葛洛丽娅;艾丝特凡（Gloria Estefan）于1957年生于古巴哈瓦那，幼年全家移民美国，定居在迈阿密。Estefan 的童年即承受了家庭生活的艰辛，这教会了她坚韧与顽强。1974年，Estefan在“迈阿密拉丁少年;乐队演出时受邀演唱了一曲，大受赏识，就加入了乐队。以Estefan为主唱的;迈阿密音响机器”（Miami Sound Mchine）乐队建成了。乐队加强了打击乐的效果，多角度地尝试各种流行曲风，并且突出乐队的个性 起源于拉美的舞蹈音乐Salsa。1976年，乐队推出了首张《Miami Sou-nd Machine》，全部是创作歌曲，用英语和西班牙语演唱。专辑风靡了南美，成为拉美最畅销的唱片。1978年，又出版了着重于桑巴节奏的专辑《Rio》（里约），这使Miami Sound Machine 名声日隆，逐渐巩固了在拉美乐坛上的地位。接着，他们于CBS国际唱片公司签了约，推出了专辑《A Toda maquina》（全部机器），其中的歌曲《Doc Beat》（节拍博士）为Miami Sound Machine 打入英语歌坛作为很好的开场，它冲到了英国排行榜的第一张 英语专辑《Primitive Love》（纯朴的爱）进入排行榜前列，使乐队之名在英美歌坛日益见红。1987年的专辑《Let It Loose》（势不可当）一经出版，即在世界各地销出了600万张。1989年，又以Gloria Estefan 为主要宣传对象的专辑《Cuts Both ways》（模棱两可）也卖出了100万张的好成绩。Gloria Estefan凭着音乐实力和独特的魅力，成为了80年代最为成功的歌手之一。
As one of the biggest new stars to emerge during the mid-'80s, singer Gloria Estefan predated the coming Latin pop explosion by a decade, scoring a series of propulsive dance hits rooted in the rhythms of her native Cuba before shifting her focus to softer, more ballad-oriented fare. Born Gloria Fajardo in Havana on September 1, 1957, she was raised primarily in Miami, FL, after her father, a bodyguard in the employ of Cuban president Fulgencio Batista, was forced to flee the island following the 1959 coup helmed by Fidel Castro. In the fall of 1975, Fajardo and her cousin Merci Murciano auditioned for the Miami Latin Boys, a local wedding band headed by keyboardist Emilio Estefan. With their addition, the group was rechristened Miami Sound Machine and four years later, Fajardo and Estefan were wed. As Miami Sound Machine began composing their own original material, their fusion of pop, disco, and salsa earned a devoted local following, and in 1979 the group issued their first Spanish-language LP on CBS International. Despite a growing Hispanic fan base, they did not cross over to non-Latin audiences until "Dr. Beat" topped European dance charts in 1984.
With 1985's Primitive Love, Miami Sound Machine recorded their first English-language effort, scoring three Top Ten pop hits in the U.S. alone with the infectious "Conga," "Bad Boy," and "Words Get in the Way." For 1988's triple-platinum Let It Loose, the group was billed as Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine, reeling off four Top Ten hits — "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You," "Can't Stay Away from You," the chart-topping "Anything for You," and "1-2-3." 1989's Cuts Both Ways was credited to Estefan alone and generated her second number one hit, "Don't Wanna Lose You"; however, while touring in support of the album, on March 20, 1990, her bus was struck by a tractor trailer. She suffered a broken vertebrae that required extensive surgery and kept her off the road for over a year. Emilio Estefan and the couple's son were injured in the crash as well, but all three recovered. Estefan resurfaced in 1991 with Into the Light, again topping the charts with "Coming Out of the Dark," a single inspired by her near-fatal accident; two more cuts from the album, "Can't Forget You" and "Live for Loving You," secured her foothold on the adult contemporary charts.
With 1993's Mi Tierra, Estefan returned to her roots, recording her first Spanish-language record in close to a decade and earning a Grammy Award for Best Tropical Latin Album; on the follow-up, 1994's covers collection Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me, she also recalled her dance-pop origins with a rendition of the Vicki Sue Robinson disco classic "Turn the Beat Around." Another all-Spanish effort, Abriendo Puertas, earned the Grammy as well, while Destiny featured "Reach," named the official theme of the 1996 Summer Olympics. As Latin pop made new commercial headway thanks to the efforts of acts like Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias, Estefan reigned as the most successful crossover artist in Latin music history, with international record sales close to the 50 million mark. In 1999, she also made her feature film debut alongside Meryl Streep in Music of the Heart, recording the film's title song as a duet with *NSYNC and scoring both a massive pop hit and an Oscar nomination in the process.
A new Spanish-language album, Alma Caribeña, followed in the spring of 2000. Several months later, Estefan was awarded a Grammy for Best Music Video for "No Me Dehes de Querer" at the first annual Latin Grammy Awards. Her husband, Emilio, won for Producer of the Year. In 2003 Estefan released Unwrapped, an English-language effort that met a lukewarm reception from consumers and critics. She didn't return with another new album for several years, as stopgap compilations such as Amor y Suerte: Exitos Romanticos (2004), The Essential Gloria Estefan (2006), and Oye Mi Canto: Los Éxitos (2006) were released from time to time. When she did return, with 90 Millas in 2007, it was with a splash. The Cuban-themed, Spanish-language effort hearkened back to Mi Tierra and was a big hit on the Latin music scene; its lead single, "No Llores," quickly scaled Billboard's Hot Latin Tracks chart, and the album itself was a chart-topper as well.