For the unlicensed Rhode Island College radio station, see WXIN (radio)

WXIN, channel 59, is the Fox affiliated television station in Indianapolis, Indiana. The station broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 45, using its former analog channel 59 as its virtual channel via PSIP. It is owned by the Tribune Company, and shares its studios at 6910 Network Place (near 71st Street & I-465) in northwest Indianapolis with sister station WTTV (channel 4), the area's CW affiliate. Its transmitter and antenna are located just a few miles away at 2350 W. 73rd Street (also known as Westlane Road).

Digital television[link]

As part of the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, WXIN shut down its analog transmitter on June 12, 2009,^[1] and continued to broadcasts on its pre-transition digital channel 45.^[2] Digital television receivers display WXIN's virtual channel as 59 through the use of PSIP.

History[link]

In the 1950s, the Channel 59 frequency was assigned to Lafayette, Indiana, to the northwest of Indianapolis. Sarkes Tarzian launched WFAM-TV in Lafayette in 1953 as a CBS affiliate. The station moved to Channel 18 in 1957 and eventually became WLFI-TV. After 1957, Channel 59 would remain dormant until a later reassignment as an Indianapolis channel.

The station signed on as independent WPDS-TV on July 12, 1983. The station was originally locally owned, with a programming lineup featuring cartoons, movies, old sitcoms, drama shows and, briefly, an hour-long newscast. The P, D, and S respectively stood for the initials of the station's three founders: Ron Palamara (a local businessman), Chris Duffy (a former executive at other local TV stations), and Melvin Simon (the shopping mall magnate and co-owner of the Indiana Pacers NBA franchise). It was sold to Outlet Broadcasting in 1985, and changed its call letters to WXIN at that time. Fox affiliated with WXIN on October 9, 1986, and its affiliation has remained intact since, making it the only Indianapolis television station to never have changed its affiliation, and as of August 1, 2011, the longest-tenured Fox affiliate in Indiana (WFFT-TV in Fort Wayne was the second longest until that station became independent on August 1, 2011).

By the late 1980s, the station was known as "Fox 59", and had added more sitcoms to its schedule. It began to overtake WTTV in the ratings. WXIN was bought by Chase in 1989, and was later purchased by Renaissance Broadcasting in 1993 when Renaissance merged with Chase along with WTIC-TV (channel 61) in Hartford, KDVR (channel 31) in Denver and WATL (channel 36) in Atlanta (the latter, a former Fox owned-and-operated station that later affiliated with The WB and is most-recently affiliated with MyNetworkTV). Fox 59 came under the ownership of the Tribune Company in 1997 following its merger with Renaissance. Under Tribune, the station gradually added more talk, reality, and court shows.

WXIN and WTTV/WTTK became sister stations in 2002, following the sale of WTTV/WTTK from Sinclair Broadcast Group to Tribune. However, Tribune did not switch affiliations between the two because even though WXIN is on the UHF dial, it has been one of Fox's strongest affiliates, and as WTTV has a city of license of Bloomington it does not cover the full Indianapolis market without its Kokomo satellite station (WTTK). Later in 2002, WXIN moved from 1440 N. Meridian Street in Indianapolis' Television Row to its current facilities at 6910 Network Place on the northwest side of Indianapolis.

As of September 1, 2011, WXIN is one of only two remaining full-power Fox affiliates in the state of Indiana, along with WSJV in South Bend, where Fox network programming airs on the main channel; the Fox affiliations in Terre Haute, Evansville and Fort Wayne are all carried on digital subchannels of stations whose main channel carries an affiliation with a Big Three network as they replaced former Fox affiliates in Evansville,^[3] Fort Wayne,^[4] and Terre Haute.^[5] The switches were the result of a dispute over retransmission consent fees between Nexstar (owners/managers of ex-Fox affiliates in Fort Wayne, Evansville, and Terre Haute) and Fox.

News operation[link]

WXIN broadcasts a total of 55 hours of local news per week (with nine hours on weekdays, and five hours each on weekends), giving the station more hours of local news than any other station in the Indianapolis market and any station (and Fox affiliate) in the state of Indiana.

In 1984, until WPDS became WXIN, Channel 59 carried a short-lived hour-long prime time newscast called 59 Headline News anchored by Ken Owen, who later worked for CBS affiliate WISH-TV (channel 8) and ABC affiliate WRTV (channel 6). Then in 1991, WXIN debuted its 10 o'clock newscast, the second incarnation for the station. The station launched a morning newscast in 1999. The weeknight primetime newscast expanded from 35 to 60 minutes on April 17, 2006 and the morning newscast expanded from three to four hours on January 2, 2008. On September 15, 2008, the weekday half-hour 11 a.m. newscast FOX 59 Midday News debuted. In late 2002, WXIN replaced WRTV as WTTV's local marketing agreement (LMA) partner, the WRTV-produced 10 o'clock news was canceled and replaced with Everybody Loves Raymond reruns.

From January 2, 2008 to September 18, 2009, the morning newscast was simulcast on sister station WTTV, from 4:30-6 a.m., not 5-9 a.m. (it is now simulcast on WTTV's second digital subchannel) However, that station did not have a separate news opening. Whenever Fox programming or sports delays the news on WXIN, it is shown on WTTV but under the name of News at Ten, in addition to another live newscast on WXIN immediately following the conclusion of Fox programming. There is no "News at Ten" logo in place of "Fox 59 News," like its sister station in Hartford, Connecticut, WTIC-TV (channel 61). Meteorologist Jim O'Brien is the only meteorologist on the WXIN staff with an AMS Certified Broadcasting Meteorologist Seal (CBM), which he acquired in July 2007. He is one of four meteorologists in Indianapolis with this prestigious seal.

On September 21, 2009, WXIN expanded its morning news from four to 4½ hours, airing from 4:30-9 a.m. (since then, the morning newscast was expanded to 4:30-10 a.m. and the 11 a.m. newscast was dropped as of January 4, 2010). The station also launched an hour-long 4 p.m. newscast on that date, titled FOX 59 News: First @ 4. Until that time period, WXIN was among the Tribune-owned Fox affiliates that had not yet increased their news output, even though the network encouraged its affiliates and stations to do so for the past decade. On November 1, 2009, WXIN became the fourth television station in the Indianapolis market (and the sixth station in Indiana) to broadcast its newscasts in High Definition. As part of the change, WXIN overhauled its on-air look, adopting the Fox News Channel-style logo and Fox O&O graphics (WXIN uses the HD version of the Fox O&O graphics) that are also used by the Fox owned-and-operated stations, WXIN's Fox-affiliated sister stations owned by Tribune, and select other Fox stations.

Indysportsnation.com was launched in April 2009, and WXIN/WTTV sports was re-branded under the IndySportsNation banner. IndySportsNation Overtime runs a half-hour on Sunday nights starting at 10:30 p.m. and features a live studio audience. There are ISN Overtime shows also on Friday nights at 10:35-11 p.m. and Saturday nights 10:30-11 p.m. The Friday night show is renamed Fast Break Friday and Football Friday Night on Fox during high-school sports season. On June 10, 2010, WXIN announced it was launching a three-hour weekend morning newscast, making WXIN the first Tribune-owned station (and the first Fox affiliate in Indiana) to carry a weekend morning newscast, it debuted on August 21, 2010; it also announced the launch of an hour-long weeknight 5 p.m. broadcast, which debuted on September 13, 2010.^[6][7] The 5 p.m. newscast competes with hour-long newscasts with WRTV, WISH-TV, and WTHR. These additions expanded WXIN's weekly newscast output from 43 to 50.5 hours per week, with eight-and-a-half hours each weekday, and more than fellow Fox affiliates WSJV of South Bend and (now former Fox station) WTVW of Evansville combined.

On October 30, 2010, WXIN announced that it would expand its weekend morning newscasts to four hours with the addition of an hour at 9 a.m. beginning in January 2011; on January 10, 2011 WXIN also expanded its weekday morning newscast to six hours with an additional half-hour at 4 a.m., increasing the station's weekly newscast output to 55 hours of local newscasts per week.^[8] In an interview with the Indianapolis Business Journal, now-former WXIN general manager Jerry Martin stated that there are plans to launch a weeknight hour-long 6 p.m. newscast by the end of 2012, which would increase the station's weekly newscast output to 60 hours per week by that time.^[9] On May 8, 2012, the station officially announced that the 6 p.m. newscast would make its debut on September 10, 2012.^[10]

News/station presentation[link]

Newscast titles[link]

• 59 Headline News (1984–1985)
• WXIN News Extra (1985–1991)^[11]
• FOX 59 Nightcast (1991–1994)
• FOX News @ Ten (1994–1997)
• FOX 59 News (1997–present, umbrella title)^[12]
  • FOX 59 a.m. (1999–2002, morning newscast)
  • FOX 59 Morning News (2002–present, morning newscast)
  • FOX 59 Midday News (2008–2010, 11 a.m. newscast)
  • FOX 59 News: First at Four (2009–present, 4 p.m. newscast)
  • FOX 59 News: Live at Five (2010–present, 5 p.m. newscast)
  • FOX 59 News @ Six (Begins Sept. 10th, 2012)
  • FOX 59 News at 10 (1997–present, 10 p.m. newscast)^[13]

Station slogans[link]

• Don't Let Fox 59 Weekends Pass You By (1987–1988; localized version of Fox ad campaign)
• Indiana's Best (1988–1991)^[14]
• Think First. Think Fast. (1999–2002)
• News That Works for You (2002–2009)
• On It. (2009–2011)^[15]
• So Fox 59 (2010–present; localized version of Fox ad campaign)
• Indiana's Fox (2012–present; used in promos since 2010)

This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.

On-air staff[link]

[edit] Current on-air staff (as of December 2011)^[16]

Anchors

• Jenny Anchondo - weekday mornings Fox 59 Morning News (4-6 a.m.)
• Ray Cortopassi - weekday mornings Fox 59 Morning News (7-10 a.m.); also 4 p.m. anchor
• Bob Donaldson - weeknights at 5 and 10 p.m.
• Angela Ganote - weekday mornings Fox 59 Morning News (6-10 a.m.)
• Scott Jones - weekday mornings Fox 59 Morning News (4-7 a.m.)
• Edward Moody - weekends at 10 p.m.; also weekday reporter
• Zach Myers - weekend mornings; also weekday morning reporter
• Eva Pilgrim - weekdays at 4 p.m.; also 5 and 10 p.m. reporter
• Fanchon Stinger - weeknights at 5 and 10 p.m.

Fox 59 Weather Authority

• Brian Wilkes (NWA Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weekdays at 4, and weeknights at 5 and 10 p.m.
• Jim O'Brien (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekday mornings Fox 59 Morning News (4:30-10 a.m.)
• Ron Smiley (AMS Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekday mornings at 4 a.m. and weekend mornings 6 to 10 a.m.
• Jennifer Ketchmark - meteorologist; weekends at 10 p.m.

Sports team

• Chris Hagan - sports director; weeknights at 10 p.m.
• Jeremiah Johnson - sports anchor; weekends at 10 p.m., also sports reporter
• Brittany Diehl - sports reporter; also fill-in sports anchor
• Larry Hawley - sports reporter
• Ken Sothman - high-school sports reporter

Reporters

• Sherman Burdette - weekday morning feature reporter
• Kent Ehrdahl - multimedia journalist
• Aishah Hasnie^[a] - multimedia journalist
• Joe LePage^[a] - general assignment reporter
• Vanessa McClure - general assignment reporter
• Heather MacWilliams - general assignment reporter
• Russ McQuaid - general assignment reporter
• Jake Miller^[a] - weekday morning reporter
• Kjersten Ramsing^[a] - weekday morning reporter
• Bill Remieka - weekday morning traffic reporter

^{^[a]} Reporter is also fill-in anchor.

News department[link]

• Lee M. Rosenthal - news director
• Myranda Annakin - assignment manager

Notable former staff[link]

• Chris Denari - sports anchor (now TV voice of the Indiana Pacers and the Indiana Fever on Fox Sports Indiana)
• Catt Sadler - entertainment reporter and co-host of Hoosier Millionaire (now host of The Daily 10 on E!)
• Sara Snow (host of Get Fresh With Sara Snow formerly on Discovery Health)

External links[link]

• FOX59.com (Official Website)
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WXIN
• Listing 1030684 in the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Antenna Structure Registration database
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WXIN-TV

References[link]

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Gloria Estefan
Background information
Birth name	Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García
Born	(1957-09-01) September 1, 1957 (age 54) Havana, Cuba
Origin	Miami, Florida, United States
Genres	Latin pop, dance-pop, pop, dance, EDM
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, actress, hotelier, restauranteur, writer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, percussion
Years active	1977–present
Labels	Epic (1977–2006) Burgundy (2007–2010) Crescent Moon / Verve Forecast (2011–present)
Associated acts	Emilio Estefan Miami Sound Machine Jon Secada Celia Cruz Lili Estefan
Website	gloriaestefan.com

Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García de Estefan, known professionally as Gloria Estefan (born September 1, 1957) is a Cuban-born American singer, songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Known as the "Queen Of Latin Pop",^[1][2][3] she is in the top 100 best selling music artists with over 100 million albums sold worldwide,^[4][5] 31.5 million of those in the United States alone.^[6] She has won three Grammy Awards, and 4 Latin Grammys, and is the most successful crossover performer in Latin music to date.

Early life[link]

Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo was born September 1, 1957 in Havana, Cuba, to Jose and Gloria Fajardo. Her maternal grandfather, Leonardo Garcia, immigrated to Cuba from Pola de Siero, Asturias, Spain, where he married Gloria's maternal grandmother, originally from Logroño, Spain.^[7][8] Prior to the Cuban Revolution, her father was a Cuban soldier and a bodyguard to Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. The Fajardo family fled to Miami, Florida as a result of the Cuban Revolution and settled down there. Shortly after they moved to the United States, Gloria's father joined the US military and fought in the Vietnam War and moved to Houston, Texas, also having participated in the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion. Gloria attended St. Michael-Archangel School^[9] and Our Lady of Lourdes Academy in Miami. Her father became ill after returning from Vietnam and Gloria helped her mother, Gloria Fajardo, care for him. Her mother worked as a school teacher for the Dade County Public School system. Gloria Estefan graduated from college in 1979 with a B.A. in psychology, with a minor in French, from the University of Miami.^[10][11] When she was studying at the university, she worked as an English/Spanish/French translator at Miami International Airport Customs Department and, because of her language abilities, was once approached by the CIA as a possible employee.^[12][13] Estefan was raised Catholic.^[14]

Marriage[link]

Gloria Estefan receiving flowers for her birthday at her show in the Ahoy Rotterdam, September 1, 2008

Gloria became romantically involved with the Miami Sound Machine's band leader, Emilio Estefan, in 1976. As she later revealed, "he was my first and only boyfriend." She and Emilio married on September 1, 1978.^[15][16] They have a son, Nayib (born September 2, 1980) and a daughter, Emily Marie (born December 5, 1994). The family lives in the Star Island section of Miami Beach, Florida.^[16][17][18]

Career in singing[link]

Mid-1970s through the 1980s[link]

Starting in 1977, the Miami Sound Machine, (the Miami Latin Boys with Gloria Estefan), began recording and releasing various albums, 45s, and 12"s on the Audiofon Records label in Miami. The first album from 1977 was entitled Live Again Renacer and was released with two different covers. After several more releases on the Audiofon label as well as the RCA Victor label and Miami Sound Machine's own label MSM Records, the band was signed to Discos CBS International and released several albums, 45s, and 12"s beginning with 1980s self-titled album Miami Sound Machine. Growing in popularity in both the United States and around the world, the group would continue recording and issuing various works for Discos CBS International through 1985. In 1984, Miami Sound Machine released their first Epic/Columbia album, Eyes of Innocence, which contained the dance hit "Dr. Beat" as well as the ballad "I Need Your Love". Their more successful follow-up album Primitive Love was released in 1985 launching three Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: "Conga" (U.S. #10), "Words Get In The Way" (U.S. #5), and "Bad Boy" (U.S. #8) became follow up hits in the U.S. and around the world. "Words Get in the Way" reached #1 on the US Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart, establishing that the group could perform pop ballads as successfully as dance tunes. The song "Hot Summer Nights" was also released that year and was part of the film Top Gun.

Their next album, 1987's Let It Loose, went multi-platinum, with six million copies sold in the US. It featured the following hits: "Anything for You" (#1 Hot 100), "1-2-3" (#3 Hot 100), "Betcha Say That" (#36 Hot 100), "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You" (#5 Hot 100), and "Can't Stay Away From You" (#6 Hot 100). "Can't Stay Away From You", "Anything for You" and "1-2-3" were all #1 Adult Contemporary hits as well.

In 1988, Estefan took top billing and the band's name changed to Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine. Beginning in 1989, the group's name was dropped altogether. Estefan was credited as a solo artist, though the ever-changing line-up of Miami Sound Machine continues as her backing band to this day.^{[citation needed]}

In 1988, after the worldwide chart success of single "Anything for You", her Let it Loose album was repackaged as Anything for You. It became the band's first UK #1 album, selling over a million copies.^{[citation needed]} It was the biggest selling album of the year in The Netherlands, staying at #1 for 22 weeks.^{[citation needed]} The album also took top honors in Australia and Canada, launching Estefan to superstar status.^{[citation needed]}

1990s[link]

[edit] 1990: Cuts Both Ways, tour bus accident and surgery

In late 1989, she released her best-selling album to date, Cuts Both Ways. The album included the hit singles "Don't Wanna Lose You" (a Billboard Hot 100 #1 hit), "Oye mi Canto (Hear my Voice)", "Here We Are", "Cuts Both Ways" (#1 on the U.S. Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart) and "Get on Your Feet".

While touring in support of Cuts Both Ways on March 20, 1990, near Scranton, Pennsylvania, Estefan was critically injured, suffering a fractured spine when a speeding semi-truck crashed into the tour bus she was in during a snowstorm. She was taken to Community Medical Center's Intensive Care Unit and the next day was flown by helicopter to New York City, where surgeons at the Hospital for Joint Diseases ^[19] at NYU Langone Medical Center permanently implanted two titanium rods to stabilize her vertebral column. Her rehabilitation required almost a year of intensive physical therapy by Michael Klepper^{[citation needed]}, but she achieved a complete recovery. She returned to an international tour ten months after the accident.

[edit] 1991–1992: Into The Light and The Greatest Hits

Estefan returned to the charts with a concept album, Into the Light, in 1991. She performed "Coming Out of the Dark" for the first time on the American Music Awards in January 1991, receiving a standing ovation as she took the stage. "Coming Out of the Dark" reached #1 in the U.S. as a single a few months later. Other popular singles were "Seal Our Fate" and "Live for Loving You". The album peaked at number five on the Billboard album chart, becoming her highest debut; it also peaked at number two on the British albums chart. Eventually the album went platinum in the UK and double platinum in the US. The Into the Light World Tour covered 100 cities in five countries and was seen by more than 10 million people worldwide.^{[citation needed]}

She followed up Into the Light with her first greatest-hits album, Gloria Estefan Greatest Hits. It was released in 1992, and included the U.S. hit ballads "Always Tomorrow" and "I See Your Smile" along with the international hit dance track "Go Away". Also in 1992, Estefan sang backup on fellow Cuban-American singer-songwriter Jon Secada's breakthrough single "Just Another Day". She spent much of 1992 in Miami, helping relief efforts for victims of Hurricane Andrew.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] 1993: Mi Tierra and Christmas Through Your Eyes

In 1993, Estefan released the album Mi Tierra, her first Spanish-language album. It peaked at number twenty-seven on the Billboard album chart and number eleven on the British album chart. The singles "Mi Tierra" and the romantic-tropical ballad "Con Los Años Que Me Quedan" and "Mi Buen Amor", climbed to number-one on the "Hot Latin Tracks" chart in the United States. The album sold over eight million copies worldwide, went multiplatinum in Spain (10×) and in the United States (16× Platinum - Latin field), platinum in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, and gold in Switzerland and Australia, and won a Grammy Award for "Best Tropical Latin Album".^[20] That same year, Estefan released her first Christmas album, Christmas Through Your Eyes, the first album from Estefan to not be produced by her husband Emilio Estefan Jr. The collection included the singles "This Christmas" and "Silent Night".The album went Platinum in the United States.

Also in 1993, Estefan collaborated with Frank Sinatra on his album Duets with the song "Come Rain or Come Shine".

[edit] 1994–1995: Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me and Abriendo Puertas

Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, a cover album of some of Estefan's favorite songs from the 1960s and 1970s, was released in 1994. "Turn the Beat Around", the first single and a remake of Vicki Sue Robinson's 1976 disco classic, became another international hit, certified gold in the US. It also was used in the Sharon Stone film The Specialist.

1995's Spanish-language album Abriendo Puertas earned Estefan her second Grammy Award for "Best Tropical Latin Album". It spun off two #1 dance hits, "Abriendo Puertas" and "Tres Deseos", and two #1 Latin singles, "Abriendo Puertas" and "Más Allá".

In January 1995, the Miami Sound Machine performed at the Super Bowl XXIX halftime show, with Tony Bennett, Patti LaBelle, and trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, in a program entitled "Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye", to promote the upcoming Disney theme park attraction.^[21]

[edit] 1996–1997: Summer Olympics and Destiny

The platinum-selling album Destiny, released in 1996, featured "Reach", the official theme of the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics. Estefan performed in the Summer Olympics closing ceremony, in front of an audience of two billion people worldwide, during which she performed the songs "Reach" and "You'll Be Mine (Party Time)".^{[citation needed]}

On July 18, 1996, Estefan embarked on her Evolution World Tour (her first tour in five years), which covered the United States, Canada, Europe, Latin America, Australia, South Africa and Asia.

[edit] 1998: Back to dance: gloria!

Estefan rode the wave of the Disco revival in the U.S. during the late 1990s.^{[citation needed]} On June 2, 1998, she released her eighth solo album, (twenty-first overall), gloria!. The album is highly influenced by Disco music,^{[citation needed]} blended with Salsa music percussion and Latin flavour. To promote gloria!, she performed at the famed New York City discoteque Studio 54.^{[citation needed]}

The album peaked at #23 on the Billboard 200. The album reached Gold certification. The single "Oye!" peaked at #1 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play and the Hot Latin Tracks charts, and was featured in the 1998 Eddie Murphy film Holy Man. The other major hit single releases were "Don't Let This Moment End", which peaked at #76 on the Billboard Hot 100 and "Heaven's What I Feel", which peaked at #27 on the Billboard Hot 100.

1999: "Music of My Heart"[link]

In 1999, Estefan performed a duet with *NSYNC on the single "Music Of My Heart", which was featured in a film in which she also appeared, Music of the Heart. The song reached #2 on the Billboard chart and was nominated for an Academy Award.^[22] She also released a Latin hit with the Brazilian group So Pra Contrariar called "Santo Santo", sang with Luciano Pavarotti in Pavarotti and Friends for Guatemala and Kosovo, and released the benefit album A Rosie Christmas..

She also made a couple of sporting event appearances. The first event was a performance with Stevie Wonder at Super Bowl XXXIII in Miami. She also sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" at game three of the 2003 World Series in Miami between the Florida Marlins and New York Yankees.^[23]

2000s[link]

The next album Alma Caribeña (Caribbean Soul) was released in 2000. It was her third Spanish language album with a focus on caribbean rhythms. The album featured several Latin Hits as "No me dejes de querer", "Como me duele perderte", "Por un beso". The album features duets with José Feliciano and the late Celia Cruz. The album earned Estefan another Grammy Music Award in the cathegorie Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album in 2001. Greatest Hits Vol. II was released in 2001. It contained hits from 1993 to 2000, as well as three new songs and a remix of her first hit "Conga", retitled "Y-Tu-Conga". The song "Out of Nowhere" was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category for Best Dance Recording; another song from the album, "You Can't Walk Away from Love", was featured in the film Original Sin.

[edit] 2003–2004: Unwrapped

In 2003, Estefan released Unwrapped, her first English-language CD in five years. To promote the CD, she toured Europe, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the United States. The video for the single "Hoy", had been filmed in Machu Picchu, Peru.^{[citation needed]} "Hoy" and "Tu Fotografía" both reached #1 on Billboard's Latin chart, and "I Wish You" reached the AC^{[clarification needed]} top 20.

On July 28, 2004, at the Trump Tower building, in a press conference hosted by Donald Trump, Estefan announced that her then-upcoming tour would be her final one.^{[citation needed]} The Live & Re-Wrapped Tour, was produced by Clear Channel Entertainment. It began in Hidalgo, Texas on July 30, 2004, and played in 26 cities; it featured Estefan's greatest hits, along with new material from Unwrapped.^{[citation needed]} The final concert of the tour took place in Estefan's hometown of Miami on the weekend of October 9 and 10, in front of a sold-out crowd, despite having been delayed for two weeks by a hurricane.^{[citation needed]}

2005: Mash-up hit with Mylo and the tributes[link]

On April 7, 2005, Estefan participated in "Selena ¡VIVE!", the tribute concert for Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, the "Queen of Tejano", who was murdered in March 1995 on the brink of her attempt to cross over as an English-language performer. Gloria performed "I Could Fall in Love", one of Selena's posthumously released crossover hits. Also that year, Estefan appeared on the soundtrack for the television series Desperate Housewives, singing a song titled "Young Hearts Run Free".

In late 2005, the club mash-up "Dr. Pressure" was released, which combined Mylo's Number 19 hit "Drop The Pressure" with the Miami Sound Machine's "Dr. Beat". It reached #3 on the UK singles chart and #1 on the Australian dance chart, providing Estefan with her first top 40 hit and commercial radio airplay since 1996.^{[citation needed]}

2006: Compilations and the UK promo tour[link]

Gloria Estefan performs at an event to celebrate the United Through Reading program aboard the Nimitz class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), September 14, 2006

In early 2006, Estefan performed in Los Angeles at a tribute to singer Dionne Warwick. Estefan sang "Walk On By", one of Warwick's signature songs.^{[citation needed]}

In October 2006, Sony released a 2-CD compilation The Essential Gloria Estefan, featuring her hits from 1984 to 2003, Estefan made several radio and television appearances to promote The Essential Gloria Estefan including a December 9, 2006 appearance on ITV's The X Factor.^{[citation needed]}

Estefan also released two additional similar compilation albums that year for other markets. The Very Best of Gloria Estefan was released in Europe and Mexico, and was similar to The Essential Gloria Estefan, but also included as a bonus track "Dr. Pressure". This compilation was certified GOLD in Ireland.^[24] Oye Mi Canto!: Los Grandes Exitos, a collection of her Spanish-language hits was released in Spain. It included a bonus DVD, which included various music videos and television performances.^{[citation needed]}

2008–2009 highlights[link]

In 2008, Gloria appeared during the seventh season of American Idol, in the special charity episode "Idol Gives Back", performing her song "Get on Your Feet" along with Sheila E.. The performance was recorded and was released at the American iTunes store; the video of the performance reached the number twenty of the store's Top 100 videos, and the song became the most downloaded.^{[citation needed]} Estefan became the headliner of the new venue of the MGM Grand at Foxwoods Resort Casino. Her three-day shows were sold out.^{[citation needed]} She then headed to Canada to perform at the Casino Rama. In August, she started her "90 Millas World Tour". Gloria played concerts in London, Rotterdam, Belfast and Aruba. Gloria performed several concerts in Spain, specifically Madrid, Barcelona, Zaragoza and Tenerife. Two of these concerts, in Las Ventas, Spain,^[25] and Rotterdam, The Netherlands, were free to the public.

Back in the states, Gloria performed a special concert at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino to raise funds for the Education of South Florida.^[26] Gloria was a headliner for Bette Midler's "Annual Hulaween Gala" along with other special guests such as Kathy Griffin and a costume contest judged by Michael Kors. The event benefited the New York Restoration Project.^[27]

During the Thanksgiving season, Gloria Estefan appeared on Rosie O' Donnell's television special Rosie Live! singing a duet with O'Donnell titled "Gonna Eat For Thanksgiving", an alternate version of "Gonna Eat For Christmas" from on O'Donnell's album A Rosie Christmas.

In 2009, Estefan announced plans for her "farewell tour" of Latin America and South America.^[28] Estefan also completed a three-night concert series with Carole King entitled "She's Got a Friend" at the Foxwoods Resort Casino.^{[citation needed]}

The tour continued with a concert at Guadalajara in Mexico, as part of a program designed to improve tourism in Mexico,^{[29][clarification needed]} and a series of appearances at music festivals throughout Europe, including headlining at the Summer Pops Music Festival in Liverpool on July 27, 2009.^[30]

The same year, Gloria opened the "In Performance at the White House: Fiesta Latina 2009" with "No Llores". Also, at the end, Estefan together with Jennifer Lopez, Thalía, Marc Anthony, José Feliciano, performed a rendition of her Spanish-language classic, "Mi Tierra".^[31]

2010[link]

Gloria began 2010 with a charity single: she and her husband, producer Emilio Estefan, Jr., invited artists to record "Somos El Mundo", a Spanish-language version of Michael Jackson's song "We Are The World". The song, written by Estefan and approved by Quincy Jones, was recorded, and premiered during El Show de Cristina on March 1, 2010.^[32] All of the money from sales of the song went to Haitian relief.^[33][34]

On March 24, 2010, Gloria led a march down Miami's Calle Ocho in support of Cuba's Las Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White).^{[35][dead link]} Las Damas de Blanco is an opposition movement in Cuba that consists of wives and other female relatives of jailed dissidents. Since 2003, the women have protested the imprisonments by attending Mass each Sunday wearing white dresses and then silently walking through the streets in white clothing.

Late in the year, Gloria took part in Broadway's "24 Hour Plays" in which actors, writers, and directors collaborate to produce and perform six one-act plays within 24 hours to benefit the Urban Arts Partnership. She performed alongside actors Elijah Wood, Diane Neal, and Alicia Witt in the play I Think You'll Love This One, written by the 20-year-old winner of the Montblanc writers' project, Elizabeth Cruz Cortes.^[36]

[edit] 2011 Miss Little Havana

On April 7, 2011, Estefan made an unannounced appearance at auditions for The X Factor in Miami, and gave encouragement to the 7,500 participants gathered outside the Bank United Center for auditions.^[37]

In 2011, Estefan was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame along with Grammy and Emmy award winner Harry Connick Jr. Both singers performed at a special concert on June 17, 2011, with Thomas Wilkins as musical conductor. Proceeds from this event went to benefit the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute's education programs.^[38]

Estefan's new dance-oriented studio album, Miss Little Havana, was released in the United States on September 27, 2011, with the physical CD available exclusively at Target.^[39][40] Early on, Estefan had described the album as a project in the vein of her 1998 hit album gloria! Collaborating with her on the album were producers Pharrell Williams, Motiff, Emilio Estefan, and Drop Dead Beats.^[41]

One song from the album, "Wepa", premiered on May 31, 2011 at AmericanAirlines Arena in a special music video of the song for the Miami Heat. The Heat video was released on YouTube on June 1.^[42][43] The song went on sale for digital downloading at the iTunes music store on July 24.^[44]

Both "Wepa" and "Hotel Nacional" achieved number one on Billboard Latin Songs.

In the fall of 2011, Estefan began hosting Gloria Estefan's Latin Beat, a seven-part series for BBC Radio 2 in the United Kingdom that explores the history of Latin music.^[45]

Career outside of singing[link]

Film and television appearances[link]

Estefan has appeared in two films, Music of the Heart (1999) and For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story (2000). Estefan made a cameo appearance with her husband in Marley & Me in 2008.

Estefan was cast to star as Connie Francis, a U.S. pop singer of the 1950s and early 1960s, in Who's Sorry Now?, based on Francis' life. Filming supposedly began in late 2008, according to Parade Magazine (March 23, 2008). Estefan, in an interview with www.allheadlinenews.com, stated the film would be released in 2009. As of December 2009, the film has been dropped as Connie Francis had irreconcilable differences with Estefan over the film's writer. Francis wanted to hire writer Robert L. Freedman, who had written the Emmy Award winning mini-series Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows. Estefan refused to consider him, which according to Francis ended the project collaboration.^[46]

Estefan appeared in the ABC television special Elmopalooza, which aired February 20, 1998, in which she sang the song "Mambo, I, I, I". In April 2004, Estefan appeared on the Fox Broadcasting Company's program, American Idol as a guest mentor for the contestants' Latin week.^[47]

She recently confirmed that she would guest star on the Fox television series Glee, as the mother of cheerleader Santana Lopez.^[48]

Books[link]

Estefan has written two children's books: The Magically Mysterious Adventures of Noelle the Bulldog (2005) and Noelle's Treasure Tale (2006). The latter book spent a week at #3 on the New York Times Bestseller list for children's books.^[49]

She also collaborated on a cookbook with her husband entitled Estefan Kitchen, which was published in 2008. It contains 60 traditional Cuban recipes.^[50]

Other business ventures[link]

The Cardozo hotel on Ocean Drive, in Miami Beach, Florida.

Gloria and Emilio Estefan own a number of business establishments, including seven Cuban-themed restaurants (Bongos Cuban Café). The restaurants are located in Miami; Miami Beach, Downtown Miami, part of the American Airlines Arena; Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida; Walt Disney World's Downtown Disney in Orlando; Mexico City; and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. They also own two hotels: the Costa d'Este in Vero Beach which opened in 2008,^[51] and The Cardozo in Miami Beach.

Gloria Estefan was appointed to the board of directors for Univision Communications Inc. in 2007, according to Hispanic Market Weekly. The Estefans' estimated net worth as of 2011 was approximately $700 million, according to an article in People en Español magazine.

In June 2009, Gloria Estefan and her husband bought a "very small" ownership stake in the Miami Dolphins.^[52][53][54]

Awards[link]

In addition to her seven Grammys, Estefan has received a number of other awards. In May 1993, she received the Ellis Island Congressional Medal of Honor, which is the highest award that can be given to a naturalized U.S. citizen.^[55] She has won the Hispanic Heritage Award, an MTV Video Music Award, two cable television ACE Awards and the 1993 National Music Foundation's Humanitarian of the Year award. The singer is the recipient of the American Music Award for Lifetime Achievement. She also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her husband, Emilio, a world-renowned music impresario, received a star adjacent to his wife's on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2005.^[56]

Estefan holds an honorary doctoral degree in music from the University of Miami, awarded in 1993.^[57] She was a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Miami.^[58] In 2002, Barry University in Miami bestowed upon her an honorary law degree.^[59] Along with her husband, Estefan received an honorary doctoral degree in music from the Berklee College of Music in Boston in 2007.^[60] She also delivered the commencement address to the 2007 graduating class.^[60]

In 2002, she received the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Medallion of Excellence for Community Service. The singer was Musicares Person of the Year in 1994. Gloria also founded the Gloria Estefan Foundation whose goal is to help those with spinal cord injuries.

She has been honored twice by the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 1992, she served as a public member of the United States Delegation to the 47th General Assembly to the United Nations.^[61]

Estefan received the Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year award at the Latin Grammy Awards in November 2008 in recognition of her twenty-five year singing career. She is the first female singer to receive this award.^[62] She also received a Latin Grammy for "Best Traditional Tropical Album" for 90 Millas, and a Latin Grammy for "Best Tropical Song" for her single, "Píntame De Colores". This marked the first occasion for Estefan to ever win a Grammy award for a song (either Latin or non-Latin).^[63] On March 12, 2009, Estefan was honored as a BMI Icon at the 16th annual BMI Latin Awards. Her catalog boasts 22 BMI Latin and Pop Awards, along with 11 BMI Million-Air Awards.^[64]

In April 2010, Estefan and her husband received a star in the "Walk Of Stars" in Las Vegas for their contribution to music industry.^[65] On April 28, 2011, at the Latin Billboard Awards, Estefan was honored with the Billboard Spirit of Hope Award for her philanthropic work.^[66]

Discography[link]

Albums discography[link]

Studio albums

Singles discography[link]

Filmography[link]

Videography[link]

• Video Exitos (1986) L.D.L Enterprises
• Homecoming Concert (1989) CMV
• Evolution (1990) CMV
• Coming Out Of The Dark (1991) SMV
• Into The Light World Tour (1992) SMV
• Everlasting Gloria! (1995) EMV
• The Evolution Tour Live In Miami (1996) EMV
• Don't Stop (1998) EMV
• Que siga la tradición (2001) EMV
• Live In Atlantis (2002) EMV
• Famous (2003) (Video journal about making-of Unwrapped LP; included in CD package)
• Live & Unwrapped (2004) EMV

Books[link]

• The Magically Mysterious Adventures of Noelle the Bulldog (2005) ISBN 0-06-082623-1.
• Noelle's Treasure Tale: A New Magically Mysterious Adventure (2006)
• Estefan's Kitchen (2008)

Tours[link]

See also[link]

	Book: Gloria Estefan
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

• Best selling music artists
• List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart
• Pop Latino

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Gloria Estefan

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gloria Estefan

• Gloria Estefan Official Web Site
• Gloria Estefan at MySpace
• Gloria Estefan Mexico Official Site
• Gloria Estefan 90 MILLAS Spanish Forum
• Gloria Estefan receives her honorary Doctorate of Music along side her husband Emilio from Berklee
• Gloria Estefan at bmi.com