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Gloria Estefan's early years were not
easy. Her father Jose was among the Cuban exiles who
participated in the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, the
unsuccessful attempt to oust Castro from power. Jose
spent a year and a half in a Cuban prison, and
during this time Gloria and her mother lived in a
Cuban ghetto near the Orange Bowl in Miami.
Misfortune continued to follow her dad. He was badly
poisoned by the defoliant, Agent Orange while
serving in Vietnam. When her mother went out to make
a living, Gloria had to act as nurse and tend to her
invalid father. Her one source of comfort was the
guitar she had been given when she was 12. She would
sing to herself the Top 40 tunes of the day, alone
in her room for hours on end.
In 1975, at the urging of her mother, Gloria sang
some songs at a wedding which was being entertained
by a local party band, The Miami Latin Boys. The
band leader, Emilio Estefan, was so impressed by her
smooth alto voice that he hounded her to join his
band. She reluctantly agreed, but only to sing on
weekends. No longer all boys, the band was
rechristened The Miami Sound Machine.
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