Plácido Domingo Embil, the opera singer, married with two children, was born in Madrid on the 1st January 1941. In 1957 he made his debut as a baritone with the Spanish operetta Gigantes y Cabezudos, in his parents´ company. After signing a contract to sing as a tenor with the Israeli National Opera, he stayed in Tel Aviv for two-and-a-half years, where he gave almost 300 performances.

In 1964 he travelled all over Spain, France and Italy, giving concerts. the following year he went on to Mexico, where he was offered two contracts to perform in the United States, first in Washington D.C., with the operas Carmen and Samson and Delilah and later, with Don Rodrigo in the New York City Centre Opera, an auditorium where he was to achieve a resounding success.

In 1967, he performed for the first time in three major European theatres: Hamburg, with Aida; Vienna, with Don Carlos; and Berlin, with Un Ballo in Maschera. In the following season he did the same at the New York Metropolitan Opera House, with Adriana Lecovreur. In 1970 he sang the Missa Solemnis before the Pope, and in the same year made his debut at the Madrid Zarzuela Theatre with La Gioconda.

In June 1981 he sang for free in New York Central Park before 250,000 people.

In recent years he has made various feature-length films for cinema and has taken up the baton on various occasions.

He is the holder of the following prizes: the Gold Medal of the Hispanic Institute of New York, the "Julian Gayarre" Gold Medal of the National Foundation for Lyric Art and the Madrid Association of Friends of the Opera, the Fellowship granted by the Queen of England on the occasion of her birthday, the Medal of the City of Paris and the Order of the Legion of Honour granted by the French government.