Bertín Osborne

Norberto Juan Ortiz y Osborne, 9th Count of Donadío de Casasola (born 7 December 1954), better known as Bertín Osborne, is a Spanish singer.

Biography

He was born in Madrid from an aristocrat father, Enrique Ortiz y López-Valdemoro (1928-2024), but raised in Puerto de Santa María and later in Jerez de la Frontera. His maternal surname comes from a great-great-great grandfather who immigrated from Exeter, England to Puerto de Santa María, Spain during the late 18th century and founded the Osborne Group wine company.

Career

Osborne's first musical performance was in 1971 at the Song Festival at El Escorial, but he had to wait until 1980 to sign his first contract to record an album.

Bertín is also an occasional actor. His acting is credited in several TV-novels and fiction TV-series, some of them were South American TV-productions. He has barely participated in film acting, but he is more of an actor when it comes to television series.

Personal life

Osborne was married to Alejandra "Sandra" Domecq Williams, from 1977 until their divorce in 1991. She died in 2004. The couple had three daughters: Alejandra (b. 1978), Eugenia (b. 1986) and Claudia (b. 1989), as well as a son (Cristian; 1977–1977), who died at less than one year of age.

He remarried, on 10 June 2006, Fabiola Martínez Benavides, from Maracaibo, Venezuela; the couple has two children, Norberto Enrique and Carlos Alberto. Norberto was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, which led Bertin to create the Fundación Bertín Osborne, a non-profit organization devoted to helping children with this diagnosis. Bertin has brought his son to The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential (IAHP) for treatment, and has used his foundation to spread the word in Spain about IAHP's work.