Cuts Both Ways ::: Biography    |     home
Recent News   |   Biography   |   Albums   |   Hit Singles   |   Appearances   |   Addresses   |   Conga Online   |   Home Videos   |   Achievements   |   Grammys   |   Links   |   Conga Bash 2003   |   One Night Only   |   Women Rock!   |   Top 10   |   My Friends





Written by Robert Rosario

    When one refers to influential artists within the entire, proverbial history of the music industry, Gloria Estefan is just bound to be mentioned.  Known as the most successful crossover artist in music history, the venerable performer is not only a musician, but also an international communicator. Crossover or not, with 90 million album sales, over 30 Top 10 singles, 15 gold, platinum, and multi-platinum albums, along with her unique, infectious sounds of pop, R&B, disco, Latin, rock and dance, Gloria Estefan has most conceivably established herself as a diva, musical legend, and an international music superstar, all while keeping her compassionate, down-to-earth persona at the very same time. Clearly one of the biggest new stars to emerge during the mid-1980s, Gloria predated the coming Latin pop explosion by a decade, scoring a series of propulsive dance hits rooted in the rhythms of her native Cuba before shifting her focus to softer, more ballad-oriented fare.  Gloria has thus instituted herself as one of music's most talented and most popular female vocalists ever.

 
    Gloria Maria Milagrosa Fajardo was born on September 1, 1957, in Havana, the capital of the Caribbean island, Cuba. As a toddler, Estefan fled Cuba during the very last of the freedom flights with her family when Communist dictator Fidel Castro rose to power. Her father, José Manuel Fajardo, had been a Cuban soldier and bodyguard of President Fulgencio Batista. After coming to the United States, Fajardo was recruited into the 2506 Brigade, a Central Intelligence Agency-funded band of Cuban refugees that was involved in the unsuccessful 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion. After President John F. Kennedy negotiated the release of the captured soldiers, Fajardo rejoined his family. He eventually joined the U.S. Army and served for two years in Vietnam.As a child, Estefan liked to write poetry, and though she took classical guitar lessons, she found them tedious. She had no inkling that she would some day become a popular music star, but music played a very important role for her as a teenager. After her father's return from Vietnam, he was diagnosed as having multiple sclerosis, possibly as a result of having been exposed to the herbicide Agent Orange while serving in the army. Estefan's mother, who had been a teacher in Cuba, worked to support the family during the day and attended school at night. Young Gloria was left to take care of her father and younger sister. She had little social life, and because she felt the weight of such responsibilities she turned to music as a release.

    In 1975, Gloria met keyboardist Emilio Estefan at a family wedding in which Glorias family had arranged his band, the Miami Latin Boys, to perform, who at the time was a sales manager for the rum dealer Bacardi. The band played popular Latin music, but because there was no lead singer, the quartet members took turns singing. A mutual friend asked Emilio to advise Gloria and some friends about organizing a band for a special event. Emilio heard Gloria sing, and when he met her again at a another wedding at which the Miami Latin Boys were entertaining, he asked her to sit in with the band. A few weeks later, Emilio asked Gloria to perform as lead singer with the band, and she accepted. At first Gloria sang only on weekends, because she was still attending the University of Miami. A straight-A student all through school, she graduated in 1976, gaining a double major in psychology and communications, along with a minor in French. A year and a half after Gloria joined the group, by then renamed the Miami Sound Machine to fit the newly added Gloria, the band recorded its first album for a local label. Renacer was a collection of disco pop and original ballads sung in Spanish.

    Although Estefan was somewhat plump and very shy when she joined the band, she slimmed down with a rigorous exercise program and worked to overcome her natural reticence. After several months on a professional level, Emilio and Gloria's professional relationship turned personal, and in September 1978, they were married. Their son Nayib was born two years later, about the time that Emilio quit his job at Bacardi to work full-time with the band, then made up of bassist Marcos Avila, drummer Kiki Garcia, keyboardist, arranger, and saxophonist Raul Murciano, keyboardist Emilio, and soprano Gloria. By 1980, the group had signed a contract with Discos CBS International, the Miami-based Hispanic division of CBS Records. Between 1981 and 1983 the Miami Sound Machine recorded four Spanish-language albums made up of ballads, disco, pop, and sambas. The Miami Sound Machine first met with success in Spanish-speaking countries. The group had dozens of hit songs around the world particularly in Venezuela, Peru, Panama, and Honduras but enjoyed little recognition in the United States.

    The Miami Sound Machine's first North American hit was from the band's first English album, Eyes Of Innocence. The pop-disco single "Dr. Beat" went to the top of the European dance charts, as well as peaking at a very impressive #10 position on Billboards Dance Charts. The song's popularity prompted CBS to move the group to Epic Records, a parent label and the companys rock division, and inspired group members to write songs in English. The rousing dance number "Conga," which was the lead single from their 1986 Primitive Love album, became the first single in music history to crack Billboard's pop, dance, black, and Latin charts simultaneously. Estefan and the group, the membership of which has changed over the years, pride themselves on the combination of Latin rhythms, rhythm and blues, and mainstream pop that makes up their hybrid sound.


    The triple-platinum album Primitive Love, the band's first recording entirely in English, set off a string of hit singles. "Bad Boy" and "Words Get In The Way" made their way onto Billboard's Top 10 pop chart. Behind the scenes was the work of the trio known as the "Three Jerks" producer/drummer Joe Galdo and his partners Rafael Vigil and Lawrence Dermer who wrote, arranged, and performed the majority of the music on Primitive Love and the follow-up album, Let It Loose. As a band, the Miami Sound Machine developed a split personality. In the studio, the "Three Jerks" and session players made records, and for concerts the road band, which included Garcia and Avila, performed. However, Gloria Estefan was the common denominator. Extensive tours, concerts in 40,000-seat stadiums, and music videos on MTV and VH1 made the Miami Sound Machine a leading U.S. band, and a prominent household name. Estefan gradually became the star attraction, and the act came to be billed as Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine or sometimes simply Gloria Estefan. Some commentators on the popular music scene called Estefan a demure, the Latin version of Madonna.

    After the once again triple-platinum Let It Loose album, Galdo and friends quit working with the Miami Sound Machine, so the band was on its own creatively. Early in its evolution, the band's biggest hits were rousing dance numbers, but by the end of the 1980s, it was Estefan's ballads that engendered its success. From the Let It Loose album, the singles "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You," "Betcha Say That," and "1-2-3" made it to Billboard's Top 10 list, but it was the ballad "Anything For You" that topped the charts. Despite the group's continuously growing popularity with English-speaking listeners, the Estefans have not forgotten their roots. There are always Spanish-language projects in the works, and the title of their 1989 triple-platinum album Cuts Both Ways attests to their intention to live up to their international reputation. Estefan contributed to Cuts Both Ways in more capacities than as just the lead singer. The album was solely credited in her name, simply as Gloria Estefan. She was involved in its planning and production, composed most of the music, and wrote lyrics to most of the songs. The rollicking salsa finale single, "Oye Mi Canto (Hear My Voice), which peaked at #48 on Hot 100, rivaled "Conga" for its appeal. The singles Here We Are, Cuts Both Ways, and Get On Your Feet, all cracked the Top 10, including the distinguished ballad, Dont Wanna Lose You, which hit the #1 spot. Gloria Estefan became not only a secured dance-pop singer, but a well-established adult contemporary ballad singer as well.

    Emilio Estefan relinquished his position as keyboardist with the Miami Sound Machine after the birth of son, Nayib. He then devoted his considerable energy and managerial talent to promoting the band and the other enterprises that were to eventually make the Estefans producers of their own and others' records. While Estefan toured with the band, her husband ensured that Nayib would have at least one parent at home. A close family, the Estefans would arrange to meet as often as possible during tours. While traveling together on March 20, 1990, the day after meeting with President George Bush, tragedy struck, as the band's bus was involved in a serious near-fatal accident with a tractor-trailer on snowy Interstate 380 near the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. While Nayib suffered a fractured shoulder and Emilio received minor head and hand injuries, Gloria suffered a broken vertebra in her back, nearly paralyzing her and almost killing her. In a four-hour operation several days later, surgeons realigned Estefan's spine and implanted two 8 titanium steel rods to buttress the fracture. With a prognosis for complete recovery doubtful, Estefan retired to her home on Star Island, near Miami, to begin her long recovery.

    Thanks to extensive physical therapy, intense determination, and the support of her family and fans, Gloria Estefan made what many consider a miraculous comeback, and miracle. She marked her return to performing with an appearance on television's American Music Awards in January of 1991, and beginning in March, she launched a highly successful sellout yearlong tour to tout her comeback album, the double-platinum Into the Light, which peaked at #5 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart. Here, Estefan showed her more softer side, with the hit pop singles Cant Forget You, Live For Loving You, and Coming Out Of The Dark, the #1 hit which was a thank-you song dedicated to her fans for all their continuous love and support. The music kept coming. In 1992, Gloria released her first greatest hits collection, simply titled Greatest Hits. Only the most prominent of her Top 10 hits were included, including 4 new songs: "Christmas Through Your Eyes," "Go Away," "I See Your Smile," and "Always Tomorrow," which became the anthem for devastating Hurricane Andrew. Immediately after, Gloria assembled a benefit concert known as Hurricane Relief, which included special guests Paul Simon, The Bee Gees, Celia Cruz, Ziggy Marley, and Whoopi Goldberg. These singles also secured her established A/C and Dance reputation, with all 3 of them reaching the Top 10.

    With 1993's Mi Tierra, Estefan returned to her roots, recording her first Spanish-language record in close to a decade and earning a Grammy Award for Best Tropical Latin Album. Mi Tierra, which is a blend of classic Cuban hybrid rhythms, including salsa, son, and cha-cha, also became the world's greatest selling Spanish album in music history, selling over 20 million copies, 11 of which were sold in Spain. The singles, "Mi Tierra," "Con Los Años Que Me Quedan," "Mi Buen Amor," and "Tradición" all reigned at #1 on the Billboard Hot Latin charts, with the album spending 58 straight weeks at #1. At the end of 1993, she was honored a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, an immensely prestigious accolade, honoring Gloria for her tremendous contributions to society and popularity in popular music.

    On the follow-up, 1994's covers collection Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, she also recalled her dance-pop origins with a rendition of the late Vicki Sue Robinson disco classic "Turn the Beat Around," claiming another #1 hit, with the album going double platinum. Her version of "Turn The Beat Around," became a massive hit, much more popular than the original, which also became her biggest hit of her career, spending over 30 weeks on the Hot 100 charts. "Everlasting Love" also reached #1 on Billboard Dance chart and peaking as high as #27 on the Hot 100, securing her status at one of pop/dance music's true and enduring originals. 1994 also brought Gloria great joy in her life with her second child, this time a daughter, named Emily Marie. At first, doctors told Gloria that she would be unable to conceive another child due to the stain it would put on her back. It was also found out that Gloria has crushed one of her fallopian tubes, which are essential in conceiving a baby. After some surgery, Emily Marie was born on December 4, 1994.

    In 1995, Gloria, once again, returned to her roots, with the South American-influenced, Abriendo Puertas, earning her the Grammy for Best Tropical Latin album. The album didnt perform as well as the predecessor of Mi Tierra, but it still sell well, going Gold and secured her status as Latin music's greatest female artist. The title track, along with the singles "Tres Deseos" and "Mas Alla," the religious-inspirational ballad, all went to #1 on the Billboard Latin chart. However, 1995 brought the Estefans tragedy once again as a young man who was riding a Kawasaki jetskier crashed into the Estefans boat as they were taking a relaxing cruise on Biscayne Bay. The rider died due to himself being tangled in the boats propellers. The courageous Emilio jumped in the shark-infested water to try and save the young man, but it was unfortunately too late. Gloria showed remorse to him and his family, and passed a new jetsking law in Florida in the process. She also sang for the Pope at the Vatican that year, in part of a special religious celebration.

    Gloria went even further as she brought together Afro-Cuban and Pop ballad beats on the 1996 very inspirational Destiny, which featured the titanic hit "Reach," named the Official Theme of the 1996 Summer Olympics. The hit singles Youll Be Mine (Party Time) and the dance guitar-tinged Im Not Giving You Up, also managed to crack Billboards Hot 100 chart. After recording the platinum album Destiny in 1996, Gloria began a high-tech 20-month world tour called Evolution. Each show commenced with a suspended globe moving above the audience from which Gloria emerged. The $14 million in receipts from the North American leg placed it as the 4th highest grossing tour of 1996. After a one-year break, Gloria returned to mainstream pop with the high-energy dance opus, gloria! in June 1998, which is said to be Glorias best album of her career. The album, which went gold, showed the pop world of Glorias newly reinvented self, which elements of disco, funk, R&B, hip-hop, and techno evident. The propulsive singles "Heaven's What I Feel," "Don't Let This Moment End," and the massively hot and steamy #1 hit "Oye," reminded the world of Gloria as a dance legend. All of these hits become some of Gloria's biggest house anthems, securing strong positions on Billboard's Hot 100. She ended the year performing on the first annual VH1's Divas Live, and earning 4 Grammy nominations for gloria! The concert raised money to fund music education in elementary schools. Inclusion in this event affirmed her distinguished position among the top female singers in the music industry.

    As Latin pop made new commercial headway thanks to the efforts of acts like Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, and Enrique Iglesias, Gloria Estefan reigned as the most successful crossover artist in music history, with international record sales close to the 80 million mark. In 1999, she also made her feature film debut alongside Meryl Streep in Music Of The Heart, recording the film's title song, written by Diane Warren, as a duet with *NSYNC and scoring both a massive pop hit and an Oscar nomination in the process. She ended the year with a huge millennium concert at the then brand-new American Airlines Arena, which was heard to be the biggest and best concert of New Years Eve 1999. Gloria was awarded at the beginning of 2000 with the American Music Awards Award of Merit for her outstanding contributions and popularity to the music industry. With a standing ovation and numerous screams, it was a night Gloria Estefan glistened when sheer joy. 2000 also brought Gloria returning to her roots for the third time to her native Cuba with a new Spanish-language album, titled Alma Caribeña: Caribbean Soul. The lead single, "No Me Dejes De Querer," became a massive Spanish hit, propelling the song to rein the coveted #1 spot on Billboard's Hot Latin tracks. It also became the first time a Spanish-language song to simultaneously be on the Hot 100, Hot Latin Tracks, and Dance charts since Los Lobos 1987 remake of "La Bamba." Rhythms like son, bachata, traditional salsa, murga, and bolero which tends to be very prominent throughout the album scored Gloria rave reviews from top music credits nationwide. The album was very successful as well, selling a million copies, spending seven straight weeks at #1 on Billboards Latin 50.

    In May of that year, she hosted her first ever nationwide TV special on CBS, titled Gloria Estefan, Caribbean Soul: The Atlantis Concert, which showcased her hits and new songs, along with special music guests *NSYNC, Marc Anthony, José Feliciano, and salsa queen Celia Cruz. Her second single, "Como Me Duele Perderte," released in August 2000, scored Gloria another #1 hit. The very theatric "Por Un Beso," served as Univisión's TV novella of the same name. Several months later, Estefan was awarded a Grammy for Best Music Video for "No Me Dejes De Querer" at the first annual Latin Grammy Awards. Her husband Emilio won for Producer of the Year. She also won a Billboard Latin Music Award and received her third Grammy for Latin Album of the Year for Alma Caribeña: Caribbean Soul. She ended the year starring in her second film, a special for HBO, titled For Love Or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story, portraying the life of the famed Cuban trumpet legend. She starred alongside Latin actors Andy Garcia and Mia Maestro.

    Last year, Gloria released her second greatest hits collection simply titled, Greatest Hits Vol. II, which was released in February 2001. The set assembled all of her Hot 100 hits of the past nine years, including 3 new songs. "You Can't Walk Away From Love," the album's lead single, dominated A/C radio peaking at #2.  The song was beat out by teen sensation 'N Sync's "This I Promise You.   The middle-Eastern tinged tune was the love theme for the movie, Original Sin, which starred Antonio Banderas and Angelina Jolie. The album didn't nearly perfom as hoped, due to poor promotion and a delayed release on the movie's part, peaking as high as #92 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart, selling just close to 100,000 copies. However, the album did get very high reviews and credits in the process. Her second single from the album, the very energetic trance-dance-pop "Out Of Nowhere," which is said to be Estefan's best dance-pop song to date, garnered her another Top 10 hit on Billboard's Dance charts, reminding the music world of Glorias legendary status, peaking at #6, earning her 15th Grammy nomination for Best Dance Recording. Estefan then ended the year with two special sellout One Night Only concerts solely for her fans, in makeup of 2000s cancelled tour due to her daughters start of kindergarten, at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas and the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, which were said to be Gloria's most dynamic, personal, and enthralling shows to date.

    Currently, Estefan is writing, producing, and arranging material for her forthcoming all-new English language album, set for a projected release of Early 2003. The album would be her first original piece of English work in five years. It is also said to be her most dynamic and anticipated project ever. From publicists at Sony Australia, Estefans next album will have elements of Euro, R&B, rock, alternative and punk, infused with her typical Latin pop sound. She is also writing a screenplay for the Dr. Brian Weiss book, Many Lives, Many Masters, which she plans to star. To add to that, she is also writing a screenplay of legendary 60s singer Connie Francis, in which Gloria plans to star in as well. She also has eyes on a U.S. Tour projected to take place at the beginning of next summer in support of her new album and movie.

    Simply, Gloria Estefan does not need to prove herself anymore. With such respect this immensely inspirational woman has, Gloria has made herself a pop legend, a true diva and an undoubtedly talented singer who is stronger and more enchanting than ever.  To a woman who has won over 100 prestigious awards in her extremely impressive career, Gloria Estefan is the one and only individual who opened the doors to all Latinos around the world, giving them hope and promise for a better tomorrow. Clearly, she is the sole musician who has brought down so many doors and brought together so many cultures simply by her music, and, most importantly, by her honest, carefree, and loving persona. Gloria Maria Estefan truly is a masterful inspiration to all, and surely a name that will inevitably live on forever.




At a Glance
Date of Birth: September 1, 1957
Birthplace: Havana, Cuba
Hometown: Miami, FL
Nationality: 100% Cuban
Education: University of Miami - double major in Pyschology & Communications, minor in French
Family History: Gloria & Jose Fajardo, parents; Emilio Estefan, husband; Nayib & Emily Marie, children
First Breakthrough Hit: "Conga" (1985)
Biggest English Hit: "Coming Out Of The Dark" (1991) / "Turn The Beat Around" (1994)
Biggest Spanish Hit: "Mi Tierra" (1993) / "Oye" (1998)
Biggest English Album: Greatest Hits (1992)
Biggest Spanish Album: Mi Tierra (1993)
First Professional Acting Role: "Isabel Vasquez" in Music Of The Heart (1999)
Astrological Sign: Virgo