CNN - With 'Gloria,' Estefan feels like dancing

The CD, which offers a collection of songs that pay homage to the 1970s disco revolution, was launched with a concert at that famed -- and refurbished -- disco haunt Studio 54 in New York City.

"Gloria" features 16 new tracks, but it didn't start out that way.

Hear a clip of "Heaven's What I Feel"

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'A great time'

"We were going to put out a greatest hits of all the songs that had gone number one on the dance chart, and I loved the concept, I loved the idea," Estefan says. "But, you know, the creative bug in me just wouldn't let me just do a greatest hits."

So it's back to the dance floor with an album that brings the '70s to the '90s.

"It was such a great time, because there was a lot of exploration and excitement in the air and still an innocence about it, even though it was pretty wild times," Estefan says of the '70s. "But in that innocence is how we got in trouble and ended up with the '80s and '90s."

Check out "Gloria!" in WorldBeat's Fresh Cuts

Estefan performed at a resurrected Studio 54

'Spare parts'

The 1980s were good to Estefan, who rose to fame with her dance band Miami Sound Machine before heading off on a successful solo career. But it almost came to an end when a 1990 bus accident left her nearly paralyzed. She still has two eight-inch rods in her back, which can wreak havoc if she doesn't maintain a tough workout schedule.

"I got spare parts in there," she jokes. "I got to keep them, you know, loose and separate from the muscles. And I'm in great shape, probably the best in my life."

And with the release of "Gloria," Estefan feels like dancing.

Related sites:
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Epic Records' Gloria Estefan page
Gloria Estefan fan page

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