"Alex is a phenomenal writer and we're lucky that we hired him before he won the Oscar. As well as scheduling issues, he'd have been way more expensive!"
Even before Gloria met Emilio in 1975, music was a big part of her life and she recalls her introduction to it: "I was just four or five years old. I was actually quite shy, but music was my love and it would transport me. The old Cuban standards were always playing in our house and I sang as soon as I could talk."
Later on, as a teenager, it was the influx of British rock that made her heart beater faster. "I remember pulling into a laundromat parking lot with my mother and hearing Ferry Cross The Mersey," recalls Gloria. "My hair stood on end and I didn't want to get out of the car, I was so enraptured. That song really is like a Bolero in its rhythm.
It seems like music was always going to be where Estefan made her money and years later, after collaborating with Emilio she remembers telling him "I think we're gonna be famous and I think we're gonna be famous all over the world'. She adds, "I believed so strongly in the music and I didn't know how it was going to happen, but I just knew something was gonna happen."
"That's the point of the show - to connect with people on a very human level, which is what we've always tried to do through our music," explains Gloria.
"I also love how it surprises people. They go in expecting one thing and they come out feeling everything we'd hoped, which is a connection and having been on an emotional journey."
"I was awake for it and afterwards, as I lay on the floor, I was in so much pain I was praying I'd faint but I never did. I remember everything except the actual breaking of my back.
"I grew up taking care of my wheelchair-bound father so I knew what my family might have to face with me. I didn't care about getting back on stage. I just wanted to be independent and walk again.
"Then I started getting all these letters from people. They kept throwing the song Get On Your Feet back in my face."
After a long career, Gloria has a lot to be proud of but when asked, she says her proudest achievement is staying true to who they were.
"What I tell every young artist is 'They're gonna try and change you'", adds Gloria. "One time they even told Emilio 'Lose the singer!' because it was the time of bands with male leads.
"The record company even told Emilio to get rid of the horns and the percussion section. But we said 'This is who we are' and we fought to stay true to that.
"I'm proud that we were able to manoeuvre our way into the business without compromising. I remember saying 'I can deal with failure if it's something you really believe in, but dealing with success when you're making music you don't like or that's not true to you is gonna be really hard'.
On Your Feet UK Tour Dates
BIRMINGHAM HIPPODROME
3 SEPTEMBER 2019 7 SEPTEMBER 2019
BOX OFFICE 0844 338 5000
PLYMOUTH THEATRE ROYAL
9 SEPTEMBER 2019 14 SEPTEMBER 2019
BOX OFFICE 01752 267222
NOTTINGHAM THEATRE ROYAL
16 SEPTEMBER 2019 21 SEPTEMBER 2019
BOX OFFICE 0115 989 5555
SUNDERLAND EMPIRE
30 SEPTEMBER 2019 5 OCTOBER 2019
BOX OFFICE 0844 871 3022
EDINBURGH FESTIVAL THEATRE
7 OCTOBER 2019 12 OCTOBER 2019
BOX OFFICE 0131 529 6000
SHEFFIELD LYCEUM THEATRE
15 OCTOBER 2019 19 OCTOBER 2019
BOX OFFICE 0114 249 600
WALES MILLENNIUM CENTRE
CARDIFF
21 OCTOBER 2019 26 OCTOBER 2019
BOX OFFICE 029 2063 6464
MANCHESTER PALACE THEATRE
28 OCTOBER 2019 2 NOVEMBER 2019
BOX OFFICE 0844 871 3019
BELFAST OPERA HOUSE
11 NOVEMBER 2019 16 NOVEMBER 2019
BOX OFFICE 028 9024 1919
NORWICH THEATRE ROYAL
19 NOVEMBER 2019 23 NOVEMBER 2019
BOX OFFICE 01603 63 00 00
CANTERBURY MARLOWE THEATRE
20 JANUARY 2020 25 JANUARY 2020
BOX OFFICE 01227 787787
MILTON KEYNES THEATRE
11 FEBRUARY 2020 15 FEBRUARY 2020
BOX OFFICE 0844 871 7652
LIVERPOOL EMPIRE
17 FEBRUARY 2020 22 FEBRUARY 2020
BOX OFFICE 0844 871 3017
KING'S THEATRE GLASGOW
2 MARCH 2020 7 MARCH 2020
BOX OFFICE 0844 871 7648
ABERDEEN PERFORMING ARTS
10 MARCH 2020 14 MARCH 2020
BOX OFFICE 01224 641122
WOLVERHAMPTON GRAND THEATRE
17 MARCH 2020 21 MARCH 2020
BOX OFFICE 01902 42 92 12
LEEDS GRAND THEATRE
23 MARCH 2020 28 MARCH 2020
BOX OFFICE 0844 848 2700
MAYFLOWER THEATRE
SOUTHAMPTON
31 MARCH 2020 4 APRIL 2020
BOX OFFICE 02380 711811
NEWCASTLE THEATRE ROYAL
13 APRIL 2020 18 APRIL 2020
BOX OFFICE 08448 11 21 21
HULL NEW THEATRE
27 APRIL 2020 2 MAY 2020
BOX OFFICE 01482 300 306