Gloria Estefan
STAYING TRUE TO HER ROOTS With her new album Raíces, Gloria Estefan explores her roots once again, combining authentic Cuban rhythms, Spanish lyrics and a modern sound. But family — Emilio, her husband of nearly 50 years, their kids and grandkids — always comes first
In person Gloria is very warm and friendly, but you can also feel her determination and takecharge attitude. Her husband, Emilio, was with her as we spoke, and the two kept trading jokes and stories like a well-oiled comedy duo. She’s done it all but still wants more. Eventually, her rhythm is going to get you!
Q: Your family was musical on your father’s side. Was there a lot of music at home when you were growing up? A: There was a lot of music, but it was actually from my mother’s side because [although] my father had two brothers who were musicians, my mom was like the triple threat of her school. She won a contest to be Shirley Temple’s double when she was a small child, and for that reason I think it stayed in her life even though she wasn’t able to do it as a business or as show business because her father didn’t allow her to go to Hollywood. She was
the star of her school. The only way she could get a diaper on me was to sing to me and I would just melt, and she would play all her mom’s records and the records that she had. So music was around me the whole time.
Q: You arrived in the United States when you were little and grew up as a child of immigrants. What do you remember from growing up in Miami while your parents had to adjust to a new country? A: I was a toddler — so I was, like, two and a half — but I was very precocious, and I completely knew what was going on around me. My dad came first. He took the ferry from Cuba to Key West to try to look for a job, and then as soon as he had one we stayed at his sister’s house. His sister had moved out, had left Cuba, and we were staying with her temporarily. My mom and I flew on a Pan Am — I still have the round-trip
66 DOLCE MAGAZINE | www.dolcemag.com
2025 VOL. 29, ISSUE 2
PHOTOS BY BERNANDO DORAL & GATO RIVERO STYLING: IRMA MARTINEZ | HAIR: MARCIA HAMILTON | MAKE UP: RED
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hese days, we take it for granted that J Balvin can dominate the charts, Jennifer Lopez can grab the headlines with her life on- and offstage and Bad Bunny can conquer audiences worldwide. But such wasn’t always the case. When Gloria Estefan started out in the mid-seventies as the singer for Miami Sound Machine, there were very few places a Latin musical artist could go. As a pioneer of the “Miami Sound,” she opened the doors for countless musical artists to walk through and sold more than 100 million records worldwide. Having success both in English and Spanish while staying true to her Cuban roots (there’s Cuban percussion in almost all of her songs), Gloria and her husband, Emilio Estefan — also her manager, songwriter and producer — have done it all, including a 2015 Broadway musical based on her life titled On Your Feet! In 2025, Gloria is releasing a new record, Raíces, that is entirely in Spanish and proudly showcases her Cuban influences.
INTERVIEW AND WRITTEN BY CEZAR GREIF
