Gloria Maria Millagrosa Fajardo was born on September 1, 1957, in Havana, Cuba. Her family moved to Miami, Florida, when she was sixteen months old following the Cuban Revolution of 1959. During the 1950s, her father, Jose Fajardo, was a bodyguard for the Batista regime, and he was captured in the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion that attempted to overthrow the newly supplanted Castro regime. He was part of a prisoner exchange enforced by President John F. Kennedy. Gloria and her younger sister, Becky, were raised primarily in Miami, although during the 1960s they traveled to several military bases where her father was stationed.
Jose Fajardo served in Vietnam where it is thought that he was exposed to Agent Orange, a defoliant used to clear combat areas. He subsequently contracted multiple schlerosis, and after years of nursing by his daughters, died in 1980. Gloria attended the University of Miami, and graduated in 1978 with a degree in communications and psychology. Today, she sits on the University’s Board of Trustees.
Gloria’s first public appearance occurred at a large Cuban wedding where her future husband, Emilio Estefan, Jr, asked her to join his band, The “Miami Sound Machine.” She quickly became the band’s lead singer, and gained a fan base so large that she released an LP in 1977, which was the first all Spanish album from CBS International. In the 1980s, she crossed over to mainstream popular success with the international hit singles, “Dr. Beat” (1984) and “Conga” (1986). She was dubbed “The Queen of Latin Pop,” and is one of the world’s most recognized pop artists. Selling over 70 million albums worldwide, Estefan is the single most successful crossover performer in Latin music history.
Gloria Estefan is a five-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter-author, and has appeared in two movies, “Music of the Heart” (1999) and “For Love of Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story” (2000). Despite a near fatal auto accident in 1990, she is still going strong, much to the delight of her many, many fans. She and her husband have two children (a boy and a girl) and they make their home on Star Island, off Miami Florida.
What are some of YOUR favorite Gloria Estefan tunes? Please share.
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