Mercedes that caused all the neighbors to run down to see that show. Already behind closed doors he sang Happy Birthday with his brother's guitar and many other songs. "My friends from the nuns' school were amazed."

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The artist was in the happy moments of his discoverer, but also in the saddest, such as when, with only 21 years, one of his four children, Quique, died in a train accident. "He came home to give my parents a hug. My father never forgot it." Sonsoles saw him twice more in his life. With 21 years working at Radio 80 with Ana Rosa Quintana, he had to go to cover a press conference of the myth at the Santiago Bernabéu. "When I raised my hand to ask a question, he said, 'Don't ask me anything that I've known you since you were born. You are Garea's daughter." When we finished I went to the dressing room, he was very affectionate and asked me about my parents," he says. The last time she saw him perform was in 1984 at Radio City Hall in New York, although, unfortunately, she heard from him again when his father died. Julio, excited, wrote on his social networks: "My dearest Enrique Martín-Garea you have left without giving me another opportunity to tell you that everything that has happened in my life musically was always the responsibility you took to let me sing La vida sigue igual.

A great career in music

After the signing of Julio by CBS, Enrique, who remained in contact with Alfredo Fraile, who was a representative of Iglesias – "someone endearing" – continued at Columbia until he bought BMG-Ariola. He took early retirement. He was 55. He was at home for five years: playing golf, mus and going to the gym. When he turned 60, Paolo Vasile called him to set up the music publishing house of Telecinco. At 69, Antena 3 did the same. And he retired at 80. "He was a hard-working, self-made man. I only had high school. He spoke English very well, which he learned in an academy", summarizes Sonsoles, who reveals that his father also promoted the careers of great stars such as Raphael, Isabel Pantoja, Karina, Alberto Cortez, Palito Ortega or El Dúo Dinámico.

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Garea's last years were not the best due to Alzheimer's. "My children and I organized to take care of him. Gonzalo made a CD with the historical Eurovision songs and we were surprised: "This is Puppet on a String and it was a winner in 1967. How important music is! They say that artists who suffer from this disease the last thing they forget are the scores... It must be true!" Sonsoles has also been very marked by music. When a tumor was detected in 2020, he shaved his head to a Billy Joel song. Then, he took a picture every day to see the change and turned it into a video with a soundtrack also of Joel, one of his favorites.

A few months after his operation, from chemo and radio, his middle son, Gonzalo, married Elena Furiase and she appeared radiant in the pages of ¡Hola! with a stunning dress by Alejandro de Miguel. Music also marked the birth of each of his three children. Antes, by Jorge Drexler, reminds him of his eldest son, the filmmaker Miguel Sierra; What a wonderful world, a Gonzalo; You are my sunshine to her young son, Ignacio, a student of ADE. But, you know, if you walk through the cemetery of La Almudena and see a woman with a big white smile and long golden hair listening to the beautiful chords of Ojos Verdes, have no doubt: it is she, Sonsoles, speaking in her own way with her father or, what is the same, the discoverer of Julio Iglesias, the best Spanish singer of all time.

• Julio Iglesias