Gloria Estefan

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2:01Hello and welcome to Table Manners. I'm Jessie Ware and I'm here in Clapham in my mum's kitchen. Hi mum. Hi darling. It's been an eventful 24 hours for you. It has. What's happened? On crutches darling. Crutch? No, I've got one upstairs and one downstairs. Why don't you just have both upstairs? I don't know, but I managed with just one. last night. Why? What's happened? I just got a pain above my, in the middle of my knee that I couldn't put any weight on but actually the physiotherapist was extremely kind and saw me but as I was walking from the car yesterday, a man saw me in the street wincing.

2:35He said, please take my arm. Was he Australian? Oh right, that was very good. And he actually held me and he said I'm really worried about this woman. There was tears running down my face because the pain was so bad. They had to put a chair out in the street. But the show must go on. I've rallied. And from one diva to another, we have the formidable Gloria Estefan coming on today. I'm so excited. Me too. And you've even made food. We've loved her for a long time. You used to play, well, we used to play Anything For You, the album that I think came out in 87. So did you have it on tape? Is that why I know it so well?

3:20Because it was in the car? I don't know. Probably. But I loved it so much. We loved every song, knew all the words. She just made it feel good. We still do. Yeah, well, we just put it back on. I was like, bloody hell, muscle memory. Anyway, we have Gloria Estefan coming on and we're really excited to have her. Let's go through some of the accolades of Gloria Estefan before she gets here. Yeah. She's approaching 40 albums, I think. You've got a long way to go then, Jess. She has played the Super Bowl halftime show twice. I'm not surprised to get everyone going. People say she is the most successful crossover artist, a Latina artist who, you know, has paved the way for people like Shakira, J-Lo.

4:02Ricky Martin. Ricky Martin. She has won infinite amounts of Grammys. She has her own Hollywood star on the pavement. She has made musicals. I think she's made a musical with her daughter, Emily, who is incredibly talented, who just went on tour with Cindy Lauper. But do you know what her greatest achievement is? What? Being a grandma. Apparently she loves being a grandma. Anyway, I don't want to talk about everything about Gloria before she gets here, but she's coming straight from doing The Conga in Radio 2 with Bob Mortimer. So what have you made today, Mum, with your crutch? With my crutch.

4:41I stirred it with my crutch. No, I didn't. I made an old Delia recipe, bass chicken, which you love. You used to make this in the 90s, so I don't know whether it's all this nostalgia of like listening to Gloria in the 80s, 90s, and you always doing this for like a Sunday lunch. Well, it's kind of a Spanish twist. Yes. Because it's got a bit of chorizo in it. Are you going to say chorizo? Chorizo. Okay. So it's just chicken with brambas, marty rice, peppers, onions, garlic, olives, and oranges. Yum. And it's baking now in the oven. And I'm just going to have a check in a minute. And then when you were in emergency, I promise you I did offer to help mum cook today.

5:21But she said she had it under control because that is the diva that you are. I had everything. I have made Sophie Weiberg, who I love, who's a really great cook, put up a story recipe on Instagram the other day. It looked really yummy and seasonal. It's a blackberry crumble yogurt cake. Wow. I have no idea what it tastes like, but I know what went into it and it all sounds quite delicious. And you do this kind of streusel-like crumble on top. So, one, two, three, four, come on baby, say you love me. Five, six, seven times. We're ready. We are so ready. Gloria Estefan coming up on Table Manners.

6:18Gloria Estefan. So happy to be here. I'm thrilled. I'm sorry. This is, you also are the most glamorous person I think we've ever had in Clapham. Yeah. Really? Yeah. That's not the word I would use for me. I am like so chill and happy and just a t-shirt and, you know, sweatpants. Well, you're giving icon today. it would be the hair and everything well i just have to say first up you've just met our gorgeous cameraman director david who met his husband because of going to spain and and and learning yes and it's all so thanks thanks to you um but also personally for us i when i was kind of re-listening to your music in preparation to chat to you i realized i know basically all the lyrics to Anything For You, the album that came out in 87.

7:09And it was like something that, and it must have been on cassette, I think, because I don't know if CDs were out of them. You're too young for a cassette. No, I'm not. I'm 41. Well, yeah, my son saw some cassettes, but you saw the edge of it, the end of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But we loved the album so much. And actually, it's something, and I sing, and I'm really touched on it. I know you sing. I'm a big fan, I told you. This is so sweet. It's not sweet. You have a beautiful voice. I love that dance, that groove. You've got great songs. You are the queen of groove. Well, I don't know about the queen.

7:41You are. I'm the conga queen, that part, yes. I saw you had to do the conga this morning. Oh, my gosh. Nobody told me. Nobody gave me the memo. And I'm in these heels, but it was fun. It was a lot of fun. It was Radio 2. Jessie said we played the songs this morning to get us in the mood. I love that. Because we love you. And Jessie said she loves a good intro. and I hadn't realised how fabulous the intros were. Yeah, you actually allow the music to breathe and we're not really allowed to do that anymore in pop music. Well, people's attention spans are very short now. You have to have a single that's like two and a half minutes, 245 tops.

8:17Who can say what they want to say in that, you know, but it's making a comeback because kids find that nostalgic and they are kind of rediscovering what came in the past and that's a beautiful thing. Everything comes around. Do you feel like you're about to get a whole load of Gen Zs listening to you then? Or are they already? I'm sure they are. In different ways they are. And now I'm going to get a whole bunch of little kids because of Gabby's Dollhouse. I'm already getting it. When they've seen the movie, they run up to me, Grandma Gigi, they hug me. And I love that. I love being a grandma. I'm sure you do too.

8:51Well, let's talk. There's a song on your new record. Yes. Am I saying it correctly? Raises? Perfect. Oh, okay, great. If not, you can ask your director. Yes, that's perfect. What does it mean, raices? It means roots. Roots. Raices, those things that, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Roots connect underground. The trees, if there's a tree that's ill, another tree will send it love. And I think our cultural roots are that for us, and we can't lose that. So it was important for Emilio and I for this full circle moment, actually 50 years. This is your husband. Yes. He's like your collaborator forever. Forever.

9:27We've been married 47 years, together 49, and working together 50, because he was my boss the first year. And now you're the boss, obviously. That's what he says, but it's a BS. We're a partnership all the way. So for us, our family, he's half Lebanese, half Spaniard from Galicia. My grandfather was Asturiano. And my grandsons, the OGs, as I call them, the other grandparents, are Italian. He speaks fluent Italian. I think it just enriches the world, all this, you know, like a tapestry of colors and cultures. And I find it fascinating. So this record is predominantly in Spanish. Yes, yes. But there is a song about your grandson.

10:15Yes. That's English though, isn't it? My Beautiful Boy. It was born in English. But when I, I wrote it before I was even thinking of this album. I haven't been thinking about doing an album because I was writing a musical with my daughter, Basura, Emily. She is so talented. She's a beast. The percussion I've seen. And wasn't she just on tour with Cindy Lawfare? Yes, and she was actually with Carol G in Madrid. Amazing. Playing percussion. You know, she tries to stay away from me and that's why she never really sang until she was 18. But she can sing. Oh, shit. When I... She came home from holiday the first semester.

10:55She went to Berklee College of Music. because it came naturally, but she also wanted to be the best she could be at everything. She comes home and she goes, Mom, I have to do something, but you can't look at me and you can't cry. I go, oh no, what's coming? So 1 o 'clock in the morning, and we were alone at a beach house we have up there in Vero Beach. She makes me face the wall. She picks up my guitar and she sings Bed I Made by Ellen Stone. and I always thought that she would sing one day because I could hear it. You know, you can tell a baby with their ear and they can sing, but she would joke sing.

11:35She would never seriously sing. I go, it sounded like a 40-year-old heroin addict from the 20s that was singing because she was so, the pain, the loss, the soulfulness, the crazy, I never expected that. So when she went back, I said, please record this for your, you know, I want to play it for your dad. I didn't tell him. And when she sends me the thing, I told, babe, listen to this. I discovered this amazing new singer, and he's listening, and his hair is standing on. And he goes, who is that? And I go, your daughter. He freaked out. I did that to my mom as well. She was afraid that she would open her mouth and I would come out of it.

12:18And the timbre is there, of course, for the family. but I wish I could do what she can do. Oh, my God, she's amazing. So did you not cry when you heard it? Of course I cried. I cried and I've cried every time since. And, you know, it's beautiful to see your kids be better than you. And I know the measuring stick, you know, is there for her and my son. And that's rough, you know, when you have parents that have done so much different stuff. Yeah. and then everybody's always going to compare you but I tell her people watch you three minutes and I am out the window there's like you're she's riveting she played with me in the show in Madrid and people were floored let's talk about this show in Madrid so you're in Europe at the moment but um you went to Madrid can you explain why you were there and how many people you performed yes oh my gosh uh you know I'm not touring I've been toured worldwide since 2004 you know how rough touring is for the singer and I was touring 15 years straight.

13:20So I had the opportunity to go and celebrate Hispanic Heritage Week there and the day, which was the day that I performed. And I thought, okay, you know, this album's in Spanish. I really want to get back to the mother tongue. And we said yes, and it was free to the public, but they had to move it because of the response it got. And it was 300 ,000 people in the audience. So where was it held? It was held in Plaza Colon. And then they had screens on all the streets. So I could literally see all the streets, the whole plaza packed, all the streets going down. I could see people's eyes. I had fans from Britain that flew there.

14:04They flew from Australia, from Thailand, from all over. And I know them through, you know, Twitter. It'll always be Twitter to me. And then Emilio brought them in and put them. there was a security area for the president and all this stuff and emilia brought the fans and put them in front row and they were trying to no you can't do that he goes try and stop me he goes these are the people that deserve to be in the front row not a bunch of government you know people and it was they were so happy they came to see me on graham norton that we filmed last night so hon you're like these are i would we call them super fans like super fans so and and you will make sure that they have the front row seat absolutely i i'm kind of their mom now you know you recognize them when you see of course i do you are mother absolutely you are mother and we talked through dms on twitter they've told me their biggest problems one of them was really ill and he told me before he told his mom because he wanted me to give him some ideas of how to do it and what to do and yeah you don't I mean I think it's incredibly um unique that you do that and I think it's beautiful and I think it just shows this is why you have such a connection with your fans like you know David and and and and and so many but and such a legacy but is that not quite overwhelming sometimes well I wish I could do more and that I had more time but I realized you know that I can only do what I can do I studied psychology and communication so it's kind of like my way of being a therapist exactly i did it through the music but it's nice to do it when did the singing start oh since i talk that came with yeah but not the performing part because i don't like to be the center of attention believe it or not i had to get used to that part my mom was the diva she was a singer she was going to be shirley temple's double in hollywood But she had won an international contest.

16:06And my grandma had her bags packed and ready to go. And they said, only one parent can come. The other one has to give up rights to the child. And my grandfather said, no way. But my mom would walk into a room and light it up. So that wasn't my nature. But music was my catharsis. Were you born in Cuba? I was born in Cuba. And how long were you there for? The revolution. My dad was a police officer. He was really good looking and very moral. He wouldn't take free anything. And so they chose him to be the motorcycle escort for the first lady. And the night of the revolution, he was at the presidential palace.

16:51They were having a giant party. And he came home and went into the bathroom, locked himself in. And my mom goes, what's happening? What's happening? and he said, President just left the country, we're in trouble. And she told him, don't go back. He goes, I have to go back. I'm a police officer, you know. You'll be arrested, yes, but I have to go back. And he was arrested, everybody that had anything to do with that government. And his dad was also arrested, his brother, who was doing counter-revolutionary things. And when he, finally, when he was let out, because they had no charges. Two years later?

17:28No, that was the second time. So he came out maybe four months later, and he told my mom, I have to get you out of the country. I have to. And she said, I don't want to go without you. He goes, I'm going to go first. How old were you then? I was two. He took the ferry from Havana to Key West. He got a job thinking he was going to make$50 a week, and it was$15. He misunderstood. $15? Yeah, they told him 15, and he thought 50, but he made a lot of tips because he was very good looking. There's parking cars in a bar. And then we came, my mom and I. They only allowed us one suitcase. And then he disappeared again and left my mom a note.

18:16I can't tell you where I'm going. You're going to receive a check from the U.S. government. Here's a doctor's phone number. And, yeah, he went to Bay of Pigs. It was his birthday the day they landed in Cuba, April 17th of 61, I believe it was. I can remember that. It was such a dramatic moment in our lives. We thought there was going to be a full-scale war through the bear pigs. And then he got jailed for the two years there. That was so hard for you and your mom and him, of course. It was tough. And then he came back and the U.S. government felt guilty about having abandoned them there because they trained him in the best equipment and then they gave him broken down stuff to actually do the invasion.

19:04And they said, any of you that know English, that learn English, can come in as officers. And he was a military guy, so he did so. And then he went to Vietnam and got sick with Agent Orange poisoning. What is Agent Orange? Agent Orange was a defoliant that a big American company would spread from planes so that the trees would lose their leaves and the guerrilla warfare. They could see where the guerrillas were. So they could see. But it got everybody. And if it kills a plant like that instantly, it got in their nervous systems, and there was a lot of guys. So I spent my adolescence taking care of my dad because my mom worked during the day, And then at night she would study to get her teaching credentials, revalidated.

19:52She had a PhD from Cuban education and she knew she had to get a better job because now she was the pretty much sole supporter. She worked hard. Can we talk about kind of some food memories from your time? I mean, food's really important to you. And obviously you were looking up and you were looking after your father. what kind of food were you eating around the dinner table and who was what's a memorable kind of picture of who was around the dinner well eventually my grandma came from Cuba I when I left Cuba she lost 25 pounds she was so depressed so she we got her out finally when her parents passed because she was taking care of them and my grandmother had been the sous chef to her father, a chef to two presidents in Cuba.

20:39So when she came to the States, she thought, food is the only way we're going to be able to survive. So she kind of started an illegal restaurant in her house that abutted a baseball field, and the Cuban men would bring their boys. And she was making$5 ,000 a weekend in the 60s in cash. That's amazing. Famous in Miami for her croquetas and her tamales and the pork. She was an amazing cook, and I helped her in the kitchen. I grew up with her in the kitchen, so I can pretty much make up anything. I have a beautiful chef, though. She's Dominican, and it's delicious. But yeah, it was my grandma's cooking Cuban food.

21:26We couldn't afford it. Is that your preferred cuisine? Everything is my preferred cuisine, which is a problem. Yeah. I really love food. But when I was a kid, that's the only thing I tasted was Cuban food. And the first time we went to Japan, we were promoting Dr. Meat, and they gave me sushi. My grandma would have turned in her grave me eating raw fish, first of all. Although I loved raw meat. She'd bring the raw meat, and I would eat it. And she goes, no, you can't eat that. It's not cooked. But when I popped that in with that wasabi, I had never had a spicy thing in my life. And it was on camera.

22:01Oh, my gosh. I should have remembered. It was so funny. My ears went like the cartoons. My eyes. Do you like sushi? I love it. I love it. I love everything now. But back then, I mean, it was so what? When you do it. What did little children eat when they were small and just growing up? Well, Cuban food, rice, the beans, they would puree it to make sure. Well, when I was a baby, they would puree everything. And I got so bored because I had teeth. Why aren't they going to give me chewing things? But they were so concerned about me being, you know, making sure I ate everything that it was really detrimental.

22:39Now we know that babies can't even process anything other than fruit and milk or whatever for six months. And they were giving me black beans, rice, the chicken, all. And I would sit there like chewing, trying to chew this thing. Then I loved mango baby food. So when we went to the States, they didn't have that. My grandma would send it to me, would smuggle it from Cuba. She would go to the airport and saddle any pilot with a box of mango baby fruit. And they'd knock on our door in our little apartment and there'd be a pilot standing there with a box. And in that box, she'd smuggle my mom's records because we couldn't take anything with us.

23:21Her record collection. Is your musical that you've made with your daughter about your life? No. What we're working on is there's a place, Cateura, in Paraguay, in Asunción, Paraguay. And it used to be a beautiful lake 45 years ago, and it is now the largest landfill in Latin America. And a lot of people live off the grid. So this environmental engineer went to try to make things better with recycling and all this. But the magnitude was impossible. It's a place that also has fires, ash storms from when they burn trees in Argentina. They come straight over floods. And he started a little music class with his violin.

24:10And the kids were so excited. So they started going to this music class. He tried to get more instruments. It was really hard. They couldn't afford it. So they started making instruments out of the trash. because one of those kids, they used to sleep in the street, and their parents is on the spectrum and can speak to things, talk to him. He would lay at night and the stars would speak to him. He would see musical notes in the astrological signs and the stars. So now the school, they have like 300 students. They built the school out of trash. They've played for Queen Sofia of Spain. They've played for the Pope, the previous Pope, and I think even John Paul, because they've been around a while.

25:02And we met them. It's such an uplifting story about how music can lift you out of and make even the most difficult situations palatable because they've had success, but they don't leave. They go back. They have a strong sense of community and love. and family. So we've brought this to, I'm so excited about that. Is it coming out in 2027? Well, it comes out May of 26 in a few months in Atlanta in the Alliance Theatre because you always start off Broadway somewhere. And then hopefully soon after to Broadway. But we are so happy. We're thrilled. Plus secretly I did it so I could spend more time with Emily writing this thing.

25:46That's why you do the podcast, isn't it, Mum? Yeah. How was it working with her? I mean, was it testing with your relationship or is it quite a good partnership? I mean, I guess you work with your family all the time. Emilio is your longtime, you know, he's your husband, but he's produced and written this record with you. Yes, he has. He has because I couldn't write. I was focused on Basura, which is the title. And except the song for Sasha that I had written before he even came to me with the idea. He brought me the song Raíces and I fell in love with it, but I told him, babe, I'm not you. I can't do 50 things at once.

26:20I need to focus. And he says, will you let me write it for you? And I go, please do. And I had already written Sasha's song because he had gone to our beach house with me. I taught him how to boogie board and we were doing all these things. How old is Sasha? He's 13 now. Okay, right. 13. How many have you got? That's it. Just one. But that one is a good one. I think his parents, my son is afraid of having another one because this one's so good. but he's going to go, oh, the next one's going to get me. And I would pray that it would be like him to get some payback because I didn't think I'd survive until he was 18.

26:57You come out quite young. Yeah, it was. But we love each other. We do things together all the time. And when he left, I was writing for Basura, but he left, and I was so nostalgic that I grabbed my guitar and I wrote this song, and then I called him and I go, bebe, look, I finally wrote your song because I knew one day I would. I don't like to push it. You know, inspiration has to be natural and his dad and his mom, which were also on the line, they all cried and I promised him I'd record it one day. So when we did this album, I wrote it in Spanish and I included both versions. They each have their own magic.

27:38I would love to know, you've talked about being a good, you learned from your grandmother, your abuela is that how you say it your abuela um but if we were coming over to yours and maybe you were rustling up a meal for lenny and i okay what would be on the menu what would you be cooking for us oh i'd make you paella which is not cuban oh god now i'm scared but what we're eating today what are we eating well it's not paella but it's not with basque chicken with rice i love chicken and rice that's my favorite food okay that is my favorite food great i think we'd work that out and we adapted the menu.

28:15But tell us, okay, so paella would be in there with the fish and the meat. Yeah, if you'd like. I mean, you can make it all seafood. My daughter and her partner are vegetarians, so I know how to make it that way too. How do you make a vegetarian paella? With vegetables and vegetable broth and mushrooms and, you know, savoury mushrooms. You can have so many different mushrooms in there that are great. yeah but seafood is usually the way to go do you like seafood? I love seafood what do you get that's really great in Miami? anything, crabs, stone crabs is it conch? conch? conch yeah, conch is more from the Bahamas yeah, conch is more from the Bahamas but you know, it's delicious I think I know about conch because when we went to Florida to see my cousins and they're from Key West well they're from the Bahamas And I think he'd gone over to the Bahamas and he'd gone and got them.

29:11Then he made us conch. But that's why I thought it was conch show. Yeah. They're very controlled because, you know, people will ruin everything. Just like the lobster in Miami are very controlled. I have behind my house, which is on the bay, we put all this keystone to create a reef. And we have over 150 species of coral behind my house. Wow. And the lobster have a blast because I won't pull them out of there. I'm not going to eat them. But I see people, they'll park their little boats over there and kind of sneak over and take. And when they're taking, I'll go, but that's Freddie. Don't get it.

29:45Do you have a whistle where you go, get off, go, leave Freddie alone? I can't stop them. But, you know, Florida probably in the Keys would have gone. Surely you can stop them, Gloria. No, they won't listen to me. They'll just take a picture of me yelling at them. Do you feel the same about crabs as you do about oysters? I love crabs. Oh, stone crabs in Miami. Joe's Stone Crab is the oldest restaurant. It's been there over 100 years, but they're seasonal, so you want to make sure you get them when they're good. Is it snow crab that you... It's the crab claws. Yeah, the claws. And literally, they'll pull the claw off and leave the crab.

30:20It'll regrow it. Which is the crab that you can deep fry, the whole thing? Oh, the soft shell crab. Yeah. Oh, I love that. That is so good. But I also love crab cakes. Crab cakes, delicious. You would love cod. You like cod? Love cod. Okay, we make cod fritters in Cubans a lot. And malanga, which is taro root, we make that into fritters. We'll make anything into a fritter. I've even had brain fritters. Oh, my God. How was that? It was good. You can fry a shoe and eat it. It's sweet, isn't it? Not really, but a little bit. The malanga, the taro root, gets a little sweet when you fry it. But I love codfish in the Spanish style.

31:03So is it bacalao? Bacalao. Yes. So it's the salt cod, yeah. Absolutely. Because you can't catch cod down. It must come salted. Yeah, it comes salted and prepped for that. Yeah, grouper, snapper, that's great Florida fish that are from those waters. There's a couple little places on the river that will bring in fish daily. And my chef will go and buy it. Whenever she's going to make fish, she'll buy it from the day.

31:58Thank you.

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33:47Mom is over there. Mom's. She's cooking away over there. She's doing it. You have beans? Well, no, green beans. Oh, green beans. No, I would, yeah. I love green beans. So, you're making a paella. I would make you an avocado salad, sliced avocado and tomato. Okay. I always have to have salad. What's your dressing with that? I love to just olive oil and vinegar. Okay, which vinegar are you doing? Balsamic? Balsamic is a little too sweet for that. And I love beets. So sometimes it'll be just tomato and sliced beets. I like the, you know, tangy, but red wine vinegar. I like sherry vinegar. Manza. What's it?

34:28Manza. Manzanilla? Anyway. Manzanilla? Manzanilla. Right. That's my favourite. You know what's a great thing for singers? What? Tea, where you can take your apple juice or whatever fluid you like, and a tablespoon of red wine vinegar and a pinch of cayenne pepper. That's good for the voice? Very good. It brings a lot of circulation to your vocal cords. See, I would have thought that would be really abrasive. It's not at all. The cayenne, it just brings just a pinch. and honey of course you know you just played to like 300 ,000 people but you don't want to tour really because it's taxing but what about a residency oh that's even more taxing oh is it if it's in some place like Vegas it's a desert whenever I played Vegas we did 10 days at Celine's theatre before she opened Caesar's Palace I love that you call it Celine's Theatre.

35:29I love that. Yeah, it was. She opened that theatre. And kudos to her because she spent a long time in Vegas. And she doesn't lip sync because a lot of people that do Vegas will lip sync their show. Right, okay. But I was in the room with 27 humidifiers the entire day just watching my voice. That's not fun. You know what? I've done a lot of things and what I love about being this age is like I tell my husband I didn't work this hard to work this hard so you know so I will pick and choose yeah and it's really luxurious and I love it because it's not one thing as you know touring is like boot camp for the singer yeah you can't go to restaurants because you'll speak above the din you're not using technique and then you can ruin your voice like I have doing all these interviews during these days I did the whole show It was fabulous I was fine afterwards And then we threw a little party We were so celebrating And the DJ was wonderful But so loud And I had let those fans in To take pictures And talking to them I was like Screaming over this music But yeah It's hard I'm going to figure out a way Like what they're doing With ABBA over here We're going to go see The show tonight Oh it's so good You'll love it Yes I'm excited It's fantastic You actually believe Yeah, so Emilio is working with these people that created this show.

36:57And this makes total sense because you have so many albums. How many albums are you up to now? I believe, and I don't count them, but this is my 30th studio album. There's a lot of content there. There's a lot of catalogue to go through. There's a lot. And we have so much video footage that I've never even seen that Emilio documents and keeps everything. I wish I'd done that. We have a whole room of library of, in every format possible. Oh, my God, that looks delicious. Oh, Lord. Do you use, you know, we marinate a lot in Cuban food. Do you? We do. And we use bitter orange. Oh, okay. It's a wonderful marinade with the garlic.

37:44Yeah. And the bitter orange. and you, you know, like rub it into the chicken, leave it overnight and cook it the next day. Delicious. How do you get cooked? Which bit of the chicken would you like? Whichever one you want to give me. There's breast, there's thighs, there's legs. I can't like the dark meat. Oh, my God, that looks delicious. Oh, the sausage is in there. Yummy. Oh, my God. I think my team is salivating over there. They can have salivating. Wow. Don't do too much because you don't want to be shooting rice across the room. I'll take a breast. It's good. Yeah, yeah, fine. See, that's what's great.

38:22Emilia likes a breast. I like the dark meat. Let's talk about Emilio a bit because I thought he was maybe coming today. Is he in London? He's in London, but poor thing. First of all, he's exhausted. I don't know why because I'm the one doing all the talking. But he gets up very early and we've been going to bed late. No, but the main reason was, well we leave tomorrow back to Miami and Sunday is my daughter-in-law's birthday. So I told him please go out and get her a gift. She will love it. Something from London. Shops. Shopping. And he's going to buy another suitcase so for sure he's going to come back with clothes for me because I'm missing some hormone or gene that I don't like shopping.

39:05What's wrong with me? So your husband shops for you as well? And he knows what looks good on me. He just brings me all this clothes and then I'll try it on at home and if something doesn't he'll change it for me. So this guy not only writes you an album when you don't fancy writing because you're too busy you know writing a musical because you are incredibly capable he also goes shopping for you. He does and he loves it. And he films you and does he take a good photo of you Gloria? He does. He's the only man in the world that takes a good photo of his partner. He does but he's a producer you know that's his bag like that's he loves that and he's always watching out for my lighting and all.

39:41I directed the two videos for this album. Yeah, it was pop there. Since I couldn't see, they would bring me the monitor and I'm checking, okay, I like this shot, but he was over there making sure I would like some beans. Thank you. So good. Amelia sounds too good to be true. You know what? I wish I could clone him and sell him because everybody wants one. I wish you could. Yeah, mum's in the... I'm in the market for Amelia. You are. Oh, well, he's a yenta too, so. Look how tender that chicken is. Gloria's happy. Yeah, this is my happy dad. For people that aren't watching this on YouTube, Gloria is dancing with her fork and sway.

40:22People know that when I do this, I'm a happy girl. I love rice. Me too. I love all rices. Just like there's not a potato I didn't like. The ground basmati rice. Oh, I love it. It's very healthy. This is wonderful. Good. Do you have a sweet tooth? Emilio has a sweet tooth. I would rather savoury than sweet, but I love chocolate. Yeah. I love, of the Cuban desserts, flan. My grandma was an expert. And I love custard, that kind of creamy thing. Flan is creme caramel. Oh, okay. Yes. When we come to Miami, where are we going to eat? Well, you can come to my restaurant. Yeah, let's talk about it. What's on the menu?

41:07We own the Cardozo Hotel. We bought that like 30 years ago. And on Monday, they're going to name the street 13th Street, which is my lucky number. They're going to call it Gloria Estefan Way, which is really cool. That's amazing. That's so nice. But we have a restaurant in there called Call Me Cuban. And the chef is Cuban, but he studied in France. Oh. So he does the most incredible mixes. Like, I love oxtail. My grandma would make the best oxtail ever. And he will take that and he'll stuff ravioli with the oxtail. Makes it easy to eat because, you know, oxtail, you got to get rid of all the slime.

41:46Oh, it's so good. My grandma was the best. And funny enough, that Cardozo Hotel, I have a picture of my dad and me and my mom and his sister and my cousin on the beach in front of the Cardozo when I was like three. And the day we closed on the hotel that we bought it officially, I tell my mom, Mom, you know, Emilia and I just invested. We bought the Cardozo. And she says, oh, my God, that's the hotel that when we went to that beach outing, because my mom hated the beach, so it was her one and only beach outing. She goes, you turned around and you told your dad and pointed to that hotel and said, when I'm big, I'm going to buy you that hotel.

42:26No, you didn't. I did. and there it is. That's so romantic. It's crazy. That is crazy. Is there anything that you feel you haven't done yet that you would like to do? Well, our professional dream would be to sing in a free Cuba, throw a celebratory concert there. But honestly, what I'd love is just more vacation time with my family. So we're going to ask you, Well, you can start thinking about it, your last supper. Not in the most bleak sense of the word. Yeah, no. You're going off to a desert island for a very, very long time. I've already thought about it. Okay. It would be chicken for cuisine with rice and beans, an avocado salad and flan for dessert.

43:17I love it because it has the potatoes. You just get it done, Doris, Stefan. You literally, you just gave us the quickest last supper. Just bang, bang, bang. What's your drink of choice? My drink of choice? You mean alcoholic drink? Yeah. I make a mean Cosmos. I know. Do you know this is Lenny's favourite drink? It's my very favourite drink. I'm going to give you the recipe. Okay. You are going to love it. Every time I go to a party of my family, they will bring the Cosmos and I'll make them in A big picture. Jugs like this, four gallon jugs. Four gallons. And we will go through them, like for my birthday weekend, we went.

43:53That would just start me off, four gallons. What is the secret to the Gloria Estefan Cosmo? I prefer Cointreau to Grand Marnier. So it's one part vodka. I like to use Grey Goose L 'Orange. This is not a paid political thing. No, you're going to have to make one in a minute. You don't have to drink it, but you may have to make us the Gloria. So what I do is I'll take that jug and I'll fill it with big ice cubes that don't melt easily. I keep the vodka in the freezer. So then I'll fill. Let's say you take two cups of vodka. It's a quarter of that of Cointreau. So it will be... Two cups, not triple sec.

44:40Sometimes people use triple sec. I prefer Cointreau. Me too. I prefer Cointreau. Then I will do equal parts orange juice to vodka and equal parts... No, equal parts cranberry juice, but the juice, not the cocktail mix thing. Okay. Proper cranberry juice. Yeah, in Miami, I mean in the States, we have one called Northland and it's the juice. We have ocean spray. Okay, that's fine or not. Yeah, but it's not the same. It's not the same, but you can use it in a pinch. That's what they use at bars. They don't spend the money on. Yeah, but it's slightly sweetened. It's good for your black. Personally, I think that's why everybody wakes up the next day fresh as a daisy.

45:21Yeah. it rushes rushes through your kidneys it's very good so it's actually you'll say it's actually good for you it's good for you yeah so then I also add half part of either 7up or Sprite or really yes or if you want to be you know healthy you can use Perrier yeah I don't waste my time on the Perrier I will do half of 7up or Sprite then the juice of four Or if it's the two gallons, it'll be the juice of either two very juicy limes. Oh, you put lime in yours as well. Absolutely. Yeah, you've got to. No, I've never put lime in mine. Yes, lime. I take orange zest, squeeze the orange zest in, and then put the orange peel in.

46:07I use the juices and then a splash. If you're going to do the gallons, it'll be like an eighth of a cup of grenadine. I love that you're making for like an army. I love this. It's not just like one dimmove. They love them. Who taught you this, Cosmo? Well, I had tasted it. You know, did you ever watch Sex and the City? Of course. Oh, okay. That's why I looked about it. I got curious about it, and I would taste it, or we'd have that drink if we went somewhere, and I felt so good the next day. I go, hmm, let me see. So I tasted it. I looked at the recipe, and then I thought, hmm, for me, I started tweaking it and perfecting it.

46:48It took me a bit of time. And everybody, I send them the recipe. They love it. They make it. But ideally, what I do is I'll make it the day before and put it in the freezer. Oh, wow. So that when you serve it, it's got that nice little, you know, icy thing on the top of the cosmos. You must send us this recipe. And we are going to film ourselves. I have it in my phone. I will do it to you. I love it. Let me see again how delicious that was. Oh, glorious. Oh, my God. Stefan loves your cooking, Mom. I've got a bit of pud. It's like a cake. you can have a tiny slither you don't have to have it of course I can okay okay I love you I love you no I'm not gonna say no I actually don't know if the recipe I'm really bad at baking but it's a recipe so if it's crap you baked it I did alright let's see but is it a cheesecake kind of thing it's um it's a blackberry crumble cake oh so it's made with yogurt and oil that's healthy yeah yeah I did avocado oil instead but I'm worried the taste will be weird But blackberries in season and then it's done like a little crumble on top.

47:53I don't know. It's not my recipe, so I'm kind of like, and I'm crap at baking. Do I slice or are we going to let mom slice? Whatever you want. Do you want to slice? I'll take a sliver. I'll get you a slice. I want the tiniest sliver, please, Laura. Yes. You and I are in the same situation. Okay. Yeah, in the same industry, aren't we? Yeah. Yeah, but you know what? At this point, I don't care. I don't care. That's the beauty of being my age. Let them eat cake. So you have performed to six different presidents. I have. Can I ask, who gave the best food? Who did the best spread? Well, it's always the same.

48:28You know that when presidents come in and out, the White House staff does not. Because they're the ones that know where everything is. Emilio goes there and everybody knows him from all the times he's been in. Do you think you need a knife? Or can you manage? No, I think I can. Well, let's see. No, let's open it up. I don't think this woman. Well, I don't know about this, though. Here we go. Don't worry. I'm so scared it's either not cooked or like... Well, it's cooked. Okay, too cooked. No, no. Okay. Are you assuming that you've been bad at something? No, I'm really bad at baking. Is that too little?

49:03That's fine. That's perfect. Let me just taste before you have to put it in your lips. No. Like, yeah, a bit bigger. You've got to taste your daughter's cake. Do you want creme fraiche? It's actually not bad. No, thank you. It's not bad. So the White House, it's always the same food? It's the same food. They cook it. But the most fun we had was performing mi tierra for Barack Obama, who also gave us the Medal of Freedom, first time a couple gets it, the highest honour that a civilian can get in the States. And my father took me to the States to be in freedom, So that day was so emotional for both Emilio and I.

49:47And my mom was watching on television from Miami. That was a very special moment. And he had a giant party celebrating Hispanic music before that. How did you celebrate? Celebrate the medal? Yeah. Did you celebrate with Barack and Michelle or did you go out after? No, we did a lot. There was a party afterwards. that day that I got the medal Spielberg got one Streisand got one she said to me you know you're pretty young to be getting this medal and I go well I'll take that as a compliment because I'm not as young as you think I am do you think she was a bit jealous? no well she's just she's Barbara okay what's Barbara Streisand like when you meet her?

50:38when two divas collide she's pretty insular like she's not she won't go out of her way she's quite reclusive yeah yeah i mean i i started listening to her audiobook because i like to read i read very fast but i wanted to hear her voice but also how far in it you know because it's never ending i'm doing the audio and it's really nice listening to her because she adds things to it as well yes oh yeah i forgot about that squad and you're like oh yeah i love it but i love it but yeah i just fell off because of work but i will look now you're reminding me on the you've reminded me too you know i don't sleep on any moving vehicle since i had that accident my my subconscious won't surrender no matter how tired i am for people that don't know uh gloria on your way to a concert and you were hit by a truck and paralyzed yeah march 20 1990 i just sold out world tour we were at the top of our game and from one moment to the next boom back broken the fear that i had because my dad had been in a wheelchair so that was one of my biggest fears you were in a wheelchair for how many months for a bit uh you know until my doctor thought it was nothing short of a miracle but i knew that it had to do with that's the first time I really experienced what prayer does because there were so many people worldwide praying for me and I felt it like uh like an energy like a I felt like electricity like I was plugged into the wall and I would absorb it and imagine nerves reconnecting I'm spiritual.

52:22I was raised Catholic, nun school, the whole thing. But I do believe that everything is God, that we are all a piece of God. And God is going to express himself in every possible way. Hence, everything will happen. And that's why I think that we are collectively creating with our thoughts. I think we're incredibly powerful beings, are reality. And we can create for good and we can create not good. So since I don't believe that death is the end, it's almost like if you're in a play or a movie, if they kill you off in the movie, you're still alive. So you're living the life that you chose for the experiences and for the learning and we're all doing it together.

53:16if we could realize this and accept each other as part of each other, we could make this place so much better. But it's like school, I think. That's what I think. But I am spiritual in that way. Gloria, which song do people want to hear most when they go to a Gloria Estefan concert? Well, you'd have to ask my fans. But probably Conga. It's such a mouthful, though. I've tried. And I, you know, come my baby. It's such a mouthful. Dua Lipa just did it on her tour in Miami. I am so bummed because she invited me to do it with her on stage. And I was not in town. I was rehearsing for the show in Madrid.

54:03And I was so bummed. But that is the sexiest conga I've ever seen in my life. The sexiest, hands down. And I was really honored that she would, you know. She did a good job. She did. Quickly as well. She got all the words out. She's a pro that do-a-leaping. She did it. But let me tell you, we have a tiny desk. You know where a tiny desk is? We have a tiny desk coming out. And the version, we did a very unique way to do conga, and it is even faster. Oh, my goodness. I just wait till you hear that. You know, you have to do little snippets, and you have one, Mike, there's no monitors. I know. I did it and I really regret I did it 10 years ago and they never have people come back and I feel like I've got so many more songs that I could do on Tiny Desk now but you know what, they're going to run out of people and they're going to have to start coming back did you have a good experience with Tiny Desk?

54:58I did, we did it because there's El Tiny because they highlight the Latin part for like a month for Hispanic Heritage so these people have been trying to invite me to the show for years but I kept saying like but I don't have anything new right now why would you know I'm gonna wait till the right moment and boy was this ever the right moment it's just everything clicked in and my 50th year it's it all worked great but it's a challenge for musicians you've got to cut everything down you know you don't have monitors for the band it's not that bad but for singers like literally not even a little speaker gloria estefan before we let you go which i don't really want to because i'm taking no credit apart from you made it i did make it you have kids right i have three yeah how old are they nine six and four they'll love this yeah they actually they would yeah yeah okay i'll make sure that i bring some back for them You've got to.

56:05Take it all, darling. I'll say Mother Gloria said. I just want to ask you before you go, what is a nostalgic taste that can transport you back somewhere? Oh, my gosh. Croquetas. Yeah? Your grandma's? Croquetas, my grandma's croquetas. I will forever be judging everyone's croquetas, looking down my nose at them. Thank God we didn't do croquetas. They use, well, it depends. She would make them of ham and the bechamel sauce, which is to die for. She would make them out of cod, the salted cod with chicken. She would make them out of chicken. But she just, it was just perfection in a croqueta and a tamal.

56:48You know, a lot of Latin American countries have their own version of tamales. In Mexico, certainly. Venezuela has, they call it ayakas. But the cube in tamal is corn, right? Corn. And I love tamal en cazuela. I think that even more so, which is tamal, but it's in a pot. It's almost like if you made a pudding out of the corn, but not sweet, just the corn. And then you could either put lechon, like the pork with it, or crab or anything on top of it. They eat it in New Orleans. It's delicious. What language do you talk to your husband in? Spanish. Yes, Spanish. Absolutely. He's so funny. He changes words because he'll say whatever occurs to him first.

57:37Okay. Like, for example, Aretha Franklin adored him, right? Mm-hmm. But when he talks to me, he calls her Urethra Franklin. Oh, my goodness. And I go, babe, that's even harder. I don't understand. And why is that word stuck in your head? Since when do you use the word urethra? Like that kind of thing. It's constant. It is constant. He'll say, I had a night mirror last night. Night mirror? Night mirror. Not a nightmare. Not a nightmare. He's just so funny, even when he's not intending. It's so endearing to me. I have a list of emiliadas. Emiliadas. He's very absent-minded, but for business. Because he's all business, but for normal life.

58:26Oh, my gosh. And do your kids just talk to you in Spanish as well? In English, probably. And with Sasha, I really had to make it a point to speak to him in Spanish because English is easy for me. I was two when I went to the States. So, and it depends. We talk in Spanish too. We go back and forth. It's Spanglish. We literally mix words in one sentence. When you say things in Spanish, it sounds so exotic, doesn't it? It's romantic. It's romantic. The love songs in Spanish, you know, you can't be too sweet or too romantic in Spanish and English. You have to be careful because then they'll say, oh, it's saccharine.

59:04How could love be saccharine? But if you're too expressive in English, it's a problem. So I love to be able to live in both worlds. But for ballads and romance, oh, the Spanish. The Corathon. The Corathon. I was seeing a Spanish guy for a bit and he would like. What should you want to say? When I wasn't with Sam. Okay. You were with Sam. Some other moment. No, we had like two years off. Okay. And he gave me Pablo Neruda poetry. Oh, my God. That's so beautiful. Yeah, like, see? Spania's like, yeah. But you could say things like if I say, arroz con pollo. What's that mean? Chicken and rice.

59:49Gloria Estefan, you are amazing. Thank you so much. Thank you for coming here. Thank you and thank you for that delicious meal. Oh, my gosh. Can't wait to see. That really was wonderful. Good. You could have a restaurant if you want to. No, I don't think so. Nor do you want to. Can't wait to see the new musical. Thank you so much. I'm super psyched. Can we come? Of course. And when you decide that you fancy doing a little gig, just let us know, okay? I'll do things here and there. Okay. Like, you know, I will be out there. I like to connect with the fans and, you know, just say, hey. For Spain it was wonderful Because I literally went on Spotify I checked all the charts For the past 25, 30 years And saw what the top Songs of my catalogue Because I can't do every song It's impossible I love that you can just check Where you were in the charts We'll be doing the backing on 1, 2, 3 Exactly Come on baby say you love me 5, 6, 7, 9 I love that Sesame Street use that as a counting game for kids.

1:00:53Oh, yes! Oh, my God! Absolutely. I'm going to do it with baby. Yes! And, you know, I love to do parodies of my own songs. And one that would go with this meal would be Anything for food. Yay! Just bring it here. I haven't said I'm through. And where's my beer? I've been waiting for so long. All my appetizers gone. And still my hunger pangs are strong. That's just the beginning. Fantastic. Thank you for this. Thank you.

1:01:38I think we may have just met the most warm, fabulous icon, pop star, mother, grandmother. She just stayed, by the way. She has a really busy day today. She's going to Abba Voyage later. She's about to go and do a junket at her label. She has been on the breakfast radio show this morning. She is exhausted, probably. And she still signed everything and talked and kept on talking. I just, you didn't hear me just talking to her about all her pets. She has a parrot who mimics everyone in the house. she says that the parrot goes then like come on puppy then when she's the parrot's talking to her husband she's amazing i'm sure we could do a part two if she ever wants us to come to miami we will have a part two i love gloria estefan and i actually feel like she's like an unreal icon because not only has she's been so successful she's like the most down-to-earth woman Jessie I think you have to have one of her songs in your new repertoire I'm going to do a cover Yeah Of a Gloria song Toy Boy It's called Love Toy Love Toy Okay And mum just asked what Love Toy was about Actually I haven't listened to all the work Gloria said well it's about I said a vibrator A guy that's like a vibrator You're my love toy No batteries required Wind me up and I'll start to move And mum was like what's it about anyway she's amazing Gloria Estefan just gave us everything that I needed and so much more the stories yeah she loved the meal good good idea Jess thank you did it taste okay executed excellently mum good darling and Sophie Weiberg's cake was really I hate to use the word moist but delicious make me feel a bit faint but delicious and I'm just absolutely reeling over And she sang.

1:03:39And she sang. Well done, Mum. I love her. Thank you to everyone who just listened to a completely gorgeous episode. We'll see you next week for another round of Table Manners and more meeting of icons, I guess. Thank you for listening.

1:04:24We'll be right back.

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