 MIAMI SPICE by Stephanie Tuck Photographed by Stephen Danelian "Hey Mom, do you know this song?" calls out Nayib Estefan, 17, as he plunks out some chords on the baby grand in the living room of the Estefan's house on Miami's Star Island. Gloria Estefan, the mom in question - one of the most successful crossover artist in Latin music history, with more than 60 millio albums sold - floats over the piano. "One second - I've almost got it, "she says, and she begins to sing her smooth alto voice illing the room: "That's why I'm easy, easy like sunday morning". The two collapse in giggles; the concert is over almost as soon as it's begun. "I've always loved that song" says Gloria. Still humming, she wanders into the backyard overlooking Biscane Bay to check on Emily, her 3-year-old daughter. It's no wonder the 40-year-old Estefan likes that song.: Easy is her style and manner - her approach to life, in fact. She's wearing a fitted gray V-necked sweater, gunmetal stretch pants and black-heeled sandals. Her hair is pulled back into a ponytail with a scrunchie, and - despite a jewelry collection one can only call glorious - her sole adornment right now is a pair of tiny silver hoop earrings. She doesn't even wear her wedding ring for fear of scratching Emily when she scoops her up. Forget lounging at home dripping with diamonds - nothing could be less appealing. "I like nice things, but I was just happy when I couldn't afford them, " she says. You might say that Gloria Estefan is the people's princess of pop. She's a fixture in the Miami community and active in charities pubblicy and anonymously - from helping victims of Hurricane Andrew to raising money for spinal cord-injury research. Her down-to-earth charm has arguably won her as many fans as her music. "People think, automatically, you're in show business, you wear glitter and spangles. It's not me, " she says. "I'm not a shimmery person. I like simple things. When I started, stylists were always putting me in wild clothes. I'd go along - but as I began to feel more like myself onstage, I wanted to present myself more I am inside. Supertrendy doesn't appeal to me. As someone said, 'The height of fashion today is next year's Halloween costume' ". Estefan admits to cringing when she thinks of some past looks - the hotpink lipstink and huge hair of her Miami Sound Machine days; a Grammy outfit that, she says, "looked like I got caught in a blender - one sleeve long, one short, a piece hanging off. That was not fun!" She's into romantic, feminine clothes these days. "I love things that are relaxed, with a nice drape - long skirts and dresses cut on the bias. If I'm really dressing up I like Ferretti , Dolce&Gabbana and Armani - but for hanging out or casual dinners it's jeans, tanks, sweaters". She can do the Gloria-dazzle-and-sparkle thing, of course - but she has been toning it down. "For the Grammys this year, I had a Dior dress that had a rich purple sheath lining under an overlay of gold and pearls. I told the Dior folks I'd prefer to wear just the lining alone. I fealt great in it - and it was really nice to be plain". Comfort is a priority. "If I have to adjust my clothes and worry about anything hanging out when I sit down it drives me crazy! So short skirts are out. And I'll never understand why designers put pants pockets on the hip. What woman wants to look wider?". Not that Estefan has to worry. Her 5-foot-2 figure swings between a size 2 and 4, and she's in the best shape of her life. Five days a week, for an hour and half a day, she works with her personal trainer, Antonio Almeida, in a routine of speed walking, weights and push-ups that culminates in meditation and massage. In this case, necessity is the mother of fitness: nearly paralized after a bus accident in 1990, Estefan was left with two eight-inch titanium rods on both sides of her spine. Keeping fit is part of her therapy. "If I don't work out for a while, I feel ragged, muscles begin to adhere to the rods, and mayhem starts happening, " she says, matter on factly. "So it's better to just keep up my routine and do it all the time". It's this get-on-with-it attitude that has carried Estefan through a life marked both by hardship and immense success. Born in Cuba, she was 2 years old in 1959 when she emigrated to the United States with her mother and sister. In Florida, the once comfortably off family struggled. Her mother skipped meals to make sure the kids had enough to eat. Gloria's father, José, ardently anti-Castro, was involved in the Bay of Pigs fiasco; he later commanded a tank in Vietnam and returned suffering from exposure to Agent Orange. Gloria took on family responsibilities, helping to run the house, while her mom worked. Typical pastimes - shopping, playing with makeup - weren't an option. "Luckily, I had to wear a uniform to school, " she says. "We couldn't afford to buy anything anyway. I didn't think about clothes". Style noneless came easily to Gloria's mother. Her ladylike cuban past, the years of matching handbags, shoes and hats, was gone, but she would still put on her makeup while Gloria looked on. "I loved those moments with her, watching her ritual," says Gloria. "She had a happy-go-lucky adolescence, and I'm glad, because she had a tough time later. Now, finally, she's comfortable. For me, it's the other way around. I had a tough early life, and now I'm enjoying myself". As every Estefan fan knows, everything changed when the shy University of Miami psycology student met Emilio Estefan at a wedding and he persuaded her to sing in his band. Music was always an escape for Gloria - she was given a guitar when she was 12, and she spent hours in her room strumming old cuban songs her grandmother taught her (she still uses the guitar, now cracked and battered, for songwriting). Singing in public was another story. "I was heavy because it made my grandma so happy to see me eat," she says, rolling her eyes. But the band gave her confidence. "By the time we had our first gig I'd slimmed down and cut my hair, I'll never forget it. I wore a loose, simple white dress with spaghetti straps. Emilio asked me to dance. We weren't dating - he was my boss - but I did think, this is nice; it feels right". Soon they were indeed dating, and in 1978 Gloria married her first and only boyfriend. Emilio now manages their recording empire; he also has a hand in her wardrobe. "Shopping me, is torture - torture!" dice. "I'm missing a female gene or something. Emilio is the shopping king. He'll go out and bring back a gazillion things. Then I have to bolster myself and try it all on - with a tailor right there to shorten lengths, or I'd never get to it". If there is a recessive gene for style in Gloria, it has emerged in Emily. "She's into clothes, big time. She has a fashion sense, a flair. She gets up in the morning and chooses what she wants to wear. And shopping, forget it! She picked out these red lace-up boots the other day It cracks me up. And hair! She says, 'Today I want to wear pigtails'. My son also has a strong sense of style. I like that: I want my kids to be who they are. "It's nice for me, " Estefan continues, "because when I do my makeup, Emily's with me, saying 'Try this, Mommy'. She loves it. She palys with my hair, and we put on music and have a blast". Time at home is Estefan's highest priority. Her new album, 'gloria!', an upbeat collection of dance tunes, débuts this month. She has spent weeks working in the recording studio she owns, Crescent Moon, as well as in the smaller studio he has built near her house. The estefan property is in fact more like a compound - it's full of gardens, topiaries, koi ponds and gazebos that pop up nearly as often as a new Estefan hit. Estefan bubbles with enthusiasm when talking about her home. As far she's concerned, how she lives matters far more than how she looks. The four-bedroom house, though lovely, is hardly ostentatious. The couple have a passion for entertaining, so to accomodate their many guest - from Oprah Winfery to Gloria's mother - they built another house on the property, decorated entirely in white. "Emilio's a neat freak, " Gloria says. "It was his dream". The building that more closely matches Gloria's vision is a two-story structure that, says Gloria, "my best friend calls the pleasure palace". The décor is a lush mix of Moroccan and Asianartifacts, carved Thai goddess, and thatched roofs. Furniture is low to the ground, and jewel-toned pillows are scattered everywhere. There are no bedrooms. just two large living rooms, a dining room that seats 20 - so the family can dine together on holidays - and a screening room. Sensuous art - from a bronze Botero sculpture of a reclining woman to a Diego Rivera sketch - creates a languorous mood. This place is full of sacred objects," says Gloria, pointing to icons sent by fans after her accidnet, displayed on sideboards. Sconces from Indian temples are mounted on walls. "We go through incense and candles like water," she adds. "It's shooting". It's a fitting sanctuary for this megastar: sexy, a little mysterious, but peaceful, like Gloria is herself. I've really come into myself in the last 10 years," she says. "I turned 40 in September, but I dind't get depressed. As I see it, each day you're either older or dead, and it's easy to choose between those options". She laughs, and looks out the sunset. "What a beautiful day", she says, wiggling her Gucci-clad toes. "I can't wait to take off these shoes and put on sweatpants and sneakers". |