NEW YORK — It's tempting to call Gloria Estefan the comeback kid, even though she's never really gone away.
Six years ago, the Cuban American superstar recovered with lightning speed from serious injuries sustained in a bus accident, enabling her to release her second solo album, "Into the Light," in early 1991. An elaborately choreographed tour followed soon after, even as Estefan, 38, was still undergoing therapy and learning to function with metal rods inserted in her back.
For the Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday July 17, 1996 Home Edition Calendar Part F Page 12 Entertainment Desk 1 inches; 24 words Type of Material: Correction
Forum phone--A story in Monday's Calendar on singer Gloria Estefan included the wrong area code for the Forum, where she will perform Aug. 8-9. The number is (310) 419-3100.
Since then, Estefan has put out a series of albums, including greatest-hits, Christmas and two Spanish-language collections. But before "Destiny" was released June 4, it had been five years--a lifetime in the pop music world--since Estefan had a new English-language album of original material.
The reason it took so long was another momentous event in the singer's life, but this time a fortunate one: the 1994 birth of Estefan's second child, a daughter named Emily.
Taking a break after taping a promotional interview for an upcoming HBO concert (to be broadcast Sept. 21) and before having lunch with Emily, Estefan slips into an empty room in Manhattan's Sony Music Studios, slides onto a couch and begins casually discussing the road to "Destiny," which has sold an estimated 181,000 copies so far.
"With an album of new material, you have to tour, and obviously, I didn't wanna tour [pregnant]," says Estefan, explaining her absence from the road.
Estefan's experiences as a mom--she and her husband-manager-producer Emilio also have a 16-year-old son, Nayib--were a major source of inspiration in writing the songs for "Destiny," as was her personal growth in general over the past several years.
"The themes I explored were different, more mature, than on ['Into the Light']," she says. "The new album celebrates love in its many forms--maternal, physical, spiritual. I think it represents five years of living and evolving as a woman, and as a mother."
In fact, young Emily herself makes her debut recording appearance on "Destiny." Estefan had written a song in her daughter's honor, "Along Came You (A Song for Emily)," and the singer wanted to have her child in her arms while recording. Candles had been lighted around the studio, and the baby, mistaking the proceedings for a birthday party, started repeating, "Happy, happy. . . ." Consequently, the youngest Estefan landed her first rapping credit.
