page_title: Gloria Estefan
section_title: 1989–1990: Cuts Both Ways and tour bus collision
hierarchical_section_title: Gloria Estefan / Career / 1989–1990: Cuts Both Ways and tour bus collision
caption_attribution_description: Gloria Estefan at a rehearsal for the Grammy Awards (cropped)917
context_page_description: Gloria Estefan is a Cuban-American singer, songwriter, actress and businesswoman. A contralto, she started her career as the lead singer in the group Miami Latin Boys, which later became known as Miami Sound Machine.
  Estefan experienced worldwide success with "Conga" in 1985. The song became Estefan's signature song and led to the Miami Sound Machine winning the grand prix in the 15th annual Tokyo Music Festival in 1986. In the middle of 1988, she and the band got their first number-one hit with the song "Anything for You".
  In March 1990, Estefan had a severe accident in her tour bus. She made her comeback in March 1991 with a new world tour and album called Into the Light. Her 1993 Spanish-language album, Mi Tierra, won the first of her three Grammy Awards for Best Tropical Latin Album. It was the first number-one album on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart, established when it was released. It was also the first Diamond album in Spain.
context_section_description: In late 1989, she released her best-selling album to date, Cuts Both Ways. The album included the hit singles "Don't Wanna Lose You" (Hot 100 No. 1 hit), "Oye Mi Canto", "Here We Are", "Cuts Both Ways" (No. 1 on the U.S. Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart), and "Get on Your Feet".
  While touring in support of Cuts Both Ways on March 20, 1990, near Scranton, Pennsylvania, Estefan was critically injured, suffering a fractured spine when a semi-truck crashed into the tour bus she was in during a snowstorm. Estefan was returning from a meeting with President George Bush to discuss participation in an anti-drugs campaign. She was taken to Community Medical Center's Intensive Care Unit and the next day was flown by helicopter to New York City, where surgeons at the Hospital for Joint Diseases at NYU Langone Medical Center permanently implanted two titanium rods to stabilize her vertebral column. Her rehabilitation required almost a year of intensive physical therapy and she noted that "there were times when the pain was so bad I prayed I'd pass out." However, she achieved a complete recovery and returned to an international tour 10 months after the collision.
caption: Gloria Estefan at the Grammys in 1990.
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