Celia Cruz

Celia Cruz
Cruz, 1957.
Born	Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso (1925-10-21)October 21, 1925 Havana, Cuba
Died	July 16, 2003(2003-07-16) (aged 77) Fort Lee, New Jersey, U.S.
Resting place	Woodlawn Cemetery New York City, New York
Residence	Fort Lee, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation	Singer actress
Years active	1948–2003
Spouse(s)	Pedro Knight (m. 1962)
Parent(s)	Simón Cruz Catalina Alfonso
Relatives	Dolores (sister) Gladys (sister) Bárbaro (brother)
Musical career
Genres	Salsa Guaracha pop Guaguanco Rumba Bolero Son
Instruments	Vocals
Labels	Seeco Records Tico Records Fania Records Barbaro Records RMM Sony Discos

Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso (October 21, 1925 – July 16, 2003), known simply and professionally as Celia Cruz, was a Cuban singer and one of the most popular Latin artist of the 20th century. Cruz was renowned internationally as the "Queen of Salsa", "La Guarachera de Cuba", as well as "The Queen of Latin Music".^[1][2]

Throughout her career, Celia Cruz interpreted and internationally popularized tropical rhythms such as Son, Guaguancó, Rumba, Guaracha and Bolero. However, the genre that led to stardom was Salsa.^[3]

She began her career in her native Cuba, earning recognition as a vocalist of the popular musical group Sonora Matancera, a musical association that lasted fifteen years (1950-1965). In the 1960s, after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, Cruz left her native country, becoming one of the symbols and spokespersons of the Cuban community in exile.^[4] Cruz continued her career, first in Mexico, and then in the United States, the country that she took as her definitive residence. In the 1970s she was fully incorporated into the Salsa genre, especially after her musical association with other artists of the genre within the Fania All-Stars. During the last years of her career, Cruz had already become a myth of Latin American music, her constant evolution in the world of music, helped her to remain in force practically until her death and to conquer new generations of followers. Her career formed an invaluable legacy and inescapable reference for future generations who discover in her a powerful and prolific source of inspiration; some of the songs performed by her are part of the cultural heritage of Latin America. Among the most famous are Quimbara, Burundanga, La Vida Es Un Carnaval and La negra tiene tumbao, among many others,^[5] her musical legacy is made up of a total of 37 studio albums, in addition to many other special recordings, records in live or associations with other singers. In her career she was awarded numerous prizes, recognitions and distinctions, including two Grammy Awards and three Latin Grammy Awards. In addition to her prolific career in music, Cruz also made some punctual interventions as an actress in movies and telenovelas.

Celia Cruz also made famous the expression ¡Azúcar! (Sugar!) Which she adopted and it remained in the collective memory as her identifying phrase, which she shouted as a carnival ad inciting fun. With a unique style and an iconic image of unsurpassed attractiveness thanks to a charismatic and musical talent that is difficult to replicate, Celia Cruz is considered an authentic symbol of Latin culture worldwide.

Early life[edit]

Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso was born in the Santos Suárez neighborhood of Havana, Cuba. Her father, Simón Cruz, was a railway stoker, and her mother, Catalina Alfonso Ramos, a housewife. Cruz shared her childhood with her three siblings: Dolores, Gladys and Bárbaro and numerous cousins, her chores included lullabies for the little ones. So she began to sing, her father wanted her to be a school teacher, and not without regret she tried to satisfy him and studied teaching. When she was about to finish the career and left to enter the National Conservatory of Music.^[6]

Meanwhile, Cruz participated in radio programs for amateurs, such as La Hora del Té or La Suprema Corte del Arte, in which she won first prizes such as a cake or a silver chain, until by her performance of the tango Nostalgia received in payment 15 dollars, she later sang in the orchestras Gloria Matancera and Sonora Caracas.

Celia Cruz in the 1950s with the members of the Sonora Matancera in Havana

Career[edit]

Beginning[edit]

In 1948, Roderico Rodney Neyra founded the group of dancers and singers Las Mulatas de Fuego. Cruz was hired with this group as a singer, reaching great success and making presentations in Mexico and Venezuela. With the Mulatas de Fuego, Cruz recorded some songs. Shortly thereafter, Cruz began to sing on musical programs at Radio Cadena Suaritos, along with a group that performed Yoruba choruses and rhythms and recorded a song with the singer Obdulio Morales; the songs she recorded at that moment would be incorporated later to one of the first compilations of her work in LP format.

In 1950, Cruz met the businessman Rafael Sotolongo who sought her out because he wanted her to sing with the Sonora Matancera, at that time the most popular and successful music group in Cuba; this is because the lead vocalist of the orchestra, the Puerto Rican singer Myrta Silva had decided to leave the group to return to Puerto Rico, leaving the vacancy for a female voice available. Her income was approved by the director of the group, Rogelio Martínez. Upon hearing of this interview, the managers of the radio where she worked were arbitrarily dismissed.

Sonora Matancera[edit]

In her first rehearsal with Sonora Matancera, Cruz met her future husband Pedro Knight, who was the band's second trumpeter. Cruz debuted with the group on August 3, 1950. Initially Cruz was not received with enthusiasm by the public, but Rogelio Martínez had faith in her. On December 15, 1950, Cruz recorded her first songs with the group, which were a resounding success, her "musical marriage" with the Sonora Matancera lasted fifteen years. That's where the successes of Burundanga, El Yerberito Moderno, Tu voz, Pa 'la pigeon and many others come from. In total Celia recorded 188 songs with the Matancera. With the group, Celia also made short musical interventions in Mexican and Cuban films.

After Cuban Revolution[edit]

On July 15, 1960, when the Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro began, a contract for the Sonora Matancera in Mexico arose. Cruz never imagined that she would ever step on Cuban soil again; the new Cuban regime looked with bad eyes that the group will accept offers to work abroad, specifically in the United States. Thus, the Castro regime arbitrarily forbade her to return to Cuba; when she completed a month of stay in Mexico, she received the news of the death of her father Simón Cruz. In 1961, Cruz and the Sonora left for the United States for a contract. Celia began performing solo performances without the orchestra, she performed at a recital at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles. In 1962, before the refusal of the government of her country to allow her to return to Cuban soil, Celia acquired a house in New York. Although she tried to return to Cuba to see her sick mother, the Cuban government forbade her to return. A fatal day for Celia arrived on April 7 of that year; when she was preparing to act, she received the news of the death of her mother, Catalina Alfonso, who had been struggling with terminal bladder cancer. In that same year, on July 14, Cruz was married in civil ceremony with Pedro Knight after a romance of several years. Cruz and the Sonora Matancera made their first tour outside the American continent, visiting Europe and Japan, where they performed with Tito Puente. In 1965, Cruz would culminate a vertiginous fifteen years with the Sonora Matancera. Cruz began a solo career and her husband Pedro Knight decided to leave his position at Sonora Matancera to become her representative, arranger and personal director. In parallel, Cruz had adopted the American nationality.

In 1966, Cruz was contacted by Tito Puente to perform with his orchestra. Cruz and Puente started an association that released five albums, she also recorded albums with the Orquesta de Memo Salamanca, Juan Bruno Tarraza and Lino Frías under the TICO Records label. From this time one of her great successes was revealed: Bemba Colorá. Eventually Cruz joined Vaya Records. A musical change made her enter into Salsa music. In 1973, Cruz teamed up with the pianist and exclusive artist of the Fania Records label Larry Harlow and led an Afro-Cuban music concert at Carnegie Hall in New York. There Cruz interpreted Divine Grace, her first song of the Salsa genre and the door to this new rhythm; the album resulting from this meeting was produced by the now defunct Jerry Masucci, who is considered one of the creators of the Salsa genre along with the Dominican musician Johnny Pacheco. Later, she participated in a legendary concert recorded live at Yankee Stadium with The Fania All-Stars, a group composed of leaders of Latino groups that recorded for the Fania label.

Salsa music and The Fania All-Stars[edit]

Celia Cruz performing in Paris at the Olympia in 1980

Cruz signed a contract with the record company of Masucci, VAYA (Subsidiary of Fania). In 1974 she released the album Celia & Johnny, with Johnny Pacheco, who was a great success. Cruz integrated fully with the Fania All-Stars orchestra, which was a combination of the musicians of each orchestra that played for the musical label Fania (like Johnny Pacheco, Héctor Lavoe, Willie Colón and others) With the Fania All-Stars, Cruz had the opportunity to visit the United Kingdom, France and Zaire. In 1977, Cruz recorded her first record with the backing of the trombonist and salsa orchestrator Willie Colón, a fusion that would be repeated with great success in 1981 and in 1987.

In 1982, Celia was reunited with the Sonora Matancera, and recorded the album Feliz Encuentro. In that year the singer received the first tribute of her career at Madison Square Garden in New York. In 1987, Cruz performed a concert in Santa Cruz de Tenerife; that concert was recognized by the publisher of the Guinness Book of Records as the largest outdoor free entry. 250,000 people attended the concert. In 1989, she won her first Grammy Award for the album Ritmo en el corazón, she was also invited to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the Sonora Matancera in Central Park in New York. The decline of Salsa success gradually brought the end of Celia's musical association with the Fania All Stars.

Later years[edit]

In 1990 Cruz managed to return to Cuba, she was invited to make a presentation at the US base in Guantanamo. When she came out of this presentation she took in a bag a few grams of earth from Cuba, the same one she asked to be placed in her coffin when she died.

Although she had previously made musical presentations in Mexican and Cuban films, in 1992 Celia debuted as an actress in the American film Mambo Kings, along with Armand Assante and Antonio Banderas. A year later she made her debut as a television actress in the Mexican telenovela Valentina, along with Verónica Castro for the Televisa network.

In 1995, Celia has a special participation in the American film The Perez Family, along with Alfred Molina and Anjelica Huston. In 1997 she starred again for Televisa the Mexican telenovela El alma no tiene color, a remake of the classic Mexican film Angelitos negros, and where Cruz plays the role of a black woman who gives birth to a white daughter. On October 25 of that year the city of San Francisco officially declared that date as "Celia Cruz Day".

In 1998 she released the album Mi vida es cantar, from which one of her most successful themes is revealed: La Vida Es Un Carnaval. In 1999, she performed with Luciano Pavarotti for the Pavarotti and Friends concert. In 2000, Cruz released a new album under the auspices of Sony Music: Celia Cruz and Friends: A Night of Salsa, where she recorded again with Tito Puente, who died a little later. Thanks to this album, Cruz was awarded with her first Latin Grammy. In 2001, the album Siempre Viviré makes her the creditor of her second Latin Grammy. In that same year, she performed with Marc Anthony in a tribute to Aretha Franklin for VH1.

In 2002, Cruz released the album, La Negra Tiene Tumbao, where she ventured into modern variants of Caribbean rhythms, influenced by rap and hip hop. For this record she obtains her third Latin Grammy and her second American Grammy.

Dexter Lehtinen, Celia Cruz, Alonso R. del Portillo, Rep. Ros-Lehtinen, and Pedro Knight in May 1992

Death[edit]

Celia Cruz's mausoleum in Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York

During a presentation in Mexico, Cruz suffered a health mishap; as a result of this, it was discovered that she suffered from glioma, (a very aggressive brain tumor), and underwent an operation to remove it at the end of that year, to then try to resume her artistic career. She recorded her last album, entitled Regalo del Alma. In March 2003, it was offered a tribute by the US Hispanic network Telemundo, which involved figures such as Gloria Estefan, Marc Anthony, La India, Gloria Gaynor and Patti LaBelle among others; this was her last public appearance.

On the afternoon of July 16, 2003, Cruz died at her home in Fort Lee, New Jersey, at the age of 77. At her express wish, her mortal remains were first transferred to Miami for two days to receive the homage of her Cuban exile admirers, returning and finally resting in the Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York.^{[7][8][9][10]} An epilogue in her autobiography notes that, in accordance with her wishes, Cuban soil which she had saved from a visit to Guantánamo Bay was used in her entombment.^{[citation needed]}

Tributes and legacy[edit]

Celia Cruz Plaza in Union City, New Jersey

• In 1976, Cruz was part of the documentary Salsa de Leon Gast, which talks about the international Latino culture.

• In 1987, Cruz was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She was also recognized with a star on Boulevard Amador Bendoyán in Caracas, Venezuela, she also has a figure in the Hollywood Wax Museum.

• In 1989, the 5212 Celiacruz, an asteroid belonging to the Asteroid belt, was baptized in her honor.^[11]

• In 1991, Miami, Florida named Calle Ocho as Celia Cruz Way in her honor.

• In 1994, she received the National Endowment for the Arts award from the then President Bill Clinton, which is the highest recognition granted by the United States government to an artist.

• On October 25, 1997, the city of San Francisco officially declared that date as "Celia Cruz Day".

• In 1999, Cruz was inducted into the International Music Hall.

• In 2003, a music school opened in the Bronx, called Celia Cruz Bronx High School of Music. Pedro Knight visited this school before his death to meet the students and share stories about his life.

• In February 2004, her last album, published posthumously, won a Lo Nuestro Award as best salsa album of the year and two Latin Grammy awards.

• On June 4, 2004, the heavily Cuban-American community of Union City, New Jersey heralded its annual Cuban Day Parade by dedicating its new Celia Cruz Park (also known as Celia Cruz Plaza), which features a sidewalk star in her honor, at 31st Street and Bergenline Avenue, with Cruz's widower, Pedro Knight, present. There are four other similar dedications to Cruz around the world.^[12]

• In 2005 her biography Celia: Mi vida was published, based on more than 500 hours of interviews with the Mexican journalist Ana Cristina Reymundo.

• The journalist and TV presenter Cristina Saralegui planned to take the story of her life to the cinema and the American actress Whoopi Goldberg, admirer of the singer, expressed her interest in representing her, but the project was cancelled.^[13]

• In 2005, the National Museum of American History, administered by the Smithsonian Institute and located in Washington, D.C., inaugurated ¡Azúcar! , an exhibition that celebrates the life and music of Celia Cruz. The exhibition highlights important moments in Cruz's life and career through photographs, personal documents, costumes, videos and music.^[14]

• Between 2007 and 2008, a musical based on the life of Celia Cruz, was presented at the headquarters of Off-Broadway New World Stages. The play won four HOLA Awards 2008 from the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors.^[15]

• In 2011, Celia Cruz was honored by the United States Postal Service with a commemorative stamp. The label was one of a group of five labels in honor of the greats of Latin music, which also include Selena, Tito Puente, Carmen Miranda and Carlos Gardel.

• In 2013, Google honored Celia Cruiz with a Google Doodle.^[16]

• In 2013, the singer Jennifer Lopez honored Cruz with her presentation at the American Music Awards ceremony.^[17] The singers Yuri, La India, Maluma and Aymée Nuviola did the same at the Latin American Music Awards.

• In 2015, the television networks RCN Televisión and Telemundo, made the Celia a TV serie, based on the life of Celia Cruz. Celia was played by the actresses Jeimy Osorio and Aymée Nuviola and counted on the voice of Patty Padilla.^[18]
• In 2019, Angélique Kidjo released a tribute album to Cruz, entitled CELIA, including songs spanning all of Celia's Cruz career reinvented with an Afrobeat feel. It features Tony Allen (musician), Meshell Ndegeocello, and the Gangbé Brass Band.^[19]

• Cruz holds three Honoris Causa doctorates from three universities in the United States: Yale University, Florida International University and Miami University.^[20]

• Her extravagant costumes, which included several colored wigs, tight sequined dresses and very high heels, became so famous that one of them was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution.

• Cruz's star has expanded into Union City's "Walk of Fame",^[21] as new marble stars are added each spring to honor Latin entertainment and media personalities, such as merengue singer Joseíto Mateo, salsa singer La India, Cuban musician Israel "Cachao" Lopez, Cuban tenor Beny Moré,^[22] Tito Puente, Spanish language television news anchor Rafael Pineda, salsa pioneer Johnny Pacheco,^[23] singer/bandleader Gilberto Santa Rosa and music promoter Ralph Mercado.^[24]

Discography[edit]

Filmography[edit]

• Salón México (Mexico, 1950)
• Una gallega en La Habana (Mexico, 1952)
• ¡Olé... Cuba! (Mexico/Cuba, 1957)
• Affair in Havana (USA/Cuba, 1957)
• Amorcito Corazon (Mexico, 1960)
• Salsa (Documentary, 1976)
• Salsa (USA, 1988)
• "Fires Within" (USA, 1991)
• The Mambo Kings (USA, 1992)
• Valentina (TV) (Mexico, 1993)
• The Perez Family (USA, 1995) Luz Pat
• El alma no tiene color (TV) (Mexico, 1997)
• ¡Celia Cruz: Azúcar! (TV) (Tribute, USA, 2003)
• Soul Power (Documentary of Kinshasa, Zaire Music Festival 1974) (USA, 2008)
• CELIA, Celia Cruz Bio-Drama (2015 on Telemundo)

Grammy Awards[edit]

See also[edit]

• Honorific nicknames in popular music
• Music of Cuba
• History of Cuba

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Celia Cruz.

• Celia Cruz collection, 1948–2008 at the Cuban Heritage Collection, University of Miami Libraries. This archival collection contains photographs, newspaper clippings, music scores, and a range of other materials documenting Cruz's professional activities.
• Celia Cruz's Discography (album covers) at Florida International University Archives
• Celia Cruz's Discography (recordings) at Florida International University Archives
• ¡Azúcar! The Life and Music of Celia Cruz at the National Museum of American History.
• Celia Cruz on IMDb.
• Celia Cruz discography at Discogs
• Celia Cruz videos
• Celia Cruz at Find a Grave
• Celia Cruz at Afrocuba.org