Cuban singer-songwriter, actress, author and businesswoman Gloria Estefan was born 68 years ago as Gloria Maria Milagrosa Fijardo Garcia in Havana, is married and has 2 children.
When she was a child, Gloria and her family moved to the Miami, US, and she attended High School and later went to university and graduated in psychology. When she was still studying at Uni, since she was very good in languages, she worked as a translator at Miami International Airport.
In 1975, Gloria met her future husband Emilio at a church rehearsal. At the time, Emilio had created the ‘Miami Latin Boys’ band which eventually changed its name to ‘Miami Sound Machine’. Gloria and her cousin were invited to a wedding where Emilio and his band were playing. The girls performed a Cuban song and Emilio was so impressed that he asked them to permanently join the group.
From 1977 onwards, the band released several albums and became very popular. In 1984, 1985 and 1987, they had various hits like ‘Dr Beat’, ‘Anything for You’, ‘Conga’, ‘1-2-3’, ‘Bad Boy’, ‘Can’t stay away from You’ and’ Rhythm is gonna get You’, amongst others.
In 1989, Gloria became considered as a solo artist and released her first album which sold extremely well and featured hits like ‘Don’t wanna lose You’ and ‘Cuts both Ways’. During her tour in 1990, Gloria was involved in a road accident and was seriously injured. She had to be operated and took her almost 12 months to fully recover.
As a solo artist, to date, Gloria released 28 albums which include a Christmas themed album as well as albums in Spanish, plus 4 EPs. Gloria achieved the outstanding amount of 387 awards, out of 585 nominations. These include Grammy/Latin Grammy, Billboard Music/Latin Billboard Music awards, to name a few.
Gloria also took part in a musical, starred in some movies and documentaries as well as appeared in several TV productions and shows. She wrote 2 children’s books and a cookbook.
Together with her husband Emilio, Gloria owns various Cuban restaurants and 2 hotels, all situated in Miami.
*Image: no infringement intended. Source: sportpirate.com