Pod Insights Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware Gloria Estefan About this episode We are truly honoured to host legendary music icon, Gloria Estefan this week. Fresh into London from Miami, Gloria joined us for lunch which we really wish could have lasted all day and night. We found out about her family escaping Cuba during the revolution, her legendary Cosmo recipe, working with her beloved husband Emilio, owning a hotel & restaurant in Miami and we discover what it is like performing to five US presidents (and who served the best food). I grew up listening to her music and was completely enthralled by everything she had to say. We could do this with Gloria every day and never get bored, she’s a superstar and the absolute perfect dinner party guest with endless fabulous stories! Mark my words Gloria, we will come and see you in Miami soon, thank you for popping round to Clapham. Gloria’s new album Raíces is out now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript 10,951 words · 4 speakers
Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
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0:35 Jessie Ware? Hello and welcome to Table Manners. I'm Jessie Ware and I'm here in Clapham in my mum's kitchen. Hi mum.
0:41 Speaker 02 Hi darling.
0:42 Jessie Ware? It's been an eventful 24 hours for you.
0:44 Speaker 02 It has.
0:45 Jessie Ware? What's happened?
0:46 Speaker 02 I'm crutches darling.
0:47 Jessie Ware? Crutch.
0:48 Speaker 02 No, I've got one upstairs and one downstairs.
0:51 Jessie Ware? Why don't you just have both upstairs?
0:53 Speaker 02 I don't know, but I managed with just one last night.
0:56 Jessie Ware? Why? What's happened?
0:57 Speaker 02 Just got a pain above my, in the middle of my knee that I couldn't put any weight on. But actually, the physiotherapists were extremely kind and saw me. But as I was walking from the car yesterday, a man saw me in the street wincing. He said, please take my arm.
1:12 Jessie Ware? Was he Australian? Oh right, that was very good.
1:15 Speaker 02 And he actually held me and he said, I'm really worried about this woman. There was tears running down my face because the pain was so bad. They had to put a chair out in the street.
1:26 Jessie Ware? But the show must go on.
1:27 Speaker 02 I've rallied.
1:29 Jessie Ware? And from one diva to another, we have the formidable Gloria Estefan coming on today.
1:39 Speaker 02 I'm so excited.
1:40 Jessie Ware? Me too, and you've even made food.
1:42 Speaker 02 We've loved her for a long time.
1:43 Jessie Ware? You used to play, well, we used to play Anything For You, the album that I think came out in 87. So, did you have it on tape? Is that why I know it so well? Because it was in the car?
1:56 Speaker 02 I don't know, probably.
1:57 Jessie Ware? But I loved it so much.
2:00 Speaker 02 We loved every song, knew all the words.
2:02 Jessie Ware? She just made you feel good. Yeah, well, we just put it back on. I was like, bloody hell, muscle memory. Anyway, we have Gloria Estefan coming on and we're really excited to have her. Let's go through some of the accolades of Gloria Estefan before she gets here. She's approaching forty albums, I think.
2:19 Speaker 02 You've got a long way to go then, Jess.
2:21 Jessie Ware? She has played the Super Bowl halftime show twice.
2:26 Speaker 02 I'm not surprised to get everyone going.
2:28 Jessie Ware? People say she is the most successful crossover artist, a Latina artist who, you know, has paved the way for people like Shakira, J Lo.
2:37 Speaker 02 Ricky Martin.
2:38 Jessie Ware? Ricky Martin. She has won infinite amounts of Grammys. She has her own Hollywood star on the pavement. She has made musicals. I think she's made a musical with her daughter, Emily, who is incredibly talented, who just went on tour with Cyndi Lauper.
2:57 Speaker 02 But do you know what her greatest achievement is?
3:00 Jessie Ware? What?
3:00 Speaker 02 Being a grandma.
3:01 Jessie Ware? Apparently she loves being a grandma. Anyway, I don't want to talk about everything about Gloria before she gets here, but she's coming straight from doing the conga in Radio Two with Bob Mortimer. So what have you made today, Mum, with your crutch?
3:15 Speaker 02 With my crutch? I stirred it with my cr- no, I didn't. I made an old Delia recipe, bass chicken, which you love.
3:22 Jessie Ware? You used to make this in the nineties, so I don't know whether it's all this nostalgia of like listening to Gloria in the eighties, nineties, and you always doing this for like a Sunday lunch.
3:30 Speaker 02 Well, it's kind of a Spanish twist to it, because it's got a bit of chorizo in.
3:34 Jessie Ware? Yeah. Are you gonna say torito?
3:37 Speaker 02 Torito. So it's just chicken with rambus martini rice, peppers, onions, garlic, olives and oranges.
3:46 Jessie Ware? Yum.
3:46 Speaker 02 And it's baking now in the oven, and I'm just gonna have a check in a minute.
3:50 Jessie Ware? And then when you were in emergency, I promise you, I did offer to help Mum cook today, but she said she had it under control, because that is the diva that you are.
3:59 Speaker 02 Yeah.
3:59 Jessie Ware? I have made, Sophie Weiberg, who I love, who's a really great cook, put up a story recipe on Instagram the other day. It looked really yummy and seasonal. It's a blackberry crumble yoghurt cake.
4:14 Speaker 02 Wow.
4:14 Jessie Ware? I have no idea what it tastes like, but I know what went into it, and it all sounds quite delicious.
4:19 Speaker 02 Great.
4:20 Jessie Ware? And you do this kind of streusel, like, crumble on top.
4:24 Speaker 02 So, one, two, three, four, come on, baby, say you love me.
4:29 Jessie Ware? Five, six, seven times.
4:32 Speaker 02 We're ready.
4:32 Jessie Ware? We are so ready. Gloria Estefan coming up on Daily Matters.
4:52 Jessie Ware? Gloria Estefan.
4:54 Speaker 03 So happy to be here, I'm thrilled.
4:56 Jessie Ware? I'm sorry, this is, you also are the most glamorous person I think we've ever had in Clapham.
5:01 Speaker 03 Really?
5:01 Jessie Ware? Yeah.
5:02 Speaker 03 Because that's not the word I would use for me. I am like so chill and happy and just a t-shirt and, and you know, sweatpants.
5:11 Jessie Ware? Well, you're giving icon today. It would be the hair and everything.
5:14 Speaker 03 Eva.
5:15 Jessie Ware? Well, I just have to say first up, you've just met our gorgeous cameraman director, David, who met his husband because of going to Spain and, and, and learning. Yes, and it's all so thanks, thanks to you. But also personally for us, I, when I was kind of re-listening to your music in preparation to chat to you, I realised I know basically all the lyrics to Anything For You, the album that came out in eighty-seven. And it was like something that, and it must have been on cassette, I think, because I don't know if CDs were albums.
5:49 Speaker 03 You're too young for a cassette.
5:51 Jessie Ware? No, I'm not. I'm forty-one.
5:54 Speaker 03 Well, well, yeah, my son saw some cassettes, but you saw the edge of it, the end of it.
5:59 Jessie Ware? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But we loved that album so much. And actually, it's something, and I sing and I'm really touched.
6:04 Speaker 03 I know you sing, I'm a big fan, I told you.
6:06 Jessie Ware? This is so sweet.
6:07 Speaker 03 It's not sweet, you have a beautiful voice. I love that dance, that groove, you've got great songs.
6:13 Jessie Ware? You are the queen of groove.
6:14 Speaker 03 Well, I don't know about the queen.
6:16 Jessie Ware? You are.
6:16 Speaker 03 The conga queen, that part, yes.
6:18 Jessie Ware? I saw you had to do the conga this morning.
6:20 Speaker 03 Oh my gosh, nobody told me, nobody gave me the memo. And I'm in these heels, but it was fun, it was a lot of fun.
6:26 Jessie Ware? It was, it, it, Radio Two, you were on.
6:28 Speaker 02 Jessie said, we played the songs this morning together, it's in the mood because we love you. And Jessie said, she loves a good intro. And I hadn't realised how fabulous the intros were.
6:40 Jessie Ware? Yeah, you actually allow the music to breathe. And we're not really allowed to do that anymore in pop music.
6:45 Speaker 03 People's attention spans are very short now. You have to have a single that's like two and a half minutes, two forty-five tops. Who can say what they want to say in that, you know, but. It's making a comeback because kids find that nostalgic and they are kind of rediscovering what came in the past and that's a beautiful thing. Everything comes around.
7:05 Jessie Ware? Do you feel like you're about to get a whole load of Gen Zs listening to you then? Or are they already? I'm sure they are.
7:11 Speaker 03 In different ways they are and now I'm going to get a whole bunch of little kids because of
7:15 Jessie Ware? Gabby's dollhouse.
7:16 Speaker 03 Gabby's dollhouse. I'm already getting it. When they've seen the movie, they run up to me, Grandma Gigi, they hug me. And I love that. I love being a grandma. I'm sure you do too.
7:25 Jessie Ware? Well, let's talk. There's a song on your new record.
7:28 Speaker 03 Yes.
7:28 Jessie Ware? Am I saying it correctly? Raices?
7:30 Speaker 03 Perfect.
7:31 Jessie Ware? Oh, okay, great.
7:32 Speaker 03 You're saying it. If now you can ask your director. But yes, that's perfect.
7:36 Jessie Ware? What does it mean, raices?
7:37 Speaker 03 It means roots.
7:39 Jessie Ware? Roots.
7:39 Speaker 03 Raices, those things that, you know.
7:42 Jessie Ware? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
7:43 Speaker 03 Roots connect underground, the trees. If there's a tree that's ill, another tree will send it love. And I think our cultural roots are that for us and we can't lose that. So it was important for Emilio and I for this full circle moment, actually fifty years.
7:59 Jessie Ware? This is your husband, who is like your collaborator forever.
8:02 Speaker 03 Forever. We've been married forty seven years, together forty nine, and working together fifty because he was my boss the first year and.
8:10 Jessie Ware? And now you're the boss, obviously.
8:12 Speaker 03 That's what he says, but it's a BS like that. We're a partnership all the way and, you know, so for us, our family, he's half Lebanese, half Spaniard from Galicia. My grandfather was Asturiano and our, my grandsons, the OGs, as I call them, the other grandparents, are Italian. He speaks fluent Italian. I think it just enriches the world, all this, you know, like a tapestry of colors and cultures and I find it fascinating.
8:44 Jessie Ware? So this record is predominantly in Spanish?
8:46 Speaker 03 Yes, yes.
8:47 Jessie Ware? But there is a song about your grandson.
8:49 Speaker 03 Yes.
8:50 Jessie Ware? That's English though, isn't it?
8:51 Speaker 03 My beautiful boy. It was born in English, but when I, I wrote it before I was even thinking of this album. I haven't. Been thinking about doing an album because I was writing a musical with my daughter.
9:03 Jessie Ware? Emily.
9:03 Speaker 03 Basura, Emily. She's.
9:05 Jessie Ware? She is so talented.
9:07 Speaker 03 She's a beast.
9:08 Jessie Ware? She, the percussion, I've seen, and wasn't she just on tour with Cindy Loufa?
9:11 Speaker 03 Yes, and she was actually with Carol G in, in Madrid.
9:16 Jessie Ware? Amazing.
9:17 Speaker 03 Playing percussion. You know, she tries to stay away from me and that's why she never really sang until she was eighteen.
9:23 Jessie Ware? But she can sing.
9:26 Speaker 03 When I, she came home from holiday the first semester, she went to Berklee College of Music. Cause it came naturally, but she also wanted to be the best she could be at everything. She comes home and she goes, Mom, I, I have to do something, but you can't look at me and you can't cry. I go, oh no, what's coming? So one o'clock in the morning. And we were alone at a beach house we have up there in Vero Beach. She makes me face the wall. She picks up my guitar and she sings Bed I Made by Alan Stone. And I always thought that she would sing one day because I could hear, you know, you can tell.
10:05 Speaker 03 A baby with their ear and they can sing and, but she would joke sing. She would never seriously sing. I go, it, it sounded like a forty year old heroin addict from the twenties that was singing because she was so. I said, the pain, the loss, the, the soulfulness, the crazy. I never expected that. So. When she went back, I please record this for your, you know, I wanna play it for your dad. I didn't tell him. And when she sends me the thing, I, I took, babe, listen to this. I discovered this amazing new singer. And he's listening and his hair's standing and he goes, who is that? And I go, your daughter.
10:45 Speaker 03 He freaked out. I did that to my mom as well. She was afraid that she would open her mouth and I would come out of it. And the timbre is there, of course, for the family, but. I wish I could do what she can do. Oh my god, she's amazing.
11:00 Jessie Ware? So did you not cry when you heard it?
11:02 Speaker 03 Of course I cried. I cried and I've cried every time since. And you know, it's beautiful to see your kids be better than you. And I know the measuring stick, you know, is there for her and my son. And that's rough, you know, when you have parents that have done so much different stuff.
11:23 Jessie Ware? Yeah.
11:23 Speaker 03 And then everybody's always gonna compare you, but I tell her, people watch you three minutes and I am out the window. There's like, you're, she's riveting. She played with me in the show in Madrid and people were floored.
11:36 Jessie Ware? Let's talk about this show in Madrid. So you're in Europe at the moment, but you went to Madrid. Can you explain why you were there? And how many people you performed with?
11:43 Speaker 03 Yes, oh my gosh. You know, I'm not touring. I've been toured worldwide since two thousand and four. You know how rough touring is for the singer. And I was touring fifteen years straight, so I had the opportunity to go and celebrate Hispanic Heritage Week there and the day, which was the day that I performed. And I thought, okay, you know, this album's in Spanish. I really wanna get back to the mother tongue. And we said yes, and it was free to the public. But it's, they had to move it because of the response it got. And we, it was three hundred thousand people in the audience.
12:20 Jessie Ware? So where was it held?
12:21 Speaker 03 It was held in Plaza Colón. And then they had screens on all the streets, so I could literally see all the streets, the whole plaza packed, all the streets going down. I could see people's eyes. I had fans from Britain that flew there. They flew from Australia, from Thailand, from all over. And I know them through, you know, Twitter. It'll always be Twitter to me. And then Emilio brought them in and put them, there was a security area for the president and all this stuff. And Emilio brought the fans and put them in front row and they were trying to, no, you can't do that. He goes, try and stop me. He goes, these are the people that deserve to be in the front row, not a bunch of government, you know, people.
13:05 Speaker 03 And it was, they were so happy. They came to see me on Graham Norton that we filmed last night and.
13:12 Jessie Ware? So, hon, you're like, uh, these are, I, would we call them super fans, like?
13:16 Speaker 03 Super fans.
13:17 Jessie Ware? So, and, and you will make sure that they have the front row seat?
13:21 Speaker 03 Absolutely. I, I'm kind of their mom now, you know?
13:25 Speaker 02 You recognize them when you see them.
13:27 Speaker 03 Of course I do.
13:27 Jessie Ware? You are mother. You are mother.
13:29 Speaker 03 And we talked through DMs on Twitter. They've told me their biggest problems. One of them was really ill and he told me before he told his mom because he wanted me to give him some ideas of how to do it and what to do and, yeah.
13:43 Jessie Ware? You don't, I mean, I think it's incredibly um, unique that you do that and I think it's beautiful. And I think it just shows that this is why you have such a connection with your fans, like, you know, David and, and, and, and, and so many, but the, and such a legacy, but is that not quite overwhelming sometimes?
14:02 Speaker 03 Well, I wish I could do more and that I had more time, but I realize, you know, that I can only do what I can do. I studied psychology and communication, so it's kind of like my way of.
14:12 Jessie Ware? Being a therapist.
14:13 Speaker 03 Exactly. I did it through the music, but I, it's nice to do it in person.
14:18 Speaker 02 When did the singing start?
14:20 Speaker 03 Oh, since I talk, that, that came with.
14:22 Speaker 02 Yeah.
14:23 Speaker 03 But not the performing part, because I don't like to be the center of attention. Believe it or not, I had to get used to that part. My mom was the diva. She was a singer. She was gonna be Shirley Temple's double in Hollywood. They had, she had won an international contest. And my grandma had her bags packed and ready to go and they said, only one parent can come. You, the other one has to give up rights to the child. And my grandfa- father said, no way. But my mom would walk into a room and light it up. She was just, so I, that wasn't my nature, but music was my catharsis.
15:01 Speaker 02 Were, were, were you born in Cuba?
15:03 Speaker 03 I was born in Cuba.
15:04 Speaker 02 And how long were you there for till, till you?
15:08 Speaker 03 The revolution, my dad was a police officer. And he was really good looking and very moral. He wouldn't take free anything. And so they chose him to be the motorcycle escort for the first lady. And the night of the revolution, he was at the presidential palace. They were having a giant party. And he came home and went into the bathroom, locked himself in. And my mom goes, what's happening? What's happening? And he said, ah, president just left the country. We're in trouble. And she told him, don't go back. He goes, I have to go back. I'm a police officer, you know? You'll be arrested, yes, but I have to go back. And he was arrested. Everybody that had anything to do with that government and his dad was also arrested.
15:53 Speaker 03 His brother, who was doing counter revolutionary things and when he, finally, when he was let out because they had no charges.
16:01 Speaker 02 Two years, two years later?
16:02 Speaker 03 That, no, that, no, that was the second time. So he came out maybe four months later. And he told my mom, I have to get you out of the country. I have to. And she said, I don't want to go without you. He goes, I'm gonna go first.
16:17 Speaker 02 How old were you then?
16:18 Speaker 03 I was two. He took the ferry from uh Havana to Key West. He got a job thinking he was gonna make fifty dollars a week and it was fifteen. He misunderstood because.
16:30 Speaker 02 Fifteen?
16:31 Speaker 03 Yeah, they told him fifteen and he, he thought fifty, but he made a lot of tips because he was very good looking. He was parking cars in a bar. And then we came, uh, my mom and I. They only allowed us one suitcase.
16:46 Speaker 03 And then he disappeared again and left my mom a note, I can't tell you where I'm going. You're gonna receive a check from the US government. Uh, here's a doctor's phone number. And yeah, he went to Bay of Pigs. It was his birthday, the day they landed in Cuba, April seventeenth of sixty-one, I believe.
17:08 Jessie Ware? I can remember that.
17:09 Speaker 03 And.
17:09 Jessie Ware? It was such a dramatic moment in our lives. We thought there was gonna be a full-scale war.
17:15 Speaker 03 Yeah.
17:15 Jessie Ware? Through the Bay of Pigs.
17:16 Speaker 03 And then he got jailed for the two years there.
17:19 Jessie Ware? That was so hard for you and your mom and of course, and him, of course.
17:24 Speaker 03 It was tough. And then he came back and the US government felt guilty about having abandoned them there because they trained them in the best equipment and then they gave them broken down stuff to actually do the invasion. And they said, any of you that learn, that know English, that learn English can come in as officers. And he was a military guy, so he did so. And then he went to Vietnam. And got sick with Agent Orange poisoning.
17:52 Jessie Ware? What, what is Agent Orange?
17:53 Speaker 03 Agent Orange was a defoliant that a big American company would like spread from planes. So that the trees would lose their leaves and the gorilla warfare. So they could see, but it got everybody. And if it kills a plant like that instantly, got in their nervous systems and there was a lot of guys, so. I spent my adolescence taking care of my dad because my mom worked during the day and then at night she would uh, study to get her teaching credentials revalidated. She had a PhD from Cuban education and she knew she had to get a better job because now she was the pretty much sole supporter. She worked hard.
18:35 Jessie Ware? Um, can we talk about kind of some food memories from your time? I mean, food's really important to you and obviously you were looking up and you were looking after your father. And what kind of food were you? Eating around the dinner table and who was, what's a memorable kind of uh picture of who was around the dinner?
18:54 Speaker 03 Well, eventually my grandma came from Cuba. I, when I left Cuba, she lost twenty five pounds. She was so depressed. So she ca- we got her out finally when her parents passed because she was taking care of them. And my grandmother had been the sous chef to her father, a chef to two presidents in Cuba. So she, when she came to the States, she thought food is the only way we're gonna be able to survive. So she kind of started an illegal restaurant in her house that abutted a baseball field. And the Cuban men would bring their, their boys and she, she was making five thousand dollars a weekend in the sixties in cash.
19:36 Jessie Ware? That's amazing.
19:37 Speaker 03 Famous in Miami for her croquetas and her tamales and the pork and I, she was an amazing cook. And I helped her in the kitchen. I grew up with her in the kitchen. So I can pretty much make up anything. I have a beautiful chef though. She's Dominican and it's delicious. But yeah, it was my mom, my grandma's cooking Cuban food. We couldn't afford.
20:01 Jessie Ware? Your preferred cuisine?
20:03 Speaker 03 Uh, everything is my preferred cuisine, which is a problem.
20:06 Jessie Ware? Yeah.
20:07 Speaker 03 I really love food, but when I was a kid, that's the only thing I tasted was Cuban food. And the first time we went to Japan, when we were promoting Dr. Beat and they gave me sushi. I, my grandma would have turned in her grave me eating raw fish, first of all. Raw, although I love raw meat. She'd bring the raw meat and I would eat it. And she goes, no, you can't eat that. It's not cooked. But when I pu- popped that in with that wasabi, I had never had a spicy thing in my life and it was on camera. Oh my gosh, I remember it was so funny. My ears went like, like the cartoons, woo, my eyes.
20:42 Jessie Ware? Do you like sushi?
20:42 Speaker 03 I love it. I love it. I love everything now, but back then, I mean, it was so what when you two years.
20:48 Speaker 02 Yeah. What did you, what did little children eat when they were small and just growing up?
20:54 Speaker 03 Well, uh, Cuban food, rice, the beans, they would puree it to make sure. Well, when I was a baby, they would puree everything and I got so bored because I had teeth. Where are they gonna give me chewing things? But they were so concerned about me being, you know, making sure I ate everything. That it was really detrimental. Now we know that babies can't even process anything other than fruit and milk or whatever. For six months and they were giving me black beans, rice, the chicken all in. And I would sit there like chewing, trying to chew this thing. Then I loved mango baby food. So when we went to the States, they didn't have that. My grandma would send it to me, would smuggle it from Cuba.
21:39 Speaker 03 She would go to the airport and saddle any pilot with a box of food, of mango baby fruit. And they'd knock on our door in our little apartment and there'd be a pilot standing there with a box. And in that box, she'd smuggle my mom's records because we couldn't take anything with us, her record collection.
21:57 Jessie Ware? Is your musical that you've made with your daughter about your life?
22:00 Speaker 03 No, uh, what we're working on is there's a place, Catedra, in Paraguay, in Asuncion, Paraguay. And it used to be a beautiful lake forty five years ago, and it is now the largest landfill in Latin America. And a lot of people live off the grid. So this environmental engineer went to try to make things better
22:25 Jessie Ware? Yeah.
22:25 Speaker 03 with recycling and all this, but it was in the magnitude
22:28 Jessie Ware? Yeah.
22:28 Speaker 03 was impossible. It's a place that also has. Fires, ash storms from when they burn trees in Argentina, they come straight over, floods, and he started a little music class with his violin. And the kids were so excited, so they started going to this music class. He tried to get more instruments. It was really hard that he couldn't afford it. So they started making instruments out of the trash. Because one of those kids, they used to sleep in the street, it didn't have parents, is on the spectrum and can speak to things, talk to him. They, he would lay at night and the stars would speak to him.
23:13 Speaker 03 He would see musical notes in the astrological signs and the stars. So now they, the school, they have like three hundred students. They built the school out of trash. They've played for Queen Sofia of Spain. They've played for the Pope, the previous Pope, and I think even John Paul, because they've been around a while. And we met them. It's such an uplifting story about how music can lift you out of, and make even the most difficult situations palatable because they've had success, but they don't leave. They go back. They have a strong sense of community and love and
23:55 Speaker 03 family. So we want, we've brought this to, I'm so excited about that.
24:00 Jessie Ware? Is it coming out in twenty twenty seven?
24:02 Speaker 03 It come, well, it comes out May of twenty six, in a few months, in Atlanta, in the Alliance Theater, because you always start off Broadway somewhere. And then hopefully soon after to Broadway, but we are so happy, we're thrilled. Plus secretly, I did it so I could spend more time with Emily.
24:19 Jessie Ware? That's why you do the podcast, isn't it, Mum?
24:21 Speaker 03 Yeah.
24:22 Jessie Ware? How was it working with her? I mean, did, was it testing with your relationship? Or is it quite a good partnership? Like, I mean, I guess you work your family all the time. Emilio is your longtime, you know, he's your, your husband, but he's produced and written this record.
24:35 Speaker 03 Yes, he has. He has, because I couldn't write. I was focused on Basura, which is the title. And except the song for Sasha that I had written before he even came to me with the idea. He brought me the song, right? He says, and I fell in love with it, but I told him, babe, I can't. I'm not you. I can't do, you know, fifty things at once. I need to focus. And he says, will you let me write it for you? And I go, please do. And I had already written the Sasha's song because he had gone to our beach house with me and we'd. I taught him how to boogie board and we were doing all these things.
25:08 Jessie Ware? How old is Sasha?
25:09 Speaker 03 He's thirteen now.
25:10 Jessie Ware? Right.
25:10 Speaker 03 Yeah.
25:10 Speaker 02 Thirteen. How many have you got?
25:12 Speaker 03 That's it.
25:13 Speaker 02 Just one?
25:13 Speaker 03 But that one is a good one.
25:14 Speaker 02 I need to get.
25:15 Speaker 03 I think his parents, my son is afraid of having another one because this one's so good. He's gonna go, oh, the next one's gonna get me. And I would pray that it would be like him to get some payback. Cause he, I didn't think I'd survive until he was eighteen.
25:32 Speaker 02 Your grandma quite young.
25:33 Speaker 03 Yeah, uh, yeah, it was. Um, but we, we love each other. We do things together all the time. And we had, when he left, I, I was writing for Basura, but he left and I was so nostalgic that I grabbed my guitar. And I wrote this song and then I called him and I go, baby, look, I finally wrote your song. Cause I knew one day I would. I don't like to push it, you know?
25:55 Jessie Ware? Yeah.
25:55 Speaker 03 Inspiration has to be natural and his dad and his mom, which were also on the line, they all cried. And I promised them I'd record it one day. So when we did this album, I wrote it in Spanish. And I included both versions. They each have their own magic.
26:12 Jessie Ware? Um, I would love to know, uh, you, we, you've talked about being a good, you, you learned from your grandmother, your abuela. Is that how you say it? Your abuela. Um, but if we were coming over to yours and maybe you were rustling up a meal for Lenny and I.
26:27 Speaker 03 Okay.
26:28 Jessie Ware? What would be on the menu? What would you be cooking for us?
26:30 Speaker 03 Oh, I'd make a paella, which is not Cuban.
26:34 Jessie Ware? God, now I'm scared that what we're eating today.
26:36 Speaker 03 What are we eating?
26:37 Jessie Ware? Well, it's not paella, but it's.
26:39 Speaker 02 Not paella.
26:39 Jessie Ware? With Basque chicken with rice.
26:41 Speaker 03 I love chicken and rice. That's my favorite food.
26:43 Jessie Ware? Okay, great.
26:44 Speaker 03 That is my favorite food.
26:45 Jessie Ware? Great.
26:45 Speaker 02 I think we'd work that out and we adapted the menu.
26:49 Jessie Ware? Um, but tell us, okay, so paella would be in there with the fish and the meat.
26:53 Speaker 03 Yeah, if you'd like, I mean, you can make it all seafood. My daughter and her partner are vegetarian, so I know how to make it that way too.
27:01 Speaker 02 How do you make a vegetarian pile?
27:03 Speaker 03 With vegetables and vegetable broth and mushrooms and, you know, savory mushrooms. You can have so many different mushrooms in there that are great. Um, yeah, but seafood is usually the way to go. Uh.
27:18 Speaker 02 Do you like seafood?
27:19 Speaker 03 I love seafood.
27:20 Speaker 02 What do you get that's really great in Miami?
27:22 Speaker 03 Is it anything crab, stone crabs?
27:25 Jessie Ware? Is it conch?
27:26 Speaker 03 Conch.
27:26 Jessie Ware? Conch.
27:27 Speaker 02 Yeah, conch is more. The Bahamas.
27:29 Speaker 03 Yeah, conch is more from the Bahamas.
27:32 Jessie Ware? Okay.
27:32 Speaker 03 Uh, but, you know, it's delicious.
27:34 Jessie Ware? I think I know about conch because when we went to Florida to see my cousins and they're from, um.
27:39 Speaker 03 Key West.
27:40 Jessie Ware? They're from, well, they're from the Bahamas and I think he'd gone over to the like Bahamas and and he'd gone and got and then he made us conch.
27:46 Speaker 03 Yes.
27:47 Jessie Ware? That's why I thought it was.
27:48 Speaker 02 Big conch shell.
27:48 Speaker 03 Yeah, they're very controlled because, you know, people will ruin everything, just like the lobster in Miami are very controlled. I have behind my house, which is on the bay, we put all this keystone to create a reef. And we have over a hundred fifty species of coral behind my house.
28:06 Jessie Ware? Wow.
28:06 Speaker 03 And the lobster have a blast because I won't pull them out of there. I'm not gonna eat them, but, uh, I see people, they'll park their little boats over there and kind of sneak over and take. And and when they're taking, I'll go, but that's Freddie. Don't get it.
28:19 Jessie Ware? Do you have a whistle where you go, get off, go, leave Freddie alone?
28:22 Speaker 03 I can't stop them, but, um, you know, uh, Florida, probably in the Keys would have conch.
28:27 Jessie Ware? Surely you can stop them, Gloria.
28:29 Speaker 03 No, they won't listen to me. They'll just take a picture of me yelling at them.
28:33 Speaker 02 Do you feel the same about crabs as you do about lobsters?
28:36 Speaker 03 I love crabs. Uh, oh, stone crabs in Miami. Joe's Stone Crab is the oldest restaurant. It's been there over a hundred years. But they're seasonal, so you wanna make sure you get them when they're good.
28:47 Speaker 02 Is it snow crab that you did that?
28:50 Speaker 03 It's the crab claws.
28:52 Speaker 02 Yeah, the claws.
28:52 Speaker 03 And literally they they'll pull the claw off and leave the crab. It'll regrow it.
28:56 Speaker 02 Which is the crab that you can deep fry, the whole?
28:59 Speaker 03 Oh, the soft shell crab.
29:00 Jessie Ware? Yeah.
29:00 Speaker 02 Oh, I love that.
29:01 Speaker 03 That is so good.
29:02 Speaker 02 But I also love crab cakes.
29:04 Speaker 03 Crab cakes delicious. You would love cod. You like cod?
29:08 Jessie Ware? Love cod.
29:09 Speaker 03 Okay, we make cod fritters. Cuban a lot. And malanga, which is taro root, we make that into fritters.
29:17 Jessie Ware? Oh.
29:17 Speaker 03 Um, we'll make anything into a fritter. I've even had brain fritters.
29:22 Jessie Ware? Oh, my god.
29:22 Speaker 02 How was that?
29:23 Speaker 03 It was good. You can fry a shoe and eat it.
29:26 Jessie Ware? Sweet, isn't it?
29:27 Speaker 03 Uh, yeah, not really, but a little bit.
29:30 Jessie Ware? Yeah.
29:30 Speaker 03 The malanga, the taro root, it gets a little sweet when you fry it. But I love codfish and uh, in the Spanish style with.
29:38 Jessie Ware? So is it bacalao?
29:40 Speaker 03 Bacalao.
29:40 Jessie Ware? Yeah, so the the salt cod, yeah.
29:43 Speaker 03 Absolutely.
29:43 Jessie Ware? Cause you can't catch cod down, you you must come salted.
29:47 Speaker 03 Yeah, it comes salted and prepped for that.
29:50 Jessie Ware? Yeah.
29:50 Speaker 03 Yeah, grouper, snapper, that's great Florida fish that are from those waters. Um, you could get, there's a couple of little places on the river that will bring in fish daily. And my chef will go and buy it. Whenever she's gonna make fish, she'll buy it from the day.
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30:50 Speaker 03 Mum is over there.
30:51 Jessie Ware? Mum's.
30:52 Speaker 03 She's cooking away over there.
30:53 Jessie Ware? She's doing it.
30:55 Speaker 03 You have beans?
30:56 Jessie Ware? Well, no, green beans.
30:57 Speaker 03 Oh, green beans.
30:58 Jessie Ware? I would, yeah.
30:59 Speaker 03 I love green beans.
31:00 Jessie Ware? Um, so, so you're making a paella.
31:02 Speaker 03 And I would make you an avocado salad, sliced avocado and tomato.
31:07 Jessie Ware? Okay.
31:08 Speaker 03 Um, always have to have salad.
31:09 Jessie Ware? Is it, what's your dressing with that?
31:11 Speaker 03 I love to just olive oil and vinegar.
31:14 Jessie Ware? Okay, which vinegar are you doing? Balsamic?
31:16 Speaker 03 Oh, balsamic is a little too sweet for that fruit. And I love beets, so sometimes it'll be just tomato and sliced beets. I like the, you know, tangy, but red wine vinegar.
31:28 Jessie Ware? I like sherry vinegar. Manza, what's it, Manzan, Manzanella, anyway.
31:33 Speaker 03 Manzanilla?
31:34 Jessie Ware? Manzanilla.
31:35 Speaker 03 Right.
31:35 Jessie Ware? That's my favorite.
31:36 Speaker 03 You know what's a great thing for singers, the tea? Where you can take your apple juice or whatever fluid you like. And you, a tablespoon of red wine vinegar.
31:47 Jessie Ware? Yeah.
31:47 Speaker 03 And a pinch of cayenne pepper.
31:49 Jessie Ware? That's good for the voice?
31:50 Speaker 03 Very good. It brings a lot of circulation to your vocal cords.
31:54 Jessie Ware? See, I would have thought that would be really abrasive.
31:56 Speaker 03 It's not at all. The cayenne, it just brings, just a pinch.
32:00 Jessie Ware? Well, so.
32:01 Speaker 03 And honey, of course.
32:02 Jessie Ware? And I, you know, you just, you just played to like three hundred thousand people. And, but you don't wanna tour, really, because it's, it's taxing. And, but what about a residency?
32:14 Speaker 03 Oh, that's even more taxing.
32:16 Jessie Ware? Oh, is it?
32:16 Speaker 03 Well, if, if, if it's in someplace like Vegas, it's a desert. Whenever I played Vegas, we, we did a ten days.
32:25 Jessie Ware? Yeah.
32:25 Speaker 03 At Celine's Theater before she opened Caesar's Palace.
32:30 Jessie Ware? I love that you call it Celine's Theater. I love that.
32:33 Speaker 03 It was. She opened that theater. And, uh, kudos to her because she spent a long time in Vegas. And she doesn't lip sync, because a lot of people that do Vegas will lip sync their show.
32:46 Jessie Ware? Okay.
32:47 Speaker 03 But I was in the room with twenty seven humidifiers the entire day. Just watching my voice. It's so.
32:55 Jessie Ware? That's not fun.
32:56 Speaker 03 You know what? I've done a lot of things. And what I love about being this age is, like I tell my husband, I didn't work this hard to work this hard. So, you know, so I will pick and choose.
33:05 Jessie Ware? Yeah.
33:06 Speaker 03 And it's really luxurious and I love it because it's not one thing. As you know, touring is like boot camp for the singer.
33:14 Jessie Ware? Yeah.
33:15 Speaker 03 You can't go to restaurants because you'll speak above the day. You're not using technique. And then you can ruin your voice like I have, doing all these interviews during these days. Uh, I did the whole show. It was fabulous. I was fine afterwards. And then we threw a little party. We were so celebrating and the DJ was wonderful, but so loud. And I had let those fans in to take pictures and talking to them. I was like screaming over this music. But, yeah, it's hard. I'm gonna figure out a way. Like what they're doing with Abba over here. We're gonna go see the show tonight.
33:49 Jessie Ware? Oh, it's so good.
33:51 Speaker 03 You'll love it. Yes, I I'm I'm excited.
33:53 Jessie Ware? It's fantastic. You actually believe they're there.
33:56 Speaker 03 Yeah, so Emilio is working with these people that created this show.
34:01 Jessie Ware? And this makes total sense because you have so many.
34:04 Speaker 03 Yeah.
34:05 Jessie Ware? Albums. What album? How many albums are you up to now?
34:07 Speaker 03 I believe, and I don't count them, but this is my thirtieth studio album.
34:11 Jessie Ware? There's a there's a lot of content there. There's a lot of catalog.
34:15 Speaker 03 There's a lot, and we have so much video footage that I've never even seen. That Emilio documents and keeps everything. We have a whole, like, room of library of in every format possible. Oh, my God, that looks delicious.
34:34 Speaker 03 Oh, Lord. Do you use, you know, we marinate a lot in Cuban food.
34:40 Jessie Ware? Do you?
34:40 Speaker 03 We do, and we use bitter orange.
34:43 Jessie Ware? Ah, okay.
34:44 Speaker 03 It's a wonderful marinade with the garlic.
34:47 Jessie Ware? Yeah.
34:48 Speaker 03 And the bitter orange and you, you know, like, we'll rub it into the chicken, leave it overnight and cook it the next day. Delicious.
34:55 Jessie Ware? How do you get, Maria, which bit of the chicken would you like?
34:58 Speaker 03 Whichever one you wanna give me.
34:59 Jessie Ware? There's breasts, there's thighs, there's legs.
35:01 Speaker 03 I can't like the dark meat. Oh, my God, that looks delicious. Oh, the sausage is in there. Yummy. Oh, my God. I think my team is salivating over there.
35:13 Jessie Ware? They can have some.
35:14 Speaker 03 Wow. Don't do too much, because you're gonna be shooting rice across the room.
35:21 Jessie Ware? Um, I'll take a breast. It's good. Yeah, yeah, fine.
35:24 Speaker 03 Yeah, Emilio, see, that's what's great. Emilio likes the breast. I like the dark meat.
35:28 Jessie Ware? Let's talk about Emilio a bit, because I thought he was maybe coming today. Is he in London?
35:32 Speaker 03 He's in London, but poor thing. First of all, he's exhausted. I don't know why, because I'm the one doing all the talking. But, um, he he gets up very early and we've been going to bed late. No, but the main reason was well, we leave tomorrow back to Miami and Sunday is my daughter-in-law's birthday.
35:50 Jessie Ware? Yeah.
35:51 Speaker 03 So I told him, please go out and get her a gift. She will love it. Something from London. She loves shopping. And he's gonna buy another suitcase, so for sure, he's gonna come back with clothes for me because I'm missing some hormone or gene. That I don't like shopping, what's wrong with me?
36:09 Jessie Ware? Your husband shops for you as well?
36:10 Speaker 03 And he knows what looks good on me. He just brings me all this clothes and then I'll try it on at home and if something doesn't fit, he'll change it for me.
36:19 Jessie Ware? So this guy not only writes you an album when you don't fancy writing because you're too busy, you know, writing a musical because you are incredibly capable. He also goes shopping for you?
36:28 Speaker 03 He does and he loves it.
36:29 Jessie Ware? And he films you and does he take a good photo of you Gloria?
36:32 Speaker 03 He does.
36:33 Jessie Ware? He's the only man in the world that takes a good photo of his partner.
36:36 Speaker 03 But he's a producer, you know, he, that's his bag, like that's, he loves that. And he's always watching out for my lighting and all. I directed the two videos for this album.
36:47 Jessie Ware? Yeah, it was pop there.
36:48 Speaker 03 Since I couldn't see, they would bring me the monitor. And I'm checking, okay, I like this shot, but he was over there making sure. I would like some beans, thank you. Oh, so good.
37:00 Jessie Ware? Emilio, Emilio sounds too good to be true.
37:02 Speaker 03 You know what, I wish I could clone him and sell him because everybody wants one.
37:07 Speaker 02 I wish you could.
37:08 Jessie Ware? Yeah, mum's in, in, yeah, needs an Emilio.
37:11 Speaker 02 I'm in the market for an Emilio.
37:12 Speaker 03 You are, oh, well, he's a Yenta too, so look how tender that chick is.
37:17 Jessie Ware? Gloria's happy.
37:18 Speaker 02 Yeah, this is my happy dance.
37:20 Jessie Ware? For people that aren't watching this on YouTube, Gloria is dancing with her fork and swearing.
37:25 Speaker 03 People know that when I do this, I'm a happy girl. I love rice.
37:30 Jessie Ware? Me too.
37:31 Speaker 03 I love all rices, just like there's not a potato I didn't like.
37:36 Speaker 02 The brown as Marty Rice.
37:38 Speaker 03 Oh, I love, that's very healthy. This is wonderful.
37:42 Jessie Ware? Good. Do you have a sweet tooth?
37:45 Speaker 03 Emilio has a sweet tooth. I would rather savory than sweet, but I love chocolate.
37:50 Jessie Ware? Yeah.
37:50 Speaker 03 I love of the, of the Cuban desserts, flan, my grandma was an expert. And I love custard. That kind of creamy thing.
38:00 Speaker 02 Flan is crammed caramel.
38:02 Jessie Ware? Oh, okay.
38:02 Speaker 03 Yes.
38:03 Speaker 02 When we come to Miami, where are we going to eat?
38:06 Speaker 03 Well, you can come to my restaurant.
38:08 Jessie Ware? Yeah, let's talk about it. What's on the menu?
38:10 Speaker 03 We we own the Cardozo Hotel. We bought that like thirty years ago. And on Monday, they're going to name the street, Thirteenth Street, which is my lucky number. They're gonna call it Gloria Stefan Way.
38:21 Jessie Ware? Oh.
38:22 Speaker 03 Which is really cool.
38:23 Jessie Ware? That's amazing.
38:24 Speaker 03 That's so nice. But we have a restaurant in there called Call Me Cuban. And the chef is Cuban, but he studied in France.
38:31 Jessie Ware? Oh.
38:32 Speaker 03 So he does the most incredible mixes, like I love oxtail. My grandma would make the best oxtail ever. And he will take that and he'll stuff ravioli with the oxtail.
38:44 Jessie Ware? Hmm.
38:44 Speaker 03 Makes it easy to eat, cause you know oxtail, you gotta get rid of all the slime and, oh, it's so good. My grandma was the best. And funny enough, that Cardozo Hotel, I have a picture of my dad and me and my mom and his sister and my cousin on the beach in front of the Cardozo when I was like three.
39:03 Jessie Ware? Mm hmm.
39:04 Speaker 03 And the day we closed on the hotel that we bought it officially, I tell my mom, Mom, you know, Emilio and I just invested, we bought the Cardozo. And she says, oh, my god. That's the hotel that when we went to that beach outing, cause my mom hated the beach, so it was her one and only beach outing. She goes, you turned around and you told your dad and pointed to that hotel and said, when I'm big, I'm gonna buy you that hotel.
39:29 Jessie Ware? No, you didn't.
39:30 Speaker 03 I did. And there it is.
39:33 Jessie Ware? That's so romantic.
39:34 Speaker 03 Crazy.
39:35 Jessie Ware? That is crazy. Is there anything that you feel you haven't done yet that you would like to do?
39:43 Speaker 03 Well, our professional dream would be to sing in a free Cuba. Um, to do a celebratory concert there.
39:54 Speaker 03 But honestly, what I'd love is just more vacation time with my family.
39:58 Jessie Ware? So we're gonna ask you, well, you can start thinking about it, your last supper, not in the most bleak sense of the word. You know, but you're going off to a desert island for a very, very long time.
40:07 Speaker 03 I've already thought about it.
40:08 Jessie Ware? Okay.
40:10 Speaker 03 It would be chicken fricassee
40:15 Speaker 03 with rice and beans and avocado salad and flan for dessert. I love it because it has the potatoes.
40:23 Jessie Ware? You just get it done, Gloria Stefan. You literally, you just gave us. The quickest Last Supper, just bang, bang, bang.
40:29 Speaker 02 What what's your drink of choice?
40:31 Speaker 03 My drink of choice? You mean alcoholic drink?
40:34 Speaker 02 Yeah.
40:34 Speaker 03 I make a mean Cosmo.
40:36 Speaker 02 I know.
40:37 Jessie Ware? Do you know this is Lenny's favorite drink?
40:38 Speaker 02 Very favorite drink.
40:39 Speaker 03 I'm gonna, I'm gonna give you the recipe.
40:42 Speaker 02 Okay.
40:42 Speaker 03 You are going to love it. Uh, every time I go to a party of my family, they will bring the Cosmos and I'll make them in.
40:50 Speaker 02 A big picture.
40:50 Speaker 03 Jugs like this, four gallon jugs. And we will go through them, like for my birthday weekend, we went.
40:57 Speaker 02 That would just start me off.
41:00 Jessie Ware? What's the, what's, what is the secret to the Gloria Estefan um Cosmo?
41:05 Speaker 03 I prefer Cointreau to Grand Marnier. Okay. So it's one part vodka, I like to use Grey Goose Laurent. This is not a paid political.
41:18 Jessie Ware? No, you're literally, you're gonna have to make one in a minute. You don't have to drink it, but you may have to make your, uh, us the Gloria.
41:23 Speaker 03 So what I do is I'll, I'll take that jug and I'll fill it with big ice cubes that don't melt easily. I keep the vodka in the freezer.
41:31 Speaker 02 Okay.
41:31 Speaker 03 So then I'll, I'll fill, let's say you take uh two cups of vodka. It's a quarter of that of Cointreau, so it will be.
41:41 Speaker 02 Two cups, not triple sec, sometimes people use triple sec.
41:45 Speaker 03 Cointreau.
41:45 Speaker 02 Me too.
41:45 Speaker 03 I prefer Cointreau. Then I will do equal parts orange juice to vodka and equal parts, no, equal parts cranberry juice. But the juice, not the cocktail mix thing.
41:59 Speaker 02 Okay. Proper cranberry juice.
42:01 Speaker 03 Yeah, I, in Miami, I mean, in the States, we have one called Northland.
42:04 Speaker 02 Yeah, I know.
42:05 Jessie Ware? We have Ocean Spray.
42:07 Speaker 03 Okay.
42:07 Speaker 02 They have that in here, yeah, but it's not the same.
42:10 Speaker 03 It's not the same, but you can use it in a pinch.
42:12 Jessie Ware? Okay.
42:13 Speaker 03 That's what they use at bars, they don't spend the money.
42:15 Speaker 02 Slightly sweetened, it's good for your.
42:18 Speaker 03 Mm hmm.
42:18 Speaker 02 Blood.
42:18 Speaker 03 Personally, I think that's why everybody wakes up the next day fresh as a daisy.
42:24 Speaker 02 Yeah.
42:25 Speaker 03 It rushes rushes through your kidneys.
42:27 Speaker 02 Yeah, it's very good.
42:29 Jessie Ware? So it's actually, you're saying it's actually good for you.
42:31 Speaker 03 It's good for you.
42:31 Speaker 02 Yeah.
42:32 Speaker 03 So then, uh, I also add half part of either seven up or Sprite or.
42:40 Speaker 02 Really?
42:41 Speaker 03 Yes, if or if you wanna be, you know, healthy, you could use Perrier.
42:45 Speaker 02 Yeah.
42:46 Speaker 03 I don't waste my time on the Perrier. I will do half of of seven up or Sprite. Then the juice of four, if it's the two gallons, it'll be the juice of either two very juicy limes or.
43:00 Speaker 02 Oh, you put lime in yours as well.
43:01 Jessie Ware? Yeah, you've got it.
43:02 Speaker 02 No, I've never put lime in mine.
43:04 Speaker 03 Yes.
43:05 Speaker 02 I I take orange zest, squeeze the orange zest in and then put the the orange peel in.
43:10 Speaker 03 I use the juices and then a splash. If you're gonna do the gallons, it'll be like an eighth of a cup of grenadine.
43:18 Jessie Ware? I love that you're making for like an army. I love this. It's not just like.
43:22 Speaker 02 Does everyone love your Cosmo?
43:23 Speaker 03 They love them.
43:24 Jessie Ware? Who who taught you this Cosmo?
43:27 Speaker 03 Well, I had tasted it. You know, did you ever watch Sex and the City?
43:31 Speaker 02 Of course.
43:32 Jessie Ware? I mean.
43:33 Speaker 02 That's why I like to bet it.
43:35 Speaker 03 I got curious about it and I ta- I would taste it or we'd have that drink if we went somewhere. And I felt so good the next day. I go, hmm, let me, let me see. So I tasted it. I looked at the recipe. And then I thought, hmm, for me, I started tweaking it and perfecting it. Took me a bit of time. And everybody, I send them the recipe. They love it. They make it. But ideally, what I do is I'll make it the day before and put it in the freezer. So that when you serve it, it's got that nice little, you know, icy thing on the top of the Cosmo.
44:07 Jessie Ware? You you must send us this recipe and we are going to film ourselves.
44:11 Speaker 03 I have it in my phone. I will give it to you. Let me see again how delicious that was.
44:17 Jessie Ware? Glorious. They found lots to cook in, mum. Um, I've got a bit of pudding, a bit of, uh, it's it's like a cake. You can have a tiny sliver. You don't have to have.
44:24 Speaker 03 Of course I can.
44:25 Jessie Ware? Okay, I love you. I love you.
44:27 Speaker 03 No, I'm not gonna say no.
44:29 Jessie Ware? I actually don't know if the recipe, I'm really bad at baking, but it's a recipe, so if it's.
44:35 Speaker 03 You baked it?
44:36 Jessie Ware? I did.
44:36 Speaker 03 All right, let's see.
44:37 Jessie Ware? Um, but it's.
44:39 Speaker 03 Is it a cheesecake kind of thing?
44:40 Jessie Ware? It's um, it's a a blackberry crumble cake.
44:44 Speaker 03 Oh.
44:44 Jessie Ware? So it's made with yogurt and o- oil.
44:47 Speaker 03 That's healthy.
44:48 Jessie Ware? Yeah, yeah, I did avocado oil instead, but I'm worried the taste will be weird. Um, but blackberry's in season and then it's done like a little crumble on top. I don't know, I, it's not my recipe, so I'm kind of like, and I'm crap at baking, so I've.
45:00 Speaker 03 Do I slice or are we gonna let mum slice?
45:02 Jessie Ware? Whatever you want, do you wanna slice?
45:04 Speaker 03 I'll, I'll, I'll take a sliver.
45:06 Jessie Ware? So.
45:06 Speaker 03 Would you, I'll, I'll get you a slice.
45:08 Jessie Ware? I want the tiniest slither, please, Laura.
45:09 Speaker 03 Yes, you and I are in the same.
45:11 Jessie Ware? Okay, yeah, in the same industry, aren't we? Yeah, yeah.
45:15 Speaker 03 But you know what, at this point, I don't care.
45:16 Jessie Ware? I don't care.
45:17 Speaker 03 That's the beauty of.
45:18 Jessie Ware? Let him, let him eat cake. Um, so you have performed to six different presidents.
45:24 Speaker 03 I have.
45:25 Jessie Ware? Can I ask who gave the best food? Who did the best spread?
45:29 Speaker 03 Well, it's always the same, you know, that when presidents come in and out.
45:33 Jessie Ware? Yeah.
45:34 Speaker 03 The White House staff does not. They, because they're the ones that know where everything is.
45:40 Jessie Ware? Yeah.
45:40 Speaker 03 Emilio goes there and everybody knows him from all the times he's been.
45:44 Jessie Ware? Do you think you need a knife or just can you manage?
45:47 Speaker 03 I think I can ma- well, let's see, no, let's open it up.
45:49 Jessie Ware? Anything this one.
45:50 Speaker 03 Well, I don't know about this, though. Here we go.
45:52 Jessie Ware? Don't worry, if it's just, it's, I'm so scared, it's either not cooked or like.
45:58 Speaker 03 Well, it's cooked.
45:59 Jessie Ware? Okay, too cooked.
46:00 Speaker 03 No, no.
46:01 Jessie Ware? Okay.
46:02 Speaker 03 Were you assuming that you've been bad at?
46:04 Jessie Ware? No, I'm really bad at baking.
46:06 Speaker 03 Is that too?
46:06 Jessie Ware? That's fine, that's perfect. Let me just taste before you have to put it in your lips.
46:11 Speaker 03 No, a, a, like, bit, yeah, a bit bit, though. Yeah, you gotta taste your daughter's cake.
46:17 Jessie Ware? Hmm, do you want cream fresh, darling? No, thank you. It's not bad. So, so the White House, it's always the same food?
46:25 Speaker 03 It's the same food, they, they cook it and, um. But the most fun we had was performing Mitierra for Barack Obama, who also gave us the Medal of Freedom, first time a couple gets it, the highest honour that a civilian can get in the States. And my father took me to the States to be in freedom, so that day was so emotional for both Emilio and I, and my mum was watching on television from Miami. That was a very special moment. And he had a giant party celebrating Hispanic music before that.
47:02 Jessie Ware? How did you celebrate?
47:04 Speaker 03 Celebrate that medal?
47:05 Jessie Ware? Yeah, did you celebrate with Barack and Michelle or did you go out after?
47:09 Speaker 03 No, we we we did a lot. There was a party afterwards. Uh, I think that day that I got the medal, Spielberg got one, Streisand got one. Um, she she said to me, you know, you're you're pretty young to be getting this medal. And I go, well, I'll take that as a compliment because I'm not as young as you think I am. Um.
47:32 Jessie Ware? Do you think she was a bit jealous?
47:33 Speaker 03 No.
47:34 Jessie Ware? Oh, fine.
47:35 Speaker 03 Well, she's just, she's Barbara.
47:37 Jessie Ware? Is she?
47:37 Speaker 03 She's Barbara.
47:39 Jessie Ware? Okay, what's Barbara Streisand like when you meet her? When two divas collide?
47:44 Speaker 03 She's pretty insular, like she's not, she won't go out of her way.
47:48 Jessie Ware? She's quite reclusive, isn't she?
47:50 Speaker 03 Yeah. I mean, I I started listening to her audio book because I like to read. I read very fast, but I wanted to hear her voice.
47:58 Jessie Ware? But also, how far in, you know, because it's never ending. I'm doing the audio and it's really nice listening to her. Because she adds things to it as well. She's like, oh, yeah, I I forgot about that score. And you're like, oh, yeah, I love it.
48:11 Speaker 03 But I love it. But yeah, I it just fell off because of work. But I will, look, now you reminded me on the.
48:17 Jessie Ware? You've reminded me too.
48:19 Speaker 03 You know, I don't sleep on any moving vehicle since I had that accident. My my subconscious won't surrender, no matter how tired I am.
48:26 Jessie Ware? For people that don't know, uh, Gloria, on your way to a concert and you were hit by a truck and paralyzed.
48:33 Speaker 03 Yeah, March twenty nineteen ninety. It is sold out world tour. We were at the top of our game and from one moment to the next, boom, back broken. The fear that I had because my dad had been in a wheelchair, so that was one of my biggest fears.
48:51 Jessie Ware? You were in a wheelchair for how many months?
48:54 Speaker 03 Bit, uh, you know, until my doctor thought it was nothing short of a miracle, but I knew that it had to do with. That's the first time I really experienced what prayer does. Because there were so many people worldwide praying for me. And I felt it like, uh, like an energy, like a, I felt like electricity, like I was plugged into the wall. And I would absorb it and imagine nerves reconnecting. I'm spiritual. I was raised Catholic, you know, nun school, the whole thing. But I do believe that, you know, every, I, I believe that everything is God.
49:35 Speaker 03 Like that we are all a piece of God, like, and God is gonna express himself in every possible way. Hence, everything will happen. And that's why I think that we are collectively creating with our thoughts. If we're incredibly powerful beings, our reality. And we can create for good and we can create not good. So since I don't believe that death is the end. It's almost like if you're in a play or a movie, if they kill you off in the movie, you're still alive. So you're, you know, you're, you're living the life that you chose for the experiences and for the learning. And we're all doing it together.
50:20 Speaker 03 If we could realize this and accept each other as part of each other, we could make this place so much better. But it's like school, I think. That's what I think. But I, I am spiritual in that way.
50:31 Speaker 02 Do you know which song do people want to hear most when they go to a Gloria Estefan concert?
50:38 Speaker 03 Well, you'd have to ask my fans, you know, but probably Kanga.
50:43 Jessie Ware? It's such a mouthful, though. I've tried and I, I, you know, it, it's such a mouthful. Dua Lipa just did it on her tour in Miami.
50:55 Speaker 03 I am so bummed because she invited me to do it with her on stage. And I was not in town. I was rehearsing for the show in Madrid. And I was so bummed, but that is the sexiest conga I've ever seen in my life. The sexiest, hands down. And I was really honored that she would, you know.
51:17 Jessie Ware? She did a good job.
51:18 Speaker 03 She did.
51:19 Jessie Ware? Quickly as well. She got all the words out. She's a pro, that dobelika.
51:23 Speaker 03 She did it, but let me tell you, we we have a tiny desk. You know where a tiny desk is? We have a tiny desk coming out. And the version, we did a, we did a very unique way to do conga and it is even faster.
51:38 Jessie Ware? Oh, my goodness.
51:39 Speaker 03 Wait till you hear that, you know, you have to do little snippets and they you you have one mic, there's no monitors.
51:46 Jessie Ware? I know. I did it and I really regret. I did it ten years ago. And they never have people come back. And I feel like I've got so many more songs that I could do on Tiny Desk now.
51:56 Speaker 03 But you know what? They're gonna run out of people and they're gonna have to start coming back.
51:59 Jessie Ware? Did you have a good experience with Tiny Desk?
52:01 Speaker 03 I did. We we did it because there's um El El Tiny, because they they highlight the Latin part for like a month for Hispanic heritage. So these people have been trying to invite me to the show for years, but I I kept saying like, but I don't have anything new right now. Why would, you know? I'm gonna wait till the right moment. And boy, was this ever the right moment. It's just everything clicked in and my fiftieth year, it's it's it all worked great, but it's a challenge for musicians. You've got to cut everything down, you know, you don't have monitors. For the band, it's not that bad, but for singers, like, literally, not even a little speaker.
52:45 Jessie Ware? Gloria Estefan, before we let you go, which I don't really want to because I it it's a good, I'm taking no credit apart from that I put it together. I did make it.
52:55 Speaker 03 You have kids, right?
52:56 Jessie Ware? I have three, yeah.
52:57 Speaker 03 How old are they?
52:58 Jessie Ware? Nine, six and four.
53:01 Speaker 03 They'll love this.
53:02 Jessie Ware? Yeah, they actually, they would, yeah. They will. Okay, I'll make sure that I bring some back for them.
53:07 Speaker 03 You've got to. Take it all, darling.
53:09 Jessie Ware? I'll say, Mother Gloria said, um, I just want to ask you before you go, what is a nostalgic taste that can transport you back somewhere?
53:18 Speaker 03 Oh my gosh. I know, croquetas.
53:21 Jessie Ware? Yeah, your grandma.
53:23 Speaker 03 Croquetas, my grandma's croqueta. I will forever be judging everyone's croquetas. Looking down my nose at them.
53:31 Speaker 02 What's in them?
53:32 Speaker 03 They use, uh, well, it depends. She would make them of ham and the pechamel sauce, which is to die for. She would make them out of cod, the salted cod, with chicken. She would make them out of chicken. But she just, it was just perfection in a croqueta and a tamal. You know, uh, a lot of Latin American countries have their own version of tamales. In Mexico, certainly Venezuela has, they call it ayacas. But the cube in tamal is corn, right? Corn. And I love tamal en cazuela. I think that even more so.
54:11 Speaker 03 Which is tamal, but it's, it's in a, in a pot. It's almost like if you made a pudding out of the corn, but not sweet. Just the corn. And then you could either put lechon, like the pork with it, or crab, or anything on top of it. They eat it in New Orleans. It's delicious.
54:29 Speaker 02 What language do you talk to your husband in?
54:32 Speaker 03 Spanish.
54:32 Speaker 02 Uh, and yes, Spanish.
54:34 Speaker 03 Absolutely. He's so funny. He, he changes words because he'll say whatever occurs to him first.
54:40 Speaker 02 Okay.
54:41 Speaker 03 Like, for example, Aretha Franklin adored him, right? But when he talks to me, he calls her urethra Franklin.
54:49 Speaker 02 Oh, oh my goodness.
54:51 Speaker 03 And I go, babe, that's even harder. I don't understand. And why is that word stuck in your head? Since when do you use the word urethra? Like, that kind of thing? It's constant. It is constant. He'll say, I had a nightmare last night.
55:08 Jessie Ware? Nightmare?
55:09 Speaker 03 Nightmare. Like, not nightmare. He, he's just so funny, even when he's not intending and that. It's so endearing to me. I have a list of emiliadas.
55:22 Speaker 02 Emiliada.
55:24 Speaker 03 He's very absent minded, but for business, because he's all business, but for normal life, oh my gosh.
55:30 Speaker 02 And do your, your kids just talk to you in Spanish as well?
55:33 Speaker 03 In English, probably, and with such, I really had to make it a point to speak to him in Spanish. Because English is easy for me. I was two when I went to the States. So, and it depends, we talk in Spanish too. We go back and forth. It's Spanglish. We literally mix words in one sentence.
55:51 Speaker 02 When you say things in Spanish, it sounds so exotic, doesn't it?
55:56 Speaker 03 It's romantic.
55:57 Speaker 02 It's romantic.
55:58 Speaker 03 The love songs in Spanish, you know, you can't be too sweet or too romantic in Spanish and English. You have to be careful, cause then they'll say, oh, it's saccharine. How could love be saccharine? But if you're too expressive in English, it's a problem. So. I love to be able to live in both worlds, but for ballads and romance, oh, the Spanish.
56:20 Speaker 02 The chorthon.
56:21 Jessie Ware? I was, the chorthon. I was seeing a Spanish guy for a bit and he would like.
56:26 Speaker 02 What's that?
56:28 Jessie Ware? When I wasn't with Sam.
56:30 Speaker 02 Okay.
56:31 Speaker 03 You were with Sam.
56:32 Jessie Ware? Some other moment. We had like two years off.
56:34 Speaker 02 Okay.
56:35 Jessie Ware? And, and he gave me Pablo Neruda poetry.
56:38 Speaker 03 Oh, my God, that's so beautiful.
56:40 Jessie Ware? Yeah, but like, see, España's like, yeah.
56:42 Speaker 03 But you could say things like, if I say, arroz con pollo.
56:47 Speaker 02 What's that mean?
56:47 Speaker 03 Chicken and rice.
56:52 Jessie Ware? Gloria Estefan, you are amazing. Thank you for coming here.
56:57 Speaker 03 Thank you, and thank you for that delicious meal. Oh, my gosh.
57:02 Jessie Ware? Can't wait to see.
57:02 Speaker 03 That really was wonderful.
57:04 Speaker 02 Good.
57:05 Speaker 03 You could have a restaurant if you want to.
57:07 Speaker 02 I don't think so.
57:08 Speaker 03 Nor do you want to.
57:09 Jessie Ware? Can't wait to see the new musical.
57:11 Speaker 03 Thank you so much. I'm super psyched. Of course.
57:14 Jessie Ware? And when you decide that you fancy doing a little gig, just let us know, okay?
57:17 Speaker 03 I'll do things here and there, like, you know, I, I will be out there. I like to connect with the fans and, you know, just say, hey, like. For Spain, it was wonderful, cause I, I literally went on Spotify. I checked all the charts for the past twenty five, thirty years. And saw what the top songs of my catalog, cause I can't do every song. It's impossible.
57:39 Jessie Ware? I love that you can just check where you were in the charts. I love that.
57:43 Speaker 02 We'd be doing the backing on one, two, three.
57:45 Jessie Ware? Yeah.
57:45 Speaker 02 One.
57:46 Speaker 03 Exactly. Four, come on, baby, say you love me. Five, six, seven, ten. I love that Sesame Street used that as a counting game for kids.
57:55 Jessie Ware? Yes.
57:56 Speaker 03 Absolutely.
57:58 Speaker 02 With, with the baby.
57:59 Jessie Ware? Yes.
58:00 Speaker 03 And you know, I love to do parodies of my own songs. And one that would go with this meal would be. Anything for food. Just bring it here. I haven't said I'm through. And where's my beer? I've been waiting for so long. All my appetizers gone. And still my hunger pangs are strong. That's just the beginning. Thank you for this.
58:27 Jessie Ware? Thank you.
58:41 Jessie Ware? I think we may have just met. The most. Warm, fabulous icon, pop star, mother, grandmother. She just stayed, by the way. She has a really busy day today. She's going to Abba Voyage later. She's about to go and do a junket at her label. She has been on the breakfast radio show this morning. She is exhausted, probably. And she still signed everything and talked and kept on talking. I just, you, you didn't hear me just talking to her about all her pets. She has a parrot. Who mimics everyone in the house. She says that the parrot goes, then. Like, come on, puppy, then, when she's, the parrot's talking to her husband. She's amazing.
59:26 Jessie Ware? I'm sure we could do a part two. If she ever wants us to come to Miami, we will have a part two. I love Gloria Estefan. And I actually feel like. She's like an unreal icon because. Not only has she's been so successful, she's like the most down to earth woman.
59:44 Speaker 02 Jessie, I think you have to have one of her songs in your new repertoire.
59:48 Jessie Ware? I'm gonna do a cover.
59:49 Speaker 02 Yeah.
59:50 Jessie Ware? Of a Gloria song.
59:51 Speaker 02 Toy Boy.
59:52 Jessie Ware? It's called Love Toy.
59:53 Speaker 02 A Love Toy, okay.
59:55 Jessie Ware? And mum just asked what Love Toy was about.
59:57 Speaker 02 Actually, I haven't listened to all the.
59:59 Jessie Ware? Gloria said, well, it's about. I said, a vibrator, a guy that's like a vibrator. You're my love toy, no batteries required. Um, wind me up and I'll start to move. And mum was like, what's going on? Um, anyway, she's amazing. Gloria Estefan just gave us everything that I needed and so much more. The stories.
1:00:21 Speaker 02 Yeah.
1:00:21 Jessie Ware? She loved the meal.
1:00:23 Speaker 02 Good, good idea, Jess.
1:00:25 Jessie Ware? Thank you.
1:00:26 Speaker 02 Did it taste okay?
1:00:27 Jessie Ware? Executed excellently, mum.
1:00:28 Speaker 02 Good, darling.
1:00:29 Jessie Ware? And Sophie Weiberg's cake was really, I hate to use the word, moist, but delicious.
1:00:35 Speaker 02 It's making me feel a bit faint, that.
1:00:37 Jessie Ware? But delicious and uh, I'm just absolutely reeling over that.
1:00:41 Speaker 02 And she sang.
1:00:42 Jessie Ware? And she sang, well done mum. I love her. Um, thank you to everyone who just listened to a completely gorgeous episode. We'll see you next week for another round of table manners and more meeting of icons, I guess. Thank you for listening.
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