Gloria Estefan

Singer

Name at birth: Glorita Maria Fajardo

Gloria Estefan's family fled Cuba for Miami in 1959. She began her singing career in 1975 with the group Miami Sound Machine, and four years later married the group's keyboardist, Emilio Estefan. After several Spanish-language albums the group began releasing material in English, their breakthrough album coming in 1985 with Primitive Love. Estefan went solo with even greater success; with Emilio Estefan as her producer and promoter, she became for a time America's leading Latin recording artist. Her career was interrupted in 1990 when she was seriously injured in a car accident. She bounced back, winning a 1993 Grammy for Best Tropical Latin Album. She won another Grammy in the same category in 2001.

Extra credit: Estefan's father fought in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion.

Gloria Estefan joins Madonna and Cindy Crawford in our loop Mole Mania... Other Latin stars include Shakira, Thalia, Christina Aguilera and Yamila Diaz-Rahi.