But a multi-ethnic combo that also, in another example of Emilio’s savvy, scored their biggest hits with ballads? Freestyle the chart had seen hi-NRG and electro bass, sure “I Wanna Be a Cowboy” and “Tarzan Boy,” hell yeah. Nothing on the top 40 sounded like “Conga” or, better, “Rhythm is Gonna Get You.” Miami Sound Machine didn’t practice santeria but they injected those motifs into the visual presentation for the latter. I’m not sure how the payola got into the right hands the following year, but “Conga” became a hit.
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Beat” took off in Europe - a hit everywhere, in fact, except America. Always on the march were husband/producer Emilio Estefan’s uncanny A&R instincts. It’s not often mentioned in their biography, but MSM spent years on the wedding and bar mitzvah circuit they played at my aunt’s reception in 1979 without knowing who’d be there. In the era of a certain NBC show starring Don Johnson, Miami Sound Machine gave South Floridians another reason to feel protective. She laughed often, appreciated a barb, had a self-deprecating streak (she recorded a local “Weird” Al Yankovik parody of her biggest hit to date called “Anything for Food”). I met her a couple times: as a child I had no reason to be self-conscious, nor did she have any reason to be Faye Dunaway plus, it was family.
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I use the term loosely, for Glorita, as everyone over forty called her, was what we call a Cuban cousin: the wife of a second cousin’s niece. I was aware that by marriage she formed part of my extended family. Her son attended my private non-denominational elementary school. The period of Gloria Estefan’s visibility coincides with her - no other word - startling ascendancy as a global pop star. She made an effort to be seen at the right places: a trip to the Dade County Youth Fair, Christmas pageants, and award nights.