Gloria Estefan is a singer, actress, and businesswoman of Cuban descent.
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On March 20, 1990, while touring in support of Cuts Both Ways near Scranton, Pennsylvania, Estefan was critically injured, suffering a fractured spine, when a semi-truck collided with the tour bus she was in during a snowstorm.
Estefan was on her way back from a meeting with President George Bush to discuss her involvement in an anti-drug campaign.
She was taken to the Intensive Care Unit at Community Medical Center in Scranton and then flown by helicopter the next day to the Hospital for Joint Diseases at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City, where she underwent surgery that included the placement of two titanium rods to stabilize her vertebral column.
Her recovery included nearly a year of intense physical therapy, and she admitted that “there were times when the pain was so bad I prayed I’d pass out.” She did, however, recover completely.
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Estefan released the concept album Into the Light in January 1991. That same month, she received a standing ovation for her first performance of “Coming Out of the Dark” at the American Music Awards, ten months after the accident.
The album eventually went double platinum in the United States and platinum in the United Kingdom.
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