Mercedes Navarro Murciano, 50, original member of Miami Sound Machine dead
wazzzy
Mercedes Navarro Murciano's youth was filled with music and memories to
last a lifetime. Along with then-husband Raul Murciano and cousin
Gloria Fajarda -- later known to the world as Gloria Estefan -- she was
a vocalist, songwriter and founding member of the Miami Sound Machine,
appearing on their first several albums.
After leaving the group, she lived a quiet life, working as an
occupational manager and residing with her parents and children in the
Westchester home she had grown up in.
She died Monday of pneumonia at age 50.
Called ''Merci'' by her family and friends, she was born Mercedes
Navarro in Havana on Dec. 20, 1957. She came to the United States at
the age of 3 and spent her early childhood moving around with her
parents and younger sister, Rosie. Her father was in the Air Force and
the family lived on bases in Illinois, Wisconsin and Hawaii. But they
always returned to Miami, where they had extended family.
Murciano attended Our Lady of Lourdes Academy with Gloria. Close in
age, they were the best of friends growing up, her aunt Nena Gonzalez
says. The girls wrote songs and played their guitars. Murciano never
took music lessons, but family members say she instinctively understood
music.
''Whenever we had family parties, the two girls would entertain us,''
said Gonzalez, ``They would sing Cuban songs and the popular American
songs.''
As family lore has it, the girls were at a wedding where Emilio Estefan
was playing keyboards and fronting a group called the Miami Latin Boys.
Gloria asked if they could sing a song with the group. The girls did.
Soon after, Estevez invited them to join the group. They did, changing
the name to The Miami Sound Machine.
Gloria ended up marrying Emilio. Murciano fell in love with Raul
Murciano, who played keyboards, saxophone and drums.
The group recorded four dual-language albums on CBS records before Raul
left in 1981 to pursue his own music.
The albums gained them a small local following but were better known in
Central and South America.
When her husband left the group, Murciano followed. By that point, she
had become a mother.
After eight years together, the couple divorced.
Murciano never married again. Her ex-husband went on to teach at the
music conservatory at the University of Miami.
The Miami Sound Machine went on to top charts, score awards and
headline worldwide tours.
Murciano raised her three children and worked as manager of operations
at Banco Central de Espana and then at Florida International
University.
But at family parties, the family would insist she sing.
They remember her being kind and quiet -- ''muy low-key,'' said
Gonzalez.
She got pneumonia last week and died Monday with her parents and
children at her side.
''She was one of our dearest cousins,'' Gloria and Emilio Estefan said
through a spokesperson. ``This is a tremendous loss for our family.''
She is survived by her parents, Mercedes and Manuel Fajardo, and her
children: Manuel, 27, Elesa, 24, and Jessica, 22.
Her back-up vocals can be heard on albums such as 1977's debut album
Live Again, 1978's dual-language release Miami Sound Machine, the
half-English, half-Spanish Imported, 1980's MSM, 1981's Otra Vez and
1982's Spanish-language Rio, all released by CBS Disco Records.
Services will be private.
