Robbed hit of the week 3/27/17 - Gloria Estefan's "Oye Mi Canto (Hear My Voice)"...

"Oye Mi Canto (Hear My Voice)" - Gloria Estefan
from the album Cuts Both Ways (1989)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #48

This week's "robbed hit" comes from Cuban-American pop star Gloria Estefan, whose first album with solo billing, Cuts Both Ways, had rewarded her with a #1 pop hit with "Don't Wanna Lose You", along with hit follow-ups "Get On Your Feet" and "Here We Are". The fourth single from the record brought her back to her pre-pop fame, with the "Spanglish" (part Spanish and part English) single "Oye Mi Canto (Hear My Voice)". Written by Gloria with nominal "Miami Sound Machine" members Clay Ostwald and Jorge Casas, the single dared to stray from the middle-of-the-road path she was taking, and she did have musical "capital" to spend at the time. And the combination of Latin rhythm and house music bass and groove notes add to the freshness of the final track...

While "Oye Mi Canto" reached #31 on the Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart, and made it to #10 on Billboard's Latin Songs list, it stalled not far from the pop top 40 at #48 in May of 1990. Internationally, the record did better, climbing to #16 in the UK, as well as making the top ten in Ireland (#7), The Netherlands (#8), and Belgium (#10).

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Here's the Spanish-only version of the official video, which won a "moonman" for International Clip at the MTV music video awards in 1990...

 And finally, Gloria in concert in 2003 on her Unwrapped tour...