Chelsea Resident Helped Gloria Estefan Go Platinum

With humble beginnings as a wedding band, the Miami Sound Machine had already been well known in the Miami area in the late 70’s and early 80’s. In 1977 with the addition of a young vocalist named Gloria Maria Fajardo Garcia, later known as Gloria Estefan, they became a phenomenon of the Latin music scene.
But it wasn’t until Discos CBS, a subsidiary of CBS International, put out the album Primitive Love on Epic Records in 1985 that the band crossed over into mainstream megasuccess. And Jim Hayes, president of Discos CBS, was at the helm.
“Gloria was in my office three or four times a week,” he remembers from his apartment at The Chelsea at Warren assisted living residence in Warren, NJ. “She didn’t think we were spending enough money on promoting the group, and she was right.”
The rest is history, of course, and Jim has the platinum album to prove it. “I really wanted that job,” he says, recalling the six years he spent in Miami. He had been a veteran of the publishing industry, working for several book companies, one of which was acquired by CBS.
He jumped at the chance to become President and General Manager of Discos CBS, wanting a job with more excitement and a change of scenery. That was in 1985, just as the Miami Sound Machine emerged into the main stream. Hayes was in the driver’s seat.
“Gloria and my daughter Carrie became friends,” he says. Today, Hayes, 83, is surrounded by dozens of photo albums, photos of his 6 children, 19 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren, and technology that keeps him connected via internet, phone and TV. “This is my life,” he says.