Daily Almanac for
Oct 13, 2008
Search White Pages
Info search tips
Bio search tips

Encyclopedia

Cruz, Celia

Cruz, Celia, 19292003, Cuban-American singer, b. Havana. The “Queen of Salsa” began singing as a teenager, and in 1950 joined Sonora Matancera, Cuba's most popular band. She left Cuba a year after Fidel Castro came to power (1960) and was an exile in the United States for the rest of her life. Over the years Cruz sang with nearly every major Latin band, and was particularly noted for her appearances with Tito Puente's orchestra. A fiery performer who wore skintight costumes and billowing blonde wigs, she sang (in Spanish) a range of Afro-Cuban songs, from traditional Santería chants to popular mambos, cha-chas, and the salsa for which she was famous. An international star and an icon to the Cuban-American community, she toured widely, sang in clubs and concert venues, and made more than 70 recordings.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

    • Cite
    • Print
    • Bookmark

More on Celia Cruz from Infoplease:

  • Celia Cruz - Celia Cruz Age: 77 Cuban singer whose rich contralto voice, persistently upbeat songs, and effusive ...
  • Celia Cruz - Celia Cruz Age: 77 Cuban singer whose rich contralto voice, persistently upbeat songs, and effusive ...
  • Jerry Masucci - Jerry Masucci music producer Birthplace: Brooklyn, N.Y. During a business trip to Havana, Masucci ...
  • Hispanic American Musicians and Visual Artists - Notable Hispanic American musicians and visual artists
  • Jerry Masucci - Jerry Masucci music producer Birthplace: Brooklyn, N.Y. During a business trip to Havana, Masucci ...

See more Encyclopedia articles on: Music: Popular and Jazz: Biographies


Warning: DOMDocument::loadXML(): Input is not proper UTF-8, indicate encoding ! Bytes: 0xA1 0x41 0x7A 0xFA in Entity, line: 1 in /site/html/include/elibrary_search_box.php on line 284
Premium Partner Content
HighBeam Research
Documents Images and Maps Reference
(from Newspapers, Magazines, Journals, Newswires, Transcripts and Books)

Research our extensive archive of more than 28 million documents from 2,600 sources.

Additional search results provided by HighBeam Research, LLC. © Copyright 2005. All rights reserved.