Show cam to U1 at a Gloria I ha Cuban refuge Today aha and har husband Emilio own two doian proportion many of thorn in tho t randy Sooth Boach aroa of Miami Racontly BY JAMES BRADY aha told a British -raportar Miami la my town HE MAY BE THE most popular entertainer in this hemisphere and has been called the most positive role model in the music business And when Gloria Estcfan talks about the shatter- America la my country But my land) -- Har crosaover” muwc la liba that— madly popular with the Spanish-speakibut alto papular with English-peaking ng Americana and European Prow dent Buah named Gloria aa a US -- public dalogata- to UN in ISflX tho -I aakod if It waajuat an honorary thing he rocallad have turned it down A really aya-opan- apart anc It's aaay ta no why It ooama things navor gat dona at tho UN) lta a bit alow but it happannLooh at Boama Wa need tho really - Gloria and I ended chat talking about her daughter Emily UN- nr and my young granddaughter Sarah Tm sura waVt polling-- thorn" I mi Nn" replied Gloria -- you cant pod a child with lev" cih dim broke ing bus her back her sincerity is such that even the usual healthy skepticism of the reporter is suspended you could somehow get this across” she said "That I couldn't have gotten through all this without flood wishes and prayers and it didn't matter to whom the prayers were offered Performing gain never worried me It was: Could I walk again? It was in my hands I felt people's prayers Unconditional love is so impurtant to get you through the pain and fcar” And it has Her lour bus crashed If in Pennsylvania sis years ago Now on the day before the Olympics open in July Gloria will be in Atlanta to begin her "Evolution” world lour She'll crisscross the USfromJuly 18 until September Then it's off to Europe Central and South America follow in 97 Pretty good for a performer who have says of her injured hack hardware in there you know” When Christopher Reeve was paralyzed in that riding fall did Gloria feel his pain? "Yes” she said "But for one millimeter !d have been in Christopher Reeve's 1 position I've contacted him and his wife to ask what I could do” n Her new album ("Anglo-Afro-Cliha- and Antillian music”) will be out in June An Olympic theme song called "Reach” composed by Gloria and Diane Warren will be released as a single "We wrote it in like about IS minutes” she Personal: Bom Gloria Fajardo on Sopt V W57 In Havana Cuba Mamed to Emilio Estsfan I978- -: two children Nayib 15 and Emily Maria I Career Joinnd Miami Latin Boys (name Him changed to Miami Sound Machine) 1975 received top billing IB 75 Gama 1957 Sang at closing ceremony of Pan American Solo performer men early 1990 RecorillBBs: Include Eo i tnnoemnem 1954 Pnmitnr Lava (har first million-saili- ng album l 1985: Lof if Loose 1987 Cwf Bath Way 1989: Ms tftt Light 199k Creates Hitt 1992: M Ttorm1993 Chrntmmi Through Your Eyas 1995 MoM Ms ThriH At Kiss At 1994: ASitsnOO Awrfa 1995: Ovttiny 1998 said "And we kick off the tour in Atlanta obviously because of all the excitement” Her own favorite sport is volleyball (her father was a Pan Am Games star) and Gloria said she "loves to watch baseball track and field swimming and gymnastic” Gloria is dad was a policeman at the palace” she said "He came home one day and said There's a cotm We're in trouble’" The "coup4 was Fidel Castro's overthrow of the Batista regime "We flew out fust class aboard Pbn Am on round-tri- p tickets that cost $21 And never used the second half of the ticket I still have iL” Her father fought in the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion that tried early in JFK's Presidency to topple Cas- Cliban-breii”M- y ftistafttforfauh hSps&fcnlb EbcSsSl Row w— I Oorti A B 9 tUM HKSb JUBGI ByBpSc LLIm sports itest lnym edtisctrccnati trcaitrcfcafcatfl antKFMmxMPHWMMijmntior 1 tro but succeeded only in getting killed and himselfjailed was two yean in prison then there was an exchange and immediately he joined the US Aimy became an officer and eventually a major" she said ”1 was an Army brat and grew up in places like san Antonio and Fort Jack-so- n SC I was in the fust grade before I could speak English” Gloria's father is dead now Her mother a retired teacher lives in Miami as does Gloria with her husband Emilia and their two kids— a son IS and a daughter 16 months old She said the children "are nuts about each other” And which comes first — her singing or her composing? 1 write mart of my sons1 she said "and dirt's the most fulfilling part” B |