Born on September 1st: Gloria Estefan, Miami's Latin Diva

When she was born in 1957 in Havana, the Cuban civil registry registered her under the name of Gloria Maria Milagrosa Fajardo Garcia, but today she's known under her stage name of Gloria Estefan, former lead singer for Miami Sound Machine with her husband Emilio Estefan.

Her father was a bodyguard for the wife of dictator Fulgencio Batista, supported by the United States. When he was ousted from power in 1959 by Fidel Castro (who was also described as an autocrat but much more to the left of the spectrum), Gloria Estefan's family preferred to go in exile in Miami, as did thousands of other Cubans.

She undoubtedly belongs to the very closed circle of divas. But unlike her American counterparts like Cher, Mariah Carey or even Celine Dion, she composes most of her songs herself. Miami Sound Machine played a backdrop of gleaming brass and a Latin scent mixed with electronics. For the band, she first opted to use the English language with her first hit "Conga" in 1985, then with "The Rhythm Is Gonna Get You" or "Betcha Say That" in 1987 on the album "Anything For You".

Following that and while remaining faithful to the often lascivious Latin rhythms, she alternated the use of the Spanish and English language, with the same success. However, for the past fifteen years, her recordings have sometimes played the card of a certain modernity with less sucess for her (the album "Miss Little Havana" with Pharrell Williams as producer in 2011), sometimes with a nostalgia that is also very predictable (the aptly named "The Standards" in 2013). In 2022, she eventually sacrificed the apparently indispensable tradition of the Christmas album ("Estefan Family Christmas") with her daughter, Emily, and her grandson, Sasha Estefan-Coppola.

As it turns out, it is not necessarily easy to have been a diva and to remain one forever!

(MH with SS - Phoro: Etienne Tordoir)
Photo: Gloria Estefan with Miami Sound Machine on the stage of Forest-National in Brussels (Belgium) in October 1989