Songfacts®:

• Gloria Estefan's "Anything For You" is a big heartbreak ballad about how hard it is to let go during the emotional upheaval of a dying relationship. It was her first #1 hit, topping the chart for two weeks in May 1988. She had two more: "Don't Wanna Lose You" in 1989 and the more hopeful "Coming Out Of The Dark" in 1991.
• Gloria Estefan wrote this song, which is part of the album Let It Loose, credited to Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine (her next album, Cuts Both Ways in 1989, is credited to her solo). When the song was released in 1987, Gloria had been married to Miami Sound Machine founder Emilio Estefan Jr., who started the band under the moniker Miami Latin Boys, for nine years - they got married in 1978 a year after she joined the group as a permanent member. Fans wondered how the supposedly happily married singer could write such a heart-rending ballad about love gone wrong. She explained to Billboard in 1988:
  
  "I think that's where the artist uses his creative license. I might have experienced these feelings awhile back or maybe vicariously through somebody else, maybe friends of mine who have gone through a similar thing. I think the artist always writes from within, from the soul, and even if you didn't experience it yourself, you have to feel how would people in this situation feel, and how would they say it. I always try to write very conversationally, and think how would someone want to say it to someone else and then I try to make it more musical."
• Miami Sound Machine made their mark in the South Florida Latin community with songs recorded in Spanish. They shifted their focus to English-language songs in 1984 and a year later had a breakout hit with "Conga." Estefan emerged as the focal point for the group and helped them cast a wide net with personality driven songs like "Bad Boy" and ballads like "Words Get In The Way," which she also wrote. Estefan was born in Cuba and spoke Spanish growing up, so she can sing in Spanish or English fluently. Many of her songs from this era she also recorded in Spanish, including "Anything For You," which became "No Te Olvidaré" ("I Won't Forget You"). She also recorded a Spanglish version that was used as the B-side of the single.
• "Anything For You" was the fourth single from the Let it Loose album, following the livelier songs "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You," "Betcha Say That" and "1-2-3." The album sold over 3 million copies in America, went to #1 in the UK, and was gangbusters in Holland, where it was the biggest selling album of the year, staying at #1 for 22 weeks.
• The song was originally cut with just vocals and piano, but at the last minute the Estefans decided to change things up. With a four-day deadline, Miami Sound Machine's Jorge Casas (bassist) and Clay Ostwald (keyboardist) reworked the track and added guitar, bass, percussion, and horns to the mix.
  
  Estefan gave Ostwald the chords on the guitar and went into the booth and recorded the demo. "We recorded it thinking I would come back and do the vocals, because it was literally the first time I had sung the song completely," she recalled to Billboard. "But that performance, the demo, is what ended up on the record. I came back, and no matter how technically it may have been better, there was a magic to the emotional capture of that song the day after I wrote it."
• Gloria Estefan feels she becomes a vessel for some of her songs, and "Anything for You" is one of those. "I wrote it on this giant leather-bound book," she told Billboard. "That one has already been filled and I have several, but when I look back for any reason to "Anything for You," there were practically zero changes. It just poured out in about 20 minutes."
• In a way, the song encapsulates Gloria Estefan's profound connection with Emilio, her husband and musical partner. "We were talking about relationships, and someone in the band had just broken up with someone, and it started me thinking about what I would feel if we were not to be together," she said.
• The video marks a clear transition from Miami Sound Machine to Gloria Estefan as a solo artist. The band isn't in it at all; instead it follows Estefan as she pines for a brooding, leather-jacket wearing dude.
  
  The shift to Estefan as a solo artist was driven by the record company, which could market her much more effectively that way. It didn't go over well with most of the band members, who felt marginalized.