If I were one of Julio Iglesias' millions of female fans, I probably would have lost it—maybe when the telephone rang precisely when his assistant had said he would be calling, maybe sometime during the interview. Or maybe I would have succeeded in tamping my feelings down, been as professional and matter-of-fact as possible while we were talking, then called my closest gal pal and let her eat her heart out.

But, hey, I'm a guy. I've respected Julio's talent and commercial success for years, but I'm still an entertainment writer with almost 40 years on the job. With that as perspective, I'll add that Julio was a great interview.

“;I'm working at being alive,”; he said with a hearty laugh, responding to my opening question about the projects he's working on these days. He called from Argentina and was preparing to fly to Peru and the final shows of his South American tour.

That was more than a month ago. After several schedule changes, Iglesias will finally return to Honolulu for a one-nighter tomorrow at the Blaisdell Concert Hall. In the meantime he's delighted fans in the Philippines, China, Japan and Australia.

Entertaining international audiences isn't a problem for a man who has sold an estimated 300 million albums worldwide over the past 40 years. However, in addition to wowing audiences with his singing, he can also talk to them—Iglesias speaks fluent English, French, Italian and Portuguese in addition to his native Spanish. He's also recorded individual songs in several other languages.

“;It is not easy to record (in languages you don't speak), but you get to the culture of the people in its own way and they understand that you've made an effort,”; he said. “;To sing in Chinese is not very easy for an Occidental, but it's OK because you explain yourself and you make people happy, and that's what it's all about in an artist's life.”;

Iglesias has been making people happy since the late 1960s, when he won a songwriting competition in Spain and was signed by the Spanish subsidiary of Columbia Records. Hits in several European countries followed, and he was already an international star when he moved to Florida and embarked on a successful campaign to break into the mainstream English-speaking American market.

He first made the American pop charts with “;Amor,”; which reached No. 105 on Billboard's “;Bubbling Under”; chart in 1983. His breakthrough came less than a year later when his now iconic duet with Willie Nelson, “;To All the Girls I've Loved Before,”; hit No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was certified platinum for sales of more than 2 million copies.

Iglesias recalled it as “;an amazing situation—a perfect combination in a way that was unusual.”;

“;I am very grateful to Willie because he was patient enough to give me time to understand the English (lyrics) because I was not an English-speaking person at that time, and very grateful too because the song has character.”;

He volunteered that he doesn't feel that way about some of his other work. Iglesias said he made “;mistakes”; in some of the songs he chose—his recent album “;Romantic Classics,”; in particular—but sees the mistakes as part of the learning process.

And, after more than 40 years as a recording artist, singing is still his passion.

“;If I don't sing, am I going to wait for life to bring me to reconciliation with my past? No. The past is OK, but the future is much more interesting for me,”; he said. “;The passion for me is music, and my passion for music is still alive—I would say it is more alive than ever.

“;If you lose your passion for your profession, you lose your passion for many things.”;