Gloria Estefan Research Paper

Gloria Estefan is a Cuban born singer and writer. Her singing career climaxed in the 80’s and 90’s, while her writing was more of a side project back in 2005. Estefan has released fifteen solo albums, the latest having been released in 2015, a cookbook, and two children’s books. She also has her own broadway musical titled On your feet!. Estefan’s successes have been recognized by seven Grammys, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and was the first female to win the Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year award. Gloria was also the first pop star to perform for the Pope in 1995, and was in two movies and many tv shows.
Gloria Estefan (born Gloria Fajardo) was born in Havana, Cuba on September 1st, 1957 to Gloria and Jose Fajardo. As a child,
Estefan took classical guitar lessons, but enjoyed writing poetry over the guitar. Gloria and her family moved away from Cuba to the United States during the Cuban Revolution. They moved to Miami, Florida, where Estefan went to school and started her career from. She attended St. Michael-Archangel School and Our Lady of Lourdes Academy, due to her Catholic upbringing. After completing high school, she earned a B.A. for psychology from the University of Miami. During her studies at the University of Miami, she met Emilio Estefan, her future husband and leader of band ‘Miami Latin Boys’. Gloria was asked to join the band and the band’s name was then changed to ‘Miami Sound Machine’. Gloria and Emilio wedded in 1978 and had a son named Nayib in 1980 and a daughter named Emily in 1994.
The Miami Sound Machine started releasing albums in 1977.
They quickly signed a contract with Discos CBS International. In 1980 their album ‘Miami Sound Machine’ rose them to popularity on an international level. Their song ‘Conga” was the first single to hit Billboard’s pop, dance, black and Latin charts at the same time. The 1987 album ‘Let it Loose’ was when Gloria rose to fame on her own, and the album became a bestseller in the U.S., Canada, and Australia. Four songs in ‘Let it Loose’ made it onto Billboard’s Top 10 list. Gloria then released a solo album in 1989, ‘Cut Both Ways’, which was also best selling. Up until 2013 Gloria continued making albums. ‘Into the Light’ (1991), ‘Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me’ (1994), ‘gloria!’ (1998), ‘Unwrapped’ (2003), ‘Miss Little Havana (2011), and ‘The Standards’ (2013) were mostly sung in English. ‘Mi Tierra’ (1993), ‘Abriendo Puertas’ (1995), and ‘Alma Caribena’ (2000) were all Spanish albums. The single “Don’t Wanna Lose You”, on her first album is her biggest hit so far and went multi-platinum in the U.S., the U.K., and Australia. ‘Mi Tierra’ is considered to be her best and most successful album, which won a Grammy for Best Tropical Latin Album. ‘Abriendo Puertas’ sold over five million copies
worldwide.
March 20, 1990, the band was involved in an accident in Pennsylvania. Emilio, Gloria and Nayib were all injured in the accident. Nayib fractured his shoulder, and Emilio received minor hand and head injuries. Gloria broke a vertebra in her back and had to have a four-hour long operation to realign her spine and implant steel rods. Although some thought that Gloria’s career was over, with physical therapy she managed to make a comeback. She made it clear that she was back on the televised American Music Awards in January of 1991. In March of 1991, she launched a year long comeback tour and released ‘Into the Light’. Gloria went on tour again in 1996. The tour was called Evolution and was the 24th grossing tour of 1996 in North America. She kept gaining popularity and in 1998 performed alongside Celine Dion, Aretha Franklin, and Shania Twain.