[From guest blogger Eden Siskind, a junior at the University of Maryland]
Over the last several decades, the popular Cuban-born couple Gloria and Emilio Estefan have introduced generations of Americans to Latin dance music.
Gloria was born in 1957 in Havana, Cuba, but fled to the United States with her family as a toddler. Emilio was born in 1953 in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. He left Cuba as a young teenager in 1967 when he was 14. Both immigrated to Miami where they met in a band originally called the Miami Latin Boys. Once Gloria joined, they changed the band name to Miami Sound Machine. In 1978 Emilio proposed to Gloria, and the two got married. Miami Sound Machine is most known for Gloria’s breakout success with the song Conga, which mixed the music of the 80s and Cuban beats and rhythms.
The Estefans’ new show On Your Feet! premiered on Broadway last November 2015 and takes the audience through the lives of Gloria and Emilio. The show highlights Gloria’s spinal injury during a 1990 tour-bus accident and her recovery. On the Tony Awards, Gloria danced and sang with the rest of the cast of the show giving the audience an irresistible performance that truly got everybody on their feet! Congrats on your great Broadway show, Emilio and Gloria!