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 "If they play your songs on the radio," explains Gloria Estefan, "and people go out and buy them, then you're going to do well." This, she knows, takes work. "I remember in Puerto Rico, where there's like 150 stations, there was this station way up on top of a mountain. There were no doors or windows-just a guy with a turntable, a microphone, an antenna and a cow on the front lawn." And the latest release by the Miami Sound Machine.
By the early 1980s, the Miami Sound Machine was a hit in Latin America, but virtually unknown in the U.S. outside the Spanish-speaking community. "Growing up my whole life singing in English," said Estefan, "made me want to change that." The chance came when "Dr. Beat," the English-language B-side to one of the band's Spanish singles, broke onto Miami radio and became a dance hit in Europe. "Suddenly," chuckles Estefan, "the pop people at CBS became interested. Maybe they thought we were Europeans. We said, 'Gee, no, we're already signed to you!'"
Estefan's pop success subsequently spoke two languages. She recorded 1988's "Anything For You," her first #1 hit, in both English and Spanish.
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