"Coming Out of the Dark" is a single by American singer and songwriter Gloria Estefan

Gloria Estefan

Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García de Estefan; known professionally as Gloria Estefan is a Cuban-born American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known as the "Queen Of Latin Pop", she is in the top 100 best selling music artists with over 100 million albums sold worldwide, 31.5 million of those...

. It was released in 1991 worldwide as the leading and first single of the album Into the Light

Into the Light (Gloria Estefan album)

Into the Light is a concept album, the second studio solo album released by American singer Gloria Estefan, but is the 14th overall, released in 1991 .-History:...

, becoming the singer’s third number one in the U.S.

Song history

This is the first single released after Estefan's tragic accident—an 18-wheeler rammed her tour bus, nearly causing the singer's death—when her "Get on Your Feet Tour" was in progress. It is also the first song that Estefan performed publicly after recovering. The song is inspired by the near-fatal accident and also is dedicated to Emilio Estefan, Jr., Gloria’s husband, who was with her until this dark time ended for the Estefans and their fans.

The song is a soul ballad which includes the use of a choir

Choir

A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

. Among the voices in the choir are Gloria’s colleague, the Cuban singer Jon Secada

Jon Secada

Jon Secada is a Cuban-American singer and songwriter. Secada was born in Havana, Cuba, and raised in Hialeah, Florida. He has won two Grammy Awards and sold 20 million albums since his English-language debut album in 1992. His music fuses funk, soul, pop and Latin percussion...

, and the R&B singer Betty Wright

Betty Wright

Bessie Regina Norris, better known by her stage name, Betty Wright , is a Grammy winning Miami-based soul and R&B singer-songwriter, who won fame in the 1970s with hits such as "Clean Up Woman" and "Tonight Is the Night"...

 (both had participated in backing vocals on Gloria’s album, Cuts Both Ways

Cuts Both Ways

Cuts Both Ways is a 1989 album by Gloria Estefan. It was the first studio album credited to Estefan as a solo artist, but is her 11th album overall including her work with the band the Miami Sound Machine...

as well as Into the Light

Into the Light (Gloria Estefan album)

Into the Light is a concept album, the second studio solo album released by American singer Gloria Estefan, but is the 14th overall, released in 1991 .-History:...

.)

Spanish version "Desde La Oscuridad"

Estefan also recorded the Spanish version of the song, called "Desde la Oscuridad". The song was released to Latin-American radio stations and the considerable airplay it received took the song to the Top Five of the Hot Latin Songs

Hot Latin Songs

Hot Latin Songs is a record chart published by Billboard magazine. It is often recognized as the most important music chart for Spanish language Latin music in the American music market. It was established by the magazine on September 6, 1986 with La Guirnalda by Rocío Dúrcal being the first song...

 chart.

Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Coming Out of the Dark".

Europe CD maxi single (656574 5)

1. "Coming Out of the Dark" (Album Version)
2. "Desde la Oscuridad" ("Coming Out of the Dark" Spanish Version)
3. "Coming Out of the Dark" (Instrumental Version)

Release history

Region	Date
Europe
United Kingdom
Japan
United States

Chart performance

The song was a number one hit on both the U.S. Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 and Adult Contemporary charts (and her last to date on both charts). However, the song didn’t have as much impact in the rest of the world. In Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, where Estefan had some high position songs, this single only reached the Top 20; and in UK reached the Top 40, a very low position in comparison to other singles.

Peak positions

Chart (1990)	Peak position
Dutch Singles Chart	15
German Singles Chart	45
Irish Singles Chart	16
Swiss Singles Chart	28
UK Singles Chart	25
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...	1
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary	1
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B Singles Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...	60
U.S. Billboard Hot Latin Songs Hot Latin Songs Hot Latin Songs is a record chart published by Billboard magazine. It is often recognized as the most important music chart for Spanish language Latin music in the American music market. It was established by the magazine on September 6, 1986 with La Guirnalda by Rocío Dúrcal being the first song...	4

End of year charts

End of year chart (1991)	Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	34

Official versions

Original versions

1. Album version — 4:05
2. Album version (Spanish version) — 4:09