The Fania All-Stars took off in the 1970's in New York City. These creative geniuses reinterpreted rhythms and infused them into myriad styles - creating new genres and adding life to old ones in the process. Since the 1960's, many rising stars from Motown have gone on to create classic Rock & Roll tunes, Jazz masterpieces, and Latin rhythms, to name a few. Without the contributions of this talented Dominican born Afro-Latino, we wouldn’t have the gift of the genre we now call “Salsa.” As a performer, I want people to feel their hearts sing and their spirits soar,” she said.Let’s give Johnny Pacheco, a founding member of La Fania All-stars, his due. In a 1997 interview, Cruz commented on her life and career: “I have fulfilled my father’s wish to be a teacher as, through my music, I teach generations of people about my culture and the happiness that is found in just living life. She remains a beloved artist, the Queen of Salsa, throughout every corner of the world. Throughout her life, Cruz was a pioneer of the Afro Latinidad, embracing the African elements of her identity in her music, lyrics, and famously flamboyant dress. In 2011, she was honored by the United States Postal Service with a commemorative postage stamp, joining only four other Latino musicians in this tribute. Her trademark orange, red, and white polka dot dress and shoes are displayed in a permanent collection. In 2005, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History opened the “Azucar!” exhibit, paying homage to key moments in Cruz’s life and music. In 1994, she was inducted into the Billboards Latin Music Hall of Fame and in 1999 into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame.Ĭelia Cruz passed away in 2003, at the age of 77, but her legacy is immortal.
She also participated and appeared in several documentaries and Hollywood movies, including the famous 1992 “The Mambo Kings.” Her name sits in the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and she was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts by President Clinton. Over the course of her career, Cruz recorded over 80 albums, earned 23 Gold Records, and won five Grammy Awards. In 1974, she joined the record label “ Fania,” and she recorded her first studio album, “ Celia y Johnny,” which included her signature song “ Quimbera.” During the next decades, she would become one of the few women to succeed in the male-dominated Salsa world, becoming an international star in her extraordinary 60-year long career. In New York, Cruz joined the Tito Puente Orchestra in the 1960s, a group central to the development of the new genre of Salsa music, born of Cuban and Afro-Latino mixed musical tradition. She never again returned to her homeland. Fidel Castro, enraged by Cruz’s move from the island, barred her from ever returning to Cuba. As a result, she decided not to return to the island and moved to New York, where she married her friend and trumpet player Pedro Knight. In 1960, Cruz was touring Mexico in concert as the Cuban Revolution raged back home. In 1950, she became the lead female singer of Cuba’s most popular orchestra, La Sonora Matancera, becoming a star on the island. She was eventually hired as the singer for Las Mulatas Del Fuego, a dance group with whom she traveled and performed throughout Latin America. Her rise to fame began when she competed on a radio show contest called “The Tea Hour,” where her voice caught the attention of influential musicians and producers. During her teenage years, she performed in cabarets and enrolled in Havana’s National Conservatory of Music, studying voice, theory and piano. Although her father wanted her to become a teacher, Cruz was drawn to music from an early age, singing in school productions, community gatherings, and for tourists on the island.
This week, we honor the life and legacy of the Queen of Salsa, Celia Cruz.Ĭelia Cruz was born in Barrio Santos Suarez, Havana, Cuba, in 1925. Check out last week’s feature on Miriam Esther Jiménez Román, pioneer of the Afro-Latino studies movement, here. In celebration, IQLatino is featuring Afro-Latino leaders every week, honoring their accomplishments and contributions to society as well as their rich Afro-Latino identities. The month of February is Black History Month.
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