Gloria Estefan Completes Comeback on This Date in 1991 With Debut of ‘Coming Out of the Dark’

Gloria Estefan came to prominence as the face and voice of Miami Sound Machine throughout the 1980s, but it was as a solo artist in March of 1990 that Estefan's life was nearly taken in a bus crash that would take her slowly "coming out of the dark" to overcome.

Gloria Estefan went from Cuban immigrant to top-selling pop star as a solo artist, only to see it all nearly taken away in the blink of an eye.  A collision between her tour bus and an 18-wheeler on snowy roads in Pennsylvania forced surgeons to implant titanium rods into her spine just for a chance at walking again.

Through countless hours of painful rehabilitation, Estefan recovered to the point where she was able to get into the recording studio to record what was considered a concept album, Into the Light.   In January of 1991 Gloria Estefan returned to the stage on The American Music Awards to debut "Coming Out of the Dark", an autobiographical look at her life returning to the stage.

Photo by Debra Lex/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images[/caption]The song went to #1 on this date (3/30) in 1991, where it stayed for two weeks.  Estefan has stayed in the public eye in the years to follow, in music, film, television and as the author of childrens' books.