Hero was seen as a breakthrough for Iglesias in the UK and Escape became one of the best selling albums of that year. Up to this point Iglesias had already had two hits in the UK but was largely unknown. In February 2002 the song was released in the UK, where it went straight to number one for four weeks becoming one of the biggest hits of the year there.
It also officially became a worldwide number one when it held the top spot on the United World Chart for five weeks. The song enjoyed much success worldwide hitting the top spot in over ten countries. A remixed recording also topped the "Billboard" Hot Dance Club Play chart in December 2001. The song peaked at number three on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart, though it is actually his most played song on the chart outdoing prior singles " Bailamos" and " Be With You" both of which went to number one on the chart. "The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits", 8th Edition (Billboard Publications)] On the latter, the song would re-enter the top ten a year later, the first song ever to do so. The song topped many charts in the US including the ARC Weekly Chart for two weeks and the " Billboard" adult contemporary chart for fifteen weeks. While originally made for the UK this video has since replaced the original video on many music video stations throughout the world The final shot of this video shows Iglesias' legs are moving, suggesting that he lives. In addition to this video a second video was made for the UK with less violence. However, it is assumed that the police caught Rourke. Iglesias clutches his torso, implying that he'd been shot. The video skips ahead where we see Iglesias and Hewitt in the rain surrounded by police cars. Finally, Iglesias' enemies track him down and confront him outside a church. The video follows a Bonnie and Clyde-esque plot with Iglesias and Hewitt running from their enemies in the desert. The music video for "Hero" was directed by Joseph Khan and features Iglesias as an honorable criminal hunted by his enemies, Jennifer Love Hewitt plays his love interest, while Mickey Rourke plays one of the men hunting him. However, in this case, a gay male fan was plucked from the audience, illustrating how Iglesias fully embraces his gay fan base in a way unlike many mainstream male pop stars. Traditionally, Iglesias serenades a member of the audience when he performs the song, and this show was no different. In June 2007, Iglesias performed the track during his set at London gay club G-A-Y.
He had performed the song earlier at that year's Miss Venezuela but due to the terrorist attacks the show was not aired on television. It was Iglesias' first televised performance of the song. Iglesias broadcast his performance from a warehouse in New York alongside Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, and Sheryl Crow, the location of the warehouse was kept secret in case of further attacks. He was asked to sing the song live at the benefit concert "" ten days after the Septemattacks. After the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center, the song was one of the few songs chosen by Radio DJs in New York to be remixed with audio from police, firefighters, civilians at Ground Zero and Politicians commenting on the attacks. " Hero" is a single released by Enrique Iglesias from his second English album " Escape".Įnrique first released the song to radio in late November 2001 to a positive critical and commercial reception.