Gloria Estefan felt her late mother was with her ''every step of the way'' as she recorded her new album.

The 62-year-old singer lost her mother in 2017, aged 88, but she could still feel her influence during the recording process for her new album, 'Brazil305'.

The award-winning star recalled: ''I was going to release this in 2017 but right on the weekend I was going into the studio, my mom was taken ill and passed away 33 days later and I couldn't sing.

''It took me over a year to get back in there and put the joy that I intended on this album ... I had sung it to her live in her home with all the tracks that we'd recorded in Brazil with amazing arrangers and musicians, and she was so excited about it.

''So when I did actually record it, I knew she was with me every step of the way.''

Gloria hopes her new record - which is also her first bilingual album - will help to lift the spirits of her fans amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The music star acknowledged that 2020 has been a ''difficult'' year for everyone, but she thinks her new tunes could help to improve the mood during the health crisis.

Gloria - who released her debut album, 'Cuts Both Ways', back in 1989 - told 'Good Morning America': ''I thought we needed to balance some joy into the world after all of this fear and difficult time we've all been going through. That's my job as a musician.

''Music did that for me in my life. It got me through my toughest moments, so I'm hoping that this will do so for the fans.''