The United States stands tall, representing a parade of nations, 300 million strong. That number will grow during today's citizenship ceremony, featuring the national anthem performed by pop star Gloria Estefan. She captures the essence of what makes this country so great: Ms. Estefan arrived from Cuba as a 2-year-old and would eventually chase her amitions of becoming a singer. She would incorporate salsa into mainstream American music, reflecting the true meaning of this country as a melting pot.

Gloria Estefan was a huge influence for me. Of course, she was one of the few Latina women around who had this major international success. She sang in Spanish…

You've got a new Spanish-language album out now ['90 Millas,' released in September of 2007], and the single ['No Llores'] is #1 on the Billboard Latin chart.

I love Gloria Estefan, though -- she is cool. It's always just been about the music with her and they've been really good fun pop songs and really great ballad…

America is God's Crucible, the great Melting-Pot where all the races of Europe are melting and re-forming!

I'm singing the hardest song [the national anthem] you could possibly sing at this hour of the morning [8 a.m.]. [I came from Cuba] when I was sixteen months o…

(How about men swooning over you?) Well, I'm flattered that anyone likes me and what I do-as long as they dig my music, too. I've been involved in theater so I…