Gloria Estefan
Most jukebox musicals take the songs of a much-loved band and build a (usually tenuous) story around them. But with On Your Feet, an all-singing, all-dancing extravaganza featuring the infectious songs of Gloria Estefan, there was a ready-made story of tears and triumphs to go with the music – her own.
It’s the classic American Dream: a Cuban immigrant finds fame, fortune and love in the States, despite family traumas and a near-fatal accident. And for Gloria, 61, the timing of the show couldn’t be better. ‘It showcases the contributions of immigrants. We do good things! We’ve contributed, and we wanted to share that story.’
It was the mid-80s when Miami Sound Machine’s lead singer first burst onto Top of the Pops with her mane of bubbly curls and the kind of skimpy outfits that would have your mum saying ‘I think she’s forgotten her bottom half’. Impossibly catchy hits like Dr Beat, 1-2-3 and Rhythm is Gonna Get You made Gloria an international star, with seven Grammys and more than 100 million album sales under her spangly belt.
But there were rags before the riches. Born in Havana in 1957, Gloria was two-and-a-half when her family fled to the USA after Castro’s military takeover, and her homeland remains a misty memory. She recalls visiting her father, a government policeman, in prison where a guard gave her some water in a dirty metal cup, ‘and I got a gigantic infection in my mouth. That’s what I remember about Cuba.’
Growing up in a cramped Miami apartment, Gloria sang as soon as she could talk, gorging on Cuban records and singing them to her mum’s teary-eyed friends. She took up the guitar aged eight, performing in her first concert two years later, ‘and I was so nervous I thought I would die. I don’t like being the centre of attention, but I love music, so once I’m up there I’m OK. I’d stare at the floor, but I’d lose myself in the singing.’
Off stage, life was tough. While her teacher mother worked hard to keep the family afloat, Gloria looked after her little sister and father, who was slowly dying of multiple sclerosis. Music became her comfort and escape.
Gloria had just left high school when she met fellow Cuban immigrant Emilio Estefan. Her guitar-playing friendship group were planning a concert, and someone asked Emilio, who was in local band Miami Latin Boys, for some tips.
‘He came in with his accordion and very short shorts,’ she grins. ‘He looked naked, because the accordion was longer than his shorts, and he had great legs. He told me “You have a really lovely voice, I wish you a lot of luck”.’
That summer, Gloria went to a wedding where Emilio’s band were playing. He asked her to sing a couple of Cuban classics, she obliged – and got a standing ovation. ‘I loved it, and at the end of the night he goes “Would you like to join the band?” So I just did it for fun, never thinking “I’m going to be famous”. I was happy doing the weddings and bar mitzvahs.”
Nor was romance on the cards. Emilio, then 22, had a 36-year-old girlfriend, ‘and I wasn’t interested. I’d been taking care of my dad, and hadn’t had a social life before, so I was having a great time.
‘Then one night, July 4th 1976, it was momentous; I didn’t know he’d broken up with his girlfriend and was already planning this coup. We go to the top of this building and all over the city fireworks were going off. He asked me for a kiss on the cheek – and turned his face. Then he asked me out, and I knew after that first date that I was going to marry that man.’ Two years later, she did.
It soon became clear that the band, renamed Miami Sound Machine, were more than just an events combo. Their funky fusion of Latin and pop catapulted them to success, and in 1989 they dropped the name, becoming simply Gloria Estefan. A year later, at the peak of her fame, disaster struck.
The family were on their tour bus in snowy Pennsylvania. Gloria had just woken up from a nap, their son Nayib, 9, was in the back, ‘and Emilio was on the big brick cellphone, talking to his brother who had just read him the cover of the Herald, which said “Gloria and Emilio Estefan have the world in their hands”. And right when Emilio tells me – boom! The explosion.’
A lorry had smashed into their bus, flinging Gloria into the air then crashing to the floor with a broken back. ‘I was in terrible pain and I couldn’t move. Emilio’s all bloody, and there’s glass everywhere, and then I go “Where’s the baby?” I couldn’t hear my son.’
Emilio found Nayib, who’d broken his collar bone, and brought him to sit with her. ‘And then the pain started getting unbearable, so I picked a point on the roof and did my childbirth breathing.’ It took nearly two hours for medical help to arrive.
On Your Feet begins the night before the crash and, after a series of storytelling flashbacks, ends with Gloria triumphantly back on stage the following year, having endured major spinal surgery and the insertion of metal rods into her back.
‘The accident put me on people’s radar as a human being rather than just a pop star,’ she says. ‘We never wanted the fame part, we just wanted to make music, so I thought maybe this is the reason that I became famous – because now I have an opportunity to show people that it’s what you do with the things that are thrown at you that makes all the difference.
‘And I know that people leave the show surprised,’ adds Gloria, and laughs. ‘They have no idea what’s going to get them besides the rhythm.’
:: On Your Feet! is at the London Coliseum until 31 August.
Glory Be
The Estefans, who’ve always lived in Miami, own a chain of Cuban-themed restaurants in the city and a part-ownership stake in the Miami Dolphins.
After her accident, Gloria received 4,000 bouquets and 30,000 cards and letters from fans.
President Obama awarded the Estefans the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian award, in honour of their contribution to American music.
On Your Feet, written by Alex Dinelaris (who won an Oscar for Birdman), opened on Broadway in 2015 and ran for two years. It then toured the States and Holland, and is set to run in Germany, Mexico, Italy, Japan and France.
Gloria’s singer-songwriter daughter Emily, 24, wrote the show’s only original song. ‘The one person that didn’t make it into the play, because she hadn’t been born, is my daughter – so she’s in there in the best way possible.’
An edited version of this interview appeared in Waitrose Weekend on July 18th 2019. (c) Waitrose