KNOWN far and wide
as the "Queen of Latin Pop," Gloria Estefan has sold
45 million records to become the single most successful
crossover performer in Latin music history. Born Gloria Fajardo
in Havana, Cuba, her father, Jose Manuel Fajardo, was a Cuban
soldier assigned to the security detail protecting the family of
Cuban president General Fulgencio Batista. In 1959, when Fidel
Castro seized power of the country, the Fajardos, along with
thousands of other opponents of the Communist dictator, fled to
the United States, and settled in a Cuban ghetto behind the
Orange Bowl in Miami. (Gloria was one year old at the time.)
Gloria's father
was recruited into a C.I.A.-
backed brigade of 1300 Cuban refugees that took part in the
unsuccessful Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. He was incarcerated
in a Cuban prison for a year and a half, and following his
release, he joined the U.S. Army. Fajardo later completed a two-
year tour of duty in Vietnam, and not long after returning home,
he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which may have
developed from his exposure to the defoliant Agent Orange.
Gloria was charged with tending to her father as his health
progressively deteriorated, as well as with minding her younger
sister, while their mother worked and took classes at night
school. She understandably had little time for a social life and
found solace and emotional strength in singing and playing
guitar.
With a dream of
becoming a psychologist, Gloria gained admittance on partial
scholarship to the University of Miami in 1975. A retiring and
serious young woman, she felt absolutely no desire to step into
the spotlight, despite her love of music, but was nevertheless
convinced to join a small-
time local Cuban-
American quartet called the Miami Latin Boys as an accompanist
and occasional lead singer during her freshman year. Overweight,
physically unremarkable, and painfully shy, the talented soprano
blossomed into a sleek, polished, and self-
assured performer under the guidance of the group's leader and
keyboardist, Emilio Estefan. As her confidence and stage
charisma grew, Gloria gradually assumed more prominence in the
band, singing more often, incorporating dance routines into the
act, and contributing her own pop songs and ballads. A year and
a half after she joined the Latin Boys, the group was rebaptized
Miami Sound Machine and began cutting albums —
two on a local label and two on their own label. The band became
something of a family affair when Gloria married Estefan in
1978.
Between 1981
and 1983, Miami Sound Machine recorded four Spanish-
language albums (Renacer, Otra Vez, Rio,
and A Toda Máquina) of ballads, sambas, and disco and
pop songs for Discos CBS International, the Hispanic division of
CBS Records. The albums generated dozens of chart-
climbers in Central and South America, but MSM's music remained
largely foreign to North American listeners outside of Hispanic
markets and the occasional bar-
mitzvah crowd.
In 1984, the
band achieved its first glimmering of international notoriety
with the English-
language B-
side dance track, "Dr. Beat"; the single charted as
high as No. 10 on the U.S. dance chart, which prompted CBS to
switch the band to its international rock division, Epic
Records. MSM's first album with Epic, Eyes of Innocence
(1984), fared modestly well, but the band broke through in a
major way with the release of its follow-
up all-
English album, Primitive Love (1985), and the single,
"Conga" (other top-
10 hits from the album were "Bad Boy" and "Words
Get in the Way"). The punchy, percussion-
heavy danceable was an instant success, becoming the first
single to camp out on Billboard's pop, dance, black, and
Latin charts concurrently. The album garnered Miami Sound
Machine two American Music Awards in 1986, one for Best New Pop
Artist and one for Top Pop Singles Artist. In 1988, an estimated
119,000 people congaed their way into the Guinness Book of
World Records to the pulsing beat of "Conga."
Miami Sound
Machine toured extensively for the album and became in short
order a leading American band. But Estefan was most definitely
the star apparent, and as original members peeled off, the band
started being billed as Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound
Machine, and eventually, simply as Gloria Estefan. Estefan
released her first solo album, Cuts Both Ways, in 1989.
She sustained her vast popularity both north and south of the
border by virtue of her talent for writing and performing
forlorn, emotional ballads such as "Can't Stay Away From
You," "Anything for You," and "Don't Wanna
Lose You" —
the latter two reached No. 1 on the U.S. charts. The fact that
she has remained true to all facets of her bi-
cultural heritage has brought her much glory over the years,
especially in Miami's Cuban community, where she is known fondly
as "nuestra Glorita" ("our little Gloria").
While on tour
in 1990, Estefan was almost killed when a semitrailer collided
with her tour bus. She sustained a broken and dislocated
vertebra in her back, and underwent a four-
hour-
long surgery during which two 8-
inch titanium rods were permanently implanted to stabilize and
align her spinal column. Despite a discouraging prognosis for
full recovery, Estefan made a miraculous comeback, thanks to a
year of physical therapy, sheer strength of will, and the
support of her legions of fans, who reacted with an outpouring
of support, including 4,000 floral arrangements, 11,000
telegrams, and 50,000 postcards and letters.
The following
year, Estefan marked her return to health by releasing the
contemplative Into the Light, on behalf of which she
kicked off a year-
long, 29-
country world tour; the single "Coming out of the
Dark" off the album topped the charts. Not surprisingly,
Estefan's Greatest Hits album went platinum in 1992; in
1993, she received an honorary doctorate in music from the
University of Miami, a statue at London's Madame Tussaud's wax
museum, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and a Grammy Award
for Best Tropical Latin Album of 1993 for Mi Tierra. The
Latina diva's 1995 all-
Spanish Abriendo Puertas invited a second Grammy for Best
Tropical Latin Performance. The fact that the superstar's appeal
crosses all borders was adequately proven when a billion or so
people tuned in to the closing ceremonies of the Atlanta Olympic
games to see her perform the Grammy-
nominated official Olympic anthem, "Reach," from her
1996 album Destiny.
In 1998,
Estefan had to make a difficult decision. Despite her admiration
for Pope John Paul II, when the pontiff held a mass in Cuba
early in the year, Estefan chose to refuse requests from Roman
Catholic officials to perform, saying, "As much as I love
the Pope, I won't sing in Cuba while Fidel is there." One
concert the singer did manage to appear at, however, was the
April 14 VH1 Divas Live extravaganza, which found her somehow
sharing the stage with four other powerhouse talents: Celine
Dion, Shania Twain, Mariah Carey, and Aretha Franklin. In fact,
all five performed a seemingly relaxed version of Carole King's
"(You Make Me Feel Like) a Natural Woman," with King
on piano and helping out with vocals. All proceeds from the
event, as well as those from the ensuing CD, Divas
Live, benefited VH1's Save the Music program, which
works to bring music education to children.
That summer,
Estefan released gloria!,
a hedonistic return to her all-
out disco roots, which featured an appearance by the Fugees'
Wyclef Jean. The record contained some of her strongest
material, including "Oye," "Real Woman," and
"Heaven's What I Feel," and was certified gold in July
1998. The year ended on a down note, however, when a thief broke
into Estefan's Miami Beach mansion in November and stole
approximately $250,000 worth of antique watches.
During the
following year, Estefan kept a decidedly lower profile, until
the fall release of the film Music of the Heart, which
found the erstwhile diva making her big-
screen acting debut opposite Meryl Streep. She also recorded a
duet with 'N
Sync ("Music of My Heart") for the film's
soundtrack. In October, she played VH1's Concert of the Century
at the White House, hosted by the president and the first lady,
to raise awareness of the Save the Music program.
In early 2000,
Estefan was honored with an Award of Merit at the American Music
Awards, and she was nominated for a Best Pop Collaboration With
Vocals Grammy for her 'N Sync-ized "Music" (though Santana's
"Smooth" ended up victorious in that category). On May
23, Estefan released a new Spanish-language album, Alma
Caribeña.
Taken from
Wall of Sound |