LA DIVA LATINA

GOES HOLLYWOOD

 

As she prepares to make her film debut this month in Music of the Heart, Gloria Estefan talks about pop stardom, trash television and the crossover boom in Latin music with Ingrid Casares

 

 

Miami’s hometown superstar is about to become Hollywood’s newest darling. This month, Gloria Estefan costars with Meryl Streep, Aidan Quinn and Angela Bassett in Wes Craven’s Music of the Heart, a wrenching film about education and growth in ‘80s Spanish Harlem. Meanwhile, the film’s title song, “Music of the Heart,” on which Estefan collaborated with boy band ‘N Sync, is currently one of MTV’s most-requested videos.

It has been a long rise for the Queen of Latin Music, whose career was launched with the 1985 smash “Conga” when she was still folded into her husband Emilio’s Miami Sound Machine. Since then, she has had a slew of platinum albums, including Cuts Both Ways (1989), the Spanish-language mi tierra (a tribute to her native Cuba, released in 1993), and Destiny (1996). Last year, the 42-year-old singer/songwriter released gloria!, a compilation of high-disco anthems, and soon she will offer an edgy new Spanish-language album that fuses traditional Cuban song forms.

But even with such worldwide success, she has not abandoned her Miami roots. Estefan Enterprises is headquartered on South Beach, and she and Emilio still live here with their four-year-old daughter, Emily; their son, Nayib, 19, is now pursuing a film career in Los Angeles. And on Millennium’s Eve, she will perform a powerhouse concert at the new American Airlines Arena on Biscayne Boulevard.

Gloria discussed all this – and the new boom in Latin music, which she and Emilio helped create -, with Ingrid Casares inthe penthouse of the Pelican Hotel on Ocean Drive.

 

INGRID CASARES: Should I mention that you’re getting a massage while we’re doing this?

GLORIA ESTEFAN: Yeah, this is a cool room, though it has a very strange, round bed; I don’t know how anyone can sleep here.

IC: So your first movie project was with Wes Craven, Meryl Streep and Angela Bassett. Were you intimidated?

GE: Meryl made things so incredibly easy for me. Angela, as well. I could not have had a better experience. And Wes was super-nice, very laid-back and understated. I felt so comfortable, as if I’d done it my whole life. I wouldn’t have been ready until now; you really have to be able to let go.

IC: What was your role?

GE: I’m a second-grade teacher in Spanish Harlem, the first teacher in the school who gives Meryl Streep’s character, Roberta, a welcome. No one wants to cut her any slack. The school board eliminates her music program and everyone is kind of looking at her like an outsider, but in our frist scene I make her laugh. So the movie was a pleasant thing to do – except for the clothes. Boy, that fashion from the ‘80s.

IC: We were talking about this the other day. You were saying, ‘You can still wear clothes from the ‘60s, you can still wear clothes from the ‘70s, you can still wear clothes form the early ‘90s, but you can never go back to the ‘80s.’

GE: All those shoulder pads...In the movie, I wear this black leather jacket with shoulder
pads – which looks like something I used to wear. But you have to be true to life, and if I’m doing a role, I want to look the part. I looked actually too nice in the first scene to be a Spanish Harlem teacher. The hair stylist was great, but we had to rough it up a little after that.

IC: Does your movie have a happy ending?

GE: Well, yeah, her program gets reinstated. That’s a pretty happy ending for her, definitely. It’s going to educate a lot of people because many parents don’t know that these programs are being cut by the public-education system. We pay for a school system and then they make arbitrary decisions as to what they’re going to fund or cut. And we as parents have to make it known that we want our children to have art and music in schools. It’s crucial.

IC: Did you get scripts before?

GE: I got scripts all the way back to Mystic Pizza but I turned them down because I was on tour. The right thing never came along, but I knew it would one day. I’m glad it’s now because, timewise and emotionally, I would not have been ready before.

IC: How did you prepare for it?

GE: I’ve been taking acting lessons for a couple of years. It’s a totally different thing, a different craft. And I didn’t want to jump in without preparation.

IC: Was Emily with you on the set?

GE: Oh, yeah. She had a great time, and I loved having her there – I got to watch trashy television and stuff I never get to do.

IC: What’s your favorite trashy television show?

GE: Oh, I don’t know. Any one of those talk shows.

IC: Jerry Springer entertained me for a while. For, like, a good six months.

GE: Yeah, but it’s gotten ridiculous. It’s too staged. It’s kind of like when humans used to watch executions. We have a morbid curiosity about other people’s misery. I usually watch television late at night. And now that I have a satellite dish, I catch up on a lot of movies that I never get to see. If I go to the movies, I take Emily – she loves them.

IC: Does she sit through a movie?

GE: Oh, she loves movies. She’s just like her brother. Recently we watched Young Frankenstein – twice. That movie has special memories for me because, on my first date with Emilio, we went to see Young Frankenstein. After we came out he turned to me and said – and I knew after he uttered those words that I would marry this man – ‘That wasn’t so scary.’ I laughed and told him, ‘It’s a comedy, not a horror move.’

IC: Is it still nerve-wracking to go on-stage in front of an audience?

GE: It’s a lot of pressure, but, you know, I feel totally comfortable on-stage. The problem with doing live TV is that if you screw up, everyone sees you simultaneously. But when you’re doing a tour only, like, 30,000 people are seeing you at any one moment, and you can laugh it off and make a joke.

 

“When people meet me, they are surprised at how sick and warped I am.”

 

IC: And now you have this MTV thing.

GE: In spite of me, we’re on MTV! That’s my motto for the year. Thank God for ‘N Sync. It’s a great combination. The theme song from Music of the Heart comes from a very real place, because Diane Warren, who wrote it, based the song on a teacher who had a big influence on her life. She still keeps in touch with this teacher. When something is real, it comes through.

IC: Did you find ‘N Sync to be down-to-earth guys?

GE: They are super-sweet guys, funny, and I’m used to their kind of humor. I’m worse than all of them put together. And they were surprised. When people meet me, they are surprised at how sick and warped I am. I felt right at home with them and we had a great time.

IC: So you are going to do anything else together?

GE: We’re going to do the Teen Choice Awards. And I’m sure we’ll sing a song together on some other show. There is so much stuff out there. And there is this incessant need to be entertained on 500 different channels.

IC: It was a lot easier to entertain us when we were growing up – we had three channels and shows like Lost in Space.

GE: Oh, I loved that show.

IC: What else did you like?

GE: The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family. That one Bobby Sherman was on I used to love. What was that called? Here Come the Brides, where he played one of the brothers. That’s little before your time.

IC: No, no, no, I remember.

GE: I had a big Bobby Sherman crush.

IC: I had a big Bobby Sherman crush, too.

GE: And David Cassidy. I used to watch him every day just to see if he was having a good- or bad-hair day. Because some days his hair had that perfectly feathered look, and then one day half of his head would be smashed in like he had been sleeping and just got up and went to the set.

IC: One of my favorite Behind the Musics on VH-1 is about David Cassidy.

GE: I haven’t seen that one yet, but I love all of the Behind the Musics. I really love the one with Motley-Crue. That show gives you a whole different perspective. It glamorizes and deglamorizes the business, because it shows everybody as human beings and all the pitfalls and things that happen. It shows the cutthroat nature of this business, and how some people fall by the wayside. On mine, of course, they had to keep cutting back to me in that neckbrace! God! But they did a great job.

IC: Is there anyone you would like to see on a Behind the Music?

GE: Oh, God, they’ve done everybody there is at this point – they’re dong anybody! Maybe Liberace, but, of course, they can’t interview him.

IC: In the ‘80s there were singers like you and Madonna, and you’re both still around. What is the difference in musicmaking now?

GE: It’s always been geared to teenagers, but all of a sudden we’re not the teenagers anymore. Music is a young medium, and we won’t know for another 15 years who’s gonna stick around. But I remember, when I was a teenager, a lot of teen stars: David Cassidy, Bobby Sherman, the Osmonds, the Jacksons, the Cowsills. The good thing about the people like Madonna, Janet and Whitney is that their fans grow along with them and also indoctrinate their children. My friends play my music for their kids and then the kids like it: When I’m doing a show, I’ve got everybody from the baby of the family to the grandparents. That gives you a lot of staying power, and the music appeals across age barriers.

Meanwhile, I’m doing a new Spanish album:It’s not nostalgic like mi tierra, but definitely incredible Cuban music. A lot of fusion, interesting mixes with bachatas and boleros. We also have songs from Robert Blades, and incredible producer and writer. He’s Ruben’s younger brother, and a great artist and singer. I’m happy to have him on this. The arrangements are very interesting and complex in their simplicity, if I can put it that way. This time I’m both victim and victimizer. I’m not a good girl on this album – I’m a bad girl, lyrically. There’s one called “Tengo que decirte algo,” which is about a woman confessing to her lover, her spouse or whomever, that she’s had an affair. So it’s a lot edgier – really cuttingedge lyrics.

IC: Do you feel more comfortable recording in Spanish or English?

GE: I feel comfortable either way, but there is something magical when I’m doing Spanish – it’s my first language. Spanish is very sensual; to sing it is very rich. People who don’t really understand Spanish love to hear mi tierra for that reason, because the vocals are almost like an instrument.

IC: You won a Best Latin Album Grammy for mi tierra.

GE: It was the first time that anyone performed in Spanish on the Grammys. It was a big honor for me and I was glad to win my first Grammy in Spanish. I also won for Abriendo Puertas, which was the other Spanish-language album we did. We were nominated again after that for an Engliish-language album, but no cigar – yet.

IC: So what do you think about Latin music and the crossover? I feel like we crossed over a long time ago.

GE: Well, people have a short memory. Think back to Desi Arnaz, who was a huge star and still is, even after his passing, because of the I Love Lucy show. Thtat was one of the biggest shows in the history of the United States. There’s Rita Moreno, from West Side Story – she’s huge. She’s won every award there is.

But the thing with Ricky Martin is that he’s a huge sex symbol. We haven’t seen a sex symbol like that for a long time. In music, like anything else, men are a big draw. And when you have a guy who is able to move, he has that whole mystique about him. It’s great music, it makes you want to dance, and he’s an incredible performer. You can’t take your eyes off him. You can have 20 dancers onstage and you’re looking at him. He’s an incredible eye magnet, that boy.

IC: So now it’s more about pop or Latin music?

GE: It’s about everything. I mean, mainstream music now is not one thing. The ‘90s have been a little bit of every decade. It’s fitting that right before the turn of the country, the last decade would really take everything that’s happened before and throw it out there all at the same time. As Latin music becomes more mainstream it will open people’s minds to alternatives. Like Shakira, who’s rock. Or Marc Anthony. And artists will do their own thing with who they are.

 

“I never had idols. To me, the songs were the thing.”

 

IC: When is Shakira’s English-language album coming out?

GE: Early next year. I’m still working on a lot of English lyrics for that. She’s going to be incredible. Next year, she’s going to do it.

IC: Who were your idols?

GE: I never had idols. To me, the songs were the thing. If I had to describe who I am, deep down inside, it would be a songwriter. I sing because I need to. When I started talking, I started singing. To me it was an emotional release. But I was never a performer. I never dreamt to being on-stage. I was petrified, okay. But in times of difficulty, I would cling to songs. They would move me to tears and I would lock myself in my room and sing and cry and get all my angst out. So music has been my anchor, my escape, and it’s made me grow. Even if I did not do this for a living I would be doing it alone in my house. But I’m really glad destiny gave me this opportunity, because I’m happy. It’s a great way to make a living. Whenever you do something creative, it’s very fulfilling.

IC: Do you see it in Emily?

GE: She’s like me: She’s shy, but music moves her to tears. She writes songs, sings them to herself. She’ll improvise stuff at the drop of a hat. But the minute she knows you’re paying attention, she’ll stop. You’ve got to pretend you’re not listening. And Nayib’s a natural percussionist; he’s really got it. He listens to everything.

IC: What’s a typical day in your life?

GE: Well, a typical day always starts with a workout in the morning, because if I don’t get it done, then forget it. So Emilio and I will get up and take Emily to school – she just started preschool – and then go work out together. Then I’ll come back home, check my e-mails, check with Frank Amadeo at the office, shower, eat my main meal, and then go to the studio. I try to make it back home around 7 so I can be with Emily. If I’m not doing anything or don’t have any plans, I’ll just chill with Emily all day. I don’t like shopping, unless it’s for somebody else – I hate trying on clothes.

IC: Is Emily an animal lover like you?

GE: She’s just like me. I call her Mini-Me. She’s my clone.

IC: Do you ever get time to read and things?

GE: Oh, yeah, I love to read. I’m usually reading four or five things. A lot of metaphysics... not self-help, really, metaphysics. Different, very odd things that I find incredibly intersting.

IC: Do you like to talk on the phone?

GE: Um, a little if it’s something interesting – like some juicy gossip or something that I have to vent with my friends.

IC: Juicy gossip is always important.

GE: Yes, especially when it’s with somebody you trust and you know it’s not going to go anywhere else.

IC: If you don’t shop for yourself, who usually does that for you – a stylist?

GE: Emilio loves to shop. I mean, obviously he knows my body completely, back and forth. He knows what looks great and has an incredible eye. He had a clothing business when he was in his early 20s and he bought his parents a factory. They made a lot of clothes for different houses in New York. So he knows fashion.

IC: After 21 years, has your relationship grown more into friendship, companionship?

GE: No, it’s wonderful: We’ve gotten so much more into each other as time goes by. And more and more comfortable in our own skins.

IC: You complement each other so much.

GE: It’s a balance. He likes macromanaging. I like micromanaging. He’s superquick. I’m very laid-back. He’s totally driven and competitive and I pull him down. He pulls me up because, if not for him, I’d still be sitting on my couch in my old house playing guitar.

 

 

IC: He lvoes to do eight things at one time.

GE: Eight? Try like 50. He’s like you – he has ADD. What stresses me out clams him. What would stress him out would be to make him do one thing.

IC: What about your new haircut?

GE: I love it. I had short ahir for a long time before people knew me: Between ’75 and ’85 I cut my hair short.

IC: Yeah, I’ve seen it in a before-they-were-stars show.

GE: OH, please, no. On the Winn Dixie commercial? They found all that stuff. Nothing is sacred. Nayib is in it: He’s two years old. That’s how long ago it was.

IC: So you had short hair then. What inspired you to cut it off now?

GE: I still want to do something with Madonna. I want to write something or do a movie together. We’ve been trying to do a duet forever but never coincide, timingwise. But I have a girl, a boy; a teenager, a new child. I am going to be married forever. I have been with one man and one record company my whole life. I have really done everything that I ever wanted to do. You know what I haven’t done? Nothing! Although I do wnat to write, you know.

IC: An autobiography?

GE: Yeah, but it will take me ten years. I want to do it myself – I mean, of course I’ll use someone, but I want to write it myself. I want people to read about who I am in my book.

IC: Is there any specific time when you can write?

GE: Between midnight and 6 in the morning. That’s when people are mostly sleeping, so vibes and clearer. That’s when my husband and children are sleeping and no phone are ringing. I’m a night owl. I wish I could stay up all night and still get up early.

IC: Are you happy with your life?

GE: Every curiosity that I have ever had has been fulfilled. In every respect, I have been fulfilled. I have lived a full life.

 

© All rights reserved by Ocean Drive 1999

 

Thank you so much Amanda for this magazine!!!

 

zurück