GLORIA ESTEFAN FINDS

SOLACE IN

SONG

Latin music has made a resurgence in the past few years with the rise of Marc Anthony. Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez. But it was pop queen Gloria Estefan, 45, who paved the way years before these young stars were born. She has overcome overwhelming odds in her personal and professional lives. She embarked on a journey that took her from Cuba to America, where she fulfilled the stereotypical rags-to-riches dreams.

Estefan, born Gloria Fajardo in Havana, came into this world under the dark clouds of the coup d’état of Fidel Castro. The Fajardo family fled to the United States, where the CIA recruited her father to join a group of anti-Castro Cubans to storm their homeland during the infamous Bay of Pigs invasion. Estefan’s father, a bodyguard for the overthrown President Batista, was jailed as a political prisoner after the invasion. President Kennedy won the release of those prisoners, and Fajardo was returned to his family. Two years later, he joined the Army to fight in Vietnam. When he returned, he was stricken with Multiple Sclerosis as a result of the chemical Agent Orange that was used during the war to clear the jungle.

While her mother worked to support the family, Estefan nursed her father and cared for her younger sister. She began to write poetry and learned to play the guitar while she sang to Top 40 hits on the radio.

“When my father was ill, music was my escape,” Estefan told The Washington Post. “I would lock myself up in my room for hours and just sing. I wouldn’t cry – I refused to cry. Music was the only way I had to just let go, so I sang for fun and for emotional catharsis.”

It was her voice that attracted Emilio Estefan, her future husband, to 17-year-old Gloria. Not comfortable being in the spotlight, she reluctantly began singing with the
Cuban-American band Miami Latin Boys, while she was attending the University of Miami. Nearly two years later, she overcame her bashfulness and joined the band, now named the Miami Sound Machine, full-time as the lead singer.

Estefan married her band leader after she r finished college and devoted her life to music. In 1981 and ’83, the Miami Sound Machine recorded four Spanish albums that garnered them the attention of fans throughout Central and South America. It was in the mid-80s when the band crossed over with an English album, Eyes of Innocence, which included the single “Conga.” The song propelled the group to immediate fame in the United States. Tours, videos and awards showered Estefan and the band, but it was she who was gaining attention from masses of fans. The name of the group was changed to Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine, and then eventually Gloria Estefan. Despite changes, fans adored her music, including the hits “Anything for You,” “The Rhythm’s Gonna Get You” and “Words Get in the Way.”

The Estefans saw through the veil of fame and stayed true to their Latin rhythms and heritage. They produced the 1989 album, Cuts Both Ways, which refers to the allure of both Spanish- and English-speaking audiences.

Estefan’s husband became manager of the band and a stay-at-home dad, joining his family when he could, while she continued to tour. During one of the treks on the snowy roads near Scranton, PA., this time with the Estefan family aboard, a semi-truck struck the back of the tour bus. Everyone on board escaped without serious injury except for Gloria, who suffered a broken vertebrae. According to doctors, her prognosis was grim. But with the determination she had always shown in the past, the singer recovered within a year and returned to her passion of singing and songwriting.

“You can’t sit there and wallow,” she told People magazine. “You weep for what’s gone, and then you move ahead.”

Out of the healing process, Estefan drew from her strength and determination the material for her next album, Into the Light. The latter and her following albums are considered to be the most prolific music the entertainer has produced, including her current release, her first English-speaking album in six years, Unwrapped. Once again, the singer taps in to her life’s experiences and her bicultural influences and weaves together a colorful blanket of profound lyrics and music.

Yet music isn’t the only thing Estefan is passionate about. Her Latin heritage and humane causes remain close to her heart. She has extended herself through the Gloria Estefan Foundation, an organization that promotes health, education and cultural development to those unable to receive such benefits.

She has also donated much of her time, as well as proceeds from two of her singles, “Always Tomorrow” and “Path of the Right Love,” to the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, the world’s largest and most comprehensive spinal cord injury research center. She has also worked with the United Nations, United Way and the American Red Cross. She and her husband penned the song “El Ultimo Adios,” which was recorded by more than 100 Latin artists around the world. Royalties from the single were donated to assist the families who suffered losses from the Sept. 11 attacks.

Singer, songwriter, philanthropist, humanitarian and entertainer, Estefan continues to reach out to her fans and to the world through her music; music that touches hearts along the way, acting as a catalyst of inspiration for those willing to make a difference.

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