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Spanish singer Julio Iglesias first came to Indonesia nearly 40 years ago, when he was already an established, multi-platinum-selling ballad singer. Since then, Iglesias, mostly as a tourist, has visited the country regularly, nearly 40 to 50 times by his count.

Now, “the Spanish Frank Sinatra” said he had a strong emotional bond with Indonesia. He met his wife here, after all.

“I have been to Jakarta, Bali and other islands in Indonesia many times now,” the 68-year-old said. “I have been very involved with Indonesia, and I know what it means in my life.”

The renowned vocalist is set to hit the stage during a concert at the Ritz-Carlton Pacific Place Ballroom in Jakarta on Dec.4 . “Julio Iglesias — Live in Jakarta” will be a joint presentation by BeritaSatu Media Holdings, with which the Jakarta Globe is affiliated, and Java Festival Production.

“We are very honored and happy that Julio Iglesias is willing to come to Jakarta for a concert,” Sachin Gopalan, chief operating officer of BeritaSatu Media Holdings, said at a press conference in Jakarta last week. “He is one of the most iconic singers, and it is not easy to get performers like him.”

Despite his numerous visits to Indonesia, including 10 previous concerts and several appearances on local television stations, Iglesias said he was excited to be back.

“I will become an Indonesian guy,” Iglesias said. “Why? Because to me the opportunity to come back to a country where I have a natural relation with the people, such as Indonesia, is really something. I have a lot of good memories about Indonesia.”

The best of those, he said, was when he first met his current wife, Miranda Rijnsburger.

“I met her at the Jakarta airport,” said Iglesias, who married Rijnsburger in August 2010 after a 20-year relationship. “She is from Holland, and her father used to live in Indonesia. She is my last wife and the love of my life.”

Iglesias has three sons and twin daughters with Rijnsburger — his other son, singer Enrique Iglesias, is from a previous marriage with Isabel Preysler, a Filipino journalist whom he married in 1971.

To honor his connection to the country, Iglesias built an house in the Caribbean that drew on Indonesian styles.

“Everything is Indonesian, like all the roof and the wood. Balinese, to be exact,” Iglesias said, “My feelings and memories of the country are all there.”

The singer has collaborated with several Indonesian musicians, such as Andre Hehanusa and Anggun C. Sasmi. Iglesias performed with Andre for a version of one of his most famous songs, “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before, ” in which the two men crooned in English and Indonesian.

“I am also very much into South Asian culture, as I’ve been in many places in the region,” he said. “I have been to southern Asia probably two months every year for the last four years. So everything here is very common to me. I love Asian people.”

Iglesias, who is best-known for his romantic ballads, is most famous in Indonesia for tracks like “When I Need You,” “Hey” and “Crazy.”

“I’ve also sung ‘Crazy’ in Indonesian,” Iglesias said. “I can speak a little Bahasa.”

Born as Julio Jose Iglesias de la Cueva in Madrid in 1943, he studied law and played goalkeeper for one of Real Madrid’s football teams before becoming a professional singer in the late 1960s. In 1972, Iglesias received a prize from Columbia Records for being the “singer that has sold the most records worldwide.”

In four decades, Iglesias has sold more than 350 million copies of his 79 albums, making him one of the top 15 best-selling musical artists of all time.

His 1994 album “Crazy” sold 15 million copies in the United States alone and went Platinum in the United Kingdom. His latest album, “Numero 1,” which is a compilation of past hits, was released in March.

In 1983, Iglesias was acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records for having sold the most albums in different languages, including Spanish, English, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese, Tagalog and Indonesian.

But Iglesias’ storied career has involved more than just album sales. In 1989, Unicef, which works to protect children’s rights, made him its Goodwill Ambassador in 1989, a title he held for more than 10 years. Iglesias traveled around the world promoting and supporting the organization’s programs through presentations and benefit concerts. Once, he did a show in the Soviet Union to benefit children who were physically challenged.

Besides Indonesia, Iglesias on this tour will hit Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo and Kobe, Japan, in early December, then travel to Tel Aviv, Israel, for a show on Dec. 12. On New Year’s Eve, Iglesias will hold a free concert in Miracle Park Square in Batumi, a seaside city on Georgia’s Black Sea coast.

But Iglesias, charming as ever, says he knows where his heart lies.

“It just feels so good,” he said of Indonesia, “that they let me come back again to the country that I love.”

Julio Iglesias — Live in Jakarta
Sunday, Dec. 4, at 7 p.m.
The Ritz-Carlton Pacific Place Jakarta, Ballroom 2 & 3
South Jakarta
Tickets available at Ibu Dibyo
Tel. 02131931178
For more information, visit www.thejakartaglobe.com/julioiglesias