Gloria Estefan was born in Cuba. Her family moved to the US when she was 2 years old.
She has a degree in psychology from the University of Miami with a minor in French. While in school, she worked as a Spanish/French translator at Miami International Airport.
In March 1990, she fractured her spine when her tour bus crashed near Scranton, Pennsylvania. She had two metal rods inserted in her back during a four-hour surgery.
Her birth name is Gloria Fajardo. She married producer and keyboard player Emilio Estefan in 1978 - he was her first boyfriend.
She appeared in the 1999 movie Music Of The Heart and the 2000 TV film For Love Of Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story. In 2022, Estefan played the sharp-tongued, no-nonsense mother in the remake of Father of the Bride, starring opposite Andy Garcia.
Gloria Estefan is a keen sailor and has captained her own vessel. She's taken three courses in seamanship, piloting, and navigation.
Gloria's father, Jose Manuel Fajardo, was a bodyguard to Cuban President Fulgencio Batista until Fidel Castro's takeover forced him to flee with his family to Miami in 1959. He spent 18 months in a Cuban prison after being captured during the C.I.A.-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 until President John F. Kennedy negotiated his release.
Gloria, a staunch anti-drug campaigner, refused an offer to appear on the popular crime drama Miami Vice, because she and her band were expected to portray themselves performing at a party thrown by drug dealers.
As a child, she learned to speak English by listening to American songs on the radio.
As a teenager, she helped care for her ailing father, who was exposed to Agent Orange while serving in Vietnam and suffered from multiple sclerosis. He died in 1980 at 47 years old.
Her first child, son Nayib, was born on her second wedding anniversary (September 2, 1980). Daughter Emily was born on December 5, 1994.
When Gloria Estefan is writing a song, the music comes first and the words, later. "I listen to the track to see what it makes me feel and then write the lyrics," she said at a Billboard Latin Conference.
Gloria Estefan wanted her only child Nayib to have a sibling, but struggled to conceive for several years after breaking her back. She eventually gave birth to a daughter, Emily, as a result of taking advice from British TV presenter Paula Yates to stand on her head after lovemaking.
The first song Estefan wrote was a parody of life at her high school alma mater, Our Lady of Lourdes Academy. "Do you know whose music it was?"
she asked Billboard. "There was a comedian named Tom Lehrer, and he had all these songs that were funny - but serious, intellectual, they were smart and he had something to say. So I put lyrics about my school in one of his songs. That was my first song. I was 14 or 15."
Estefan was a mentor to Shakira, helping her break into the English-language market just like she did. Estefan had the advantage of learning Spanish as her first language and becoming fluent in English when she was very young. Shakira, from Colombia, had to work hard to learn English.
Yes! On Your Feet! Feet!, a musical about Estefan, premiered in Chicago in the summer of 2015. The production starred Ana Villafañe as Gloria Estefan and Josh Segarra as Emilio Estefan. Shortly after closing in Chicago, the show moved to Broadway.
Gloria Estefan learned to sing around the same time she learned to speak, but performing for others didn't come naturally. "I was very mouthy at school, but I don't like being the center of attention,"
she told The Independent. "It's not in my nature, so I had to get used to that."
Her mother, undeterred by her shyness, would often have her sing and play guitar for guests. Estefan recalled staring at the floor while she sang, then asking, "Why do you make me sing if they're gonna cry?" Her mom gently explained, "They're crying because you moved them, not because they hate it."
Estefan released her first Spanish-language album, Mi Tierra (My Homeland), in 1993. Her next albums in Spanish were:
Abriendo Puertas (Opening Doors) in 1995
Alma Caribeña (Caribbean Soul) in 2000
90 Millas (90 Miles) in 2007
Raíces (Roots) in 2025
