Stardom to Spinal Injury to Comeback: Her Music Rewrote the American Story. 🎶
Play & learn about Gloria Estefan's arty refugee experience 🎮
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Back Story
Gloria Estefan is one of the most prominent Hispanic figures in American pop music: an eight-time Grammy Award winner and the first Hispanic inductee into the Songwriters Hall of Fame [1]. However, her story is one of persevering through displacement and hardship.
Estefan was born on 1 September 1957 in Havana, Cuba. Her family fled Cuba when Fidel Castro rose to power [2]. Estefan and her family thought that they would be able to return home once Castro’s regime fell, however, it was not to be [3]. Her father joined the CIA-backed brigade during the Bay of Pigs Invasion where he was taken prisoner and then later freed, settling his family in Miami, Florida [3].
It was in Miami that Estefan began her music career. She met keyboardist Emilio Estefan––her now husband––and joined his band, Miami Sound Machine, as the lead singer.
Estefan faced difficulty breaking into the US pop musis scene. She had more success in the Latin American market, while she could only sign at weddings and quinceañeras in the US and only rose to prominence once she began singing in English [3].
Estefan has now sold over 100 million records, with hits including “Rythm is Gonna Get You,” “Conga,” and “Get on Your Feet” [4]. In an interview with CBS, she remarks that as someone who constantly heard “no’s” in her career, it is “…wonderful to be able to say yes” to Hispanic artists who approach her today [4].
While on tour in 1990, Estefan was in an accident that broke one of her spinal vertebrae [2]. Estefan, however, was able to persevere and returned to the spotlight the very next year.
In response to the rising wave of anti-immigration in the US, Gloria Estefan has continued to advocate for immigrants and their rights and voices. Around the presidential race of 2015, Gloria and Emilio Estefan produced a musical biography called “On Your Feet!” which depicts their immigration to the US and their pursuit of the “American dream” [5]. Gloria also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015.
Estefan also supports her local community in Miami through charities focusing on children, women, and the Hispanic immigrant community, amongst others.
Sources:
[2]https://www.biography.com/musicians/gloria-estefan
[6]https://give.gloriaestefanfoundation.com/campaign/gloria-estefan-foundation/c390577
In this post Aamna highlights the arty refugee experience of Gloria Estefan She is a citizen journalist on a placement with us organised by Oxford University Career Services. She also organised the micro game to make the journalistic experience interactive.
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