During these years, TV Azteca has broadcast a number of reports about Trevi, now 36, portraying her as nothing less than a blight on Mexican culture.

But immediately after her release, the network seemed to have changed its tune, airing a special program with an altogether different attitude towards her. And there are even rumours that the network has approached the controversial singer with a contract offer.

Trevi's record label, BMG -- which had basically swept her under the carpet during this sordid episode -- has just announced that it is planning a major promotional campaign for the singer, including a return to the concert stage.

Meanwhile, Rafael Aviña, the author of a harshly critical account of Trevi's fall from grace published by Grijalbo, has now come forward to publicly enthuse over the "the talent this girl has got" -- and to announce that he will continue to closely follow her story, perhaps with a second book.

Apparently, the singer has received numerous offers from publishers and the media in general to tell her own story. It is the tale of a drastic plunge from the heights of superstardom -- in her native Mexico and much of the rest of Latin America -- to the ignominy of sexual scandal and prison.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Trevi came to be known as the "Mexican Madonna", selling millions of records and performing before sold-out audiences of frenzied young fans, screaming, singing along, sometimes even fainting.

While her music appealed mainly to teenagers, Trevi herself was admired by many Mexican intellectuals for her courageous transgression of conservative social norms, through her brashly unapologetic sexuality and vocal criticism of politicians.

Now that she has been released from jail, IPS was told by music critic Galo Piedra, "The vultures who picked her apart and ate their fill when she was down have suddenly become guardian angels who want to help her."

Trevi herself has said that she has no hard feelings towards those who accused her of wrongdoing, and that she would now like to get on with her career.

She had been charged with a number of crimes allegedly committed with manager and boyfriend Sergio Andrade.

The two were accused of recruiting underage girls into a sort of "sect" they had formed, luring them with promises of musical training and careers but then locking them up and subjecting them to sexual and psychological abuse.

The accusations were made by a number of girls. Four of them said they were forced to have sexual relations with Andrade and became pregnant as a result. Some of them kept the babies, while the others underwent abortions.

When she was extradited from Brazil, Trevi brought with her a child conceived while she was in prison there. While the identity of the child's father is officially unknown, many believe it is Andrade.

In the meantime, the body of another child she had with Andrade in Brazil before going to jail has yet to be found. The singer says that the baby died of natural causes before it was two months old and was buried by her friends, although she doesn't know where.

According to the judge who heard Trevi's case, there was not enough evidence to support the charges against her and two other women allegedly involved in the crimes, who have also served prison time in Brazil and Mexico.

Meanwhile, Andrade, who managed various Mexican performers in the 1970s and 1980s before devoting himself exclusively to Trevi's career, is still in prison in Mexico awaiting his own trial.

Trevi and Andrade insist that all of the accusations against them were fabricated, but Piedra is sceptical. "There's a lot of dirty laundry hidden in the lives of both the singer and her manager, but they're the only ones who know the real truth."

Trevi's trials and tribulations have attracted so much attention in Mexico that over 300,000 copies have been sold of three different books chronicling the alleged crimes of the so-called "Trevi-Andrade sect".

The most successful of the three is Aviña's book, "Between Gloria (Glory) and Hell", based on interviews with Andrade's ex-wife, Aline Hernández. The other two are first-hand accounts written by former back-up singer Karina Yapor ("Revelations") and a Brazilian woman who shared a jail cell with Trevi, Roberta Menuzzo ("Behind Bars with Gloria").

At the height of her career, one of Trevi's biggest hits was "Pelo Suelto" (literally, "I'm Going to Let My Hair Down"). "Now Gloria is back," commented Piedra, "and soon we'll have lots of new music and books and TV shows about her, the innocent girl with her hair let down."