A Heartbreaking Accident Inspired This Incredible Gloria Estefan Anthem

Gloria Estefan began her incredible career in the middle of the 1970s with Miami Sound Machine. By the end of the 1980s, Estefan embarked on her successful solo career with Cuts Both Ways, her debut solo album.

Cuts Both Ways includes “Don’t Wanna Lose You”, Estefan’s first solo single and first No. 1 hit. Estefan had other hits after “I Don’t Wanna Lose You”, including “Get On Your Feet” and “Here We Are”. But her big breakout single as a solo artist came in 1991 with “Coming Out Of The Dark”.  The song is on her sophomore Into The Light record. Estefan, her husband, Emilio Estefan, and Jon Secada are the writers of “Coming Out Of The Dark”.

“Coming Out Of The Dark” says in part, “It’s been hands against stone / Each and every moment / Searching for what to believe / Coming out of the dark / I finally see the light now / And it’s shining on me.”

This song became a two-week No. 1 hit for Estefan. Sadly, the song, one of Estefan’s most successful solo singles, was inspired by a heartbreaking accident.

The Accident That Inspired Gloria Estefan to Write “Coming Out Of The Dark”

In March of 1990, Estefan was seriously injured in a bus accident when her bus was hit by a tractor-trailer. Estefan was told she may never walk again. Fortunately, she did, albeit following extensive surgery and several months of rehab. 

The day of the accident, in what seems to be a fortuitous premonition, her husband wrote the title on a piece of paper.

“First of all, if a tragedy happens, there’s gotta be some kind of purpose for it. For me…there’s gotta be some kind of purpose for this,” Estefan reveals. “I need that. There has to be a testimony of this; there has to be something out of this.”

Her husband knew that she also needed to get back to music. It’s what led her to writing and recording “Coming Out Of The Dark”.

“So, he gives me this piece of paper that’s all washed and faded and wrinkled,” Estefan recounts. “And I go, ‘What’s this?’ He goes, ‘Babe, I think it’d be good for you if you came to the studio.’ Jon Secada is there waiting for me.” 

 “I look at [the paper], and I go, ‘Why is this in English?’ Because it said, ‘Coming Out Of The Dark.’ And he wrote those words on [that] piece of paper,” she adds.

Photo by Mick Hutson/Redferns