You never know what life has in store for you, but I believe there are certain things one is meant to go through.
-Gloria Estefan

     On September 1, 1957, Gloria Maria Fajardo was born in Havana, Cuba. At age two, she moved to Miami with her family when her family was forced to flee from the Castro government of Cuba. Life as a child was not easy for the "Queen of Latin Pop". Her father, Jose, was involved in the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion and spent 18 months in prison, while Gloria and her mother lived in a ghetto.

     Gloria took care of her father after he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She also took care of her younger sister Rebecca while her mother worked at a local school. She found comfort in playing the guitar and singing pop hits in her room.

     Gloria was admitted to the University of Miami (on partial scholarship) in 1975, with hopes of pursuing a career in psychology. Although she was passionate about music, she was incredibly shy and had no interest in being in the spotlight. Despite her bashfulness, she was encouraged to become an accompanist and occasional lead singer of a local Cuban-American group called the Miami Latin Boys.

     Emilio Estefan, Gloria's husband of 22 years, was the group's leader and keyboardist and helped the once shy Estefan come out of her shell and become the charismatic, energetic performer she is today. Estefan gradually began contributing her own pop songs into the group's performances and singing more often. A year and a half later, she officially joined the group and it was renamed Miami Sound Machine. The group began releasing albums on a local label as well as their independent label.

     The Miami Sound Machine's rise to the top began in 1984, when the band's B-side dance track, "Dr. Beat" made it to the No. 10 spot on the U.S. dance chart. MSM was switched from the Hispanic division of CBS Records to Epic Records, its international rock division. The 1985 follow-up to Eyes of Innocence, MSM's first album with Epic, was a huge international hit with the release of top-10 singles such as "Bad Boy" and "Conga". The latter dance hit from the all-English album Primitive Love, became the first single to remain on Billboard's pop, dance, black, and Latin charts simultaneously.

     "Conga" also appears in the Guinness Book of World Records, as an estimated 119,000 people did the conga in 1988. Primitive Love was honored by the American Music Awards with the award for Best New Pop Artist and Top Pop Singles Artist. While the Miami Sound Machine became a leading American band, it became known as Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machince (recognizing her strength in the group) and eventually as Gloria Estefan.

     In 1989, the star of the Miami Sound Machine released her first solo album, Cuts Both Ways, spawning No. 1 ballads such as "Anything for You," and "Don't Wanna Lose You". A year later, Estefan's life took a deadly turn, when a semi-trailer collided with her tour bus in 1990. Although she suffered from a broken and dislocated vertebra in her back and little hope for full recovery, Estefan beat the odds after a year of physical therapy, tremendous willpower and the support of her fans. She received 4,000 floral arrangements, 11,000 telegrams, and 50,000 postcards and letters from fans who stood by her until she recovered.

     Her recovery was marked by the release of the album Into the Light, kicked off by a year-long, 29 country world tour. In 1992, Estefan's Greatest Hits album went platinum, while the following year was filled with honors and awards, such as a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and a Grammy Award for Best Tropical Latin Album of 1993 for Mi Tierra.

     Thanks to Estefan's international appeal, as well as her loyalty to a bi-cultural heritage, she is fondly known as "Nuestra Glorita", which means our little Gloria. Estefan could not have been a better choice to sing in the closing ceremonies of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic games.

     Estefan has even taken her talents to the big-screen, with an acting debut opposite Meryl Streep in the film Music of the Heart, in which she also recorded a hit song with 'N Sync for the movie's soundtrack. Estefan was the recipient of an Award of Merit at the 2000 American Music Awards.

Courtesy: AskMen.com