Celia Cruz

Celia Cruz
Cruz in concert, cira 1980.
Background information
Birth name	Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso
Born	(1925-10-21)October 21, 1925 Havana, Cuba
Died	July 16, 2003(2003-07-16) (aged 77) Fort Lee, New Jersey, U.S.
Genres	Salsa, guaracha, son, bolero, rumba, guaguancó
Occupation(s)	Singer, actress
Years active	1948–2003
Labels	Fania Records, RMM Records & Video, Sony Discos
Associated acts	Sonora Matancera, Fania All-Stars

Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso, also known by her stage name Celia (La Negra) Cruz (October 21, 1925 – July 16, 2003), was a Cuban singer of Latin music. She was known for electrifying audiences with her wide-ranging, soulful voice and rhythmically compelling style. She was the most popular Latin artist of the 20th century, she earned twenty-three gold albums and was a recipient of the National Medal of Arts. She was renowned internationally as the "Queen of Salsa", "La Guarachera de Cuba", as well as The Queen of Latin Music.

She spent much of her career working in the United States and several Latin American countries. Leila Cobo of Billboard Magazine once said "Cruz is indisputably the best known and most influential female figure in the history of Cuban and Latin music". She was an ambassador for the variety and vitality of the music of her native Havana, after the Cuban revolution she became a symbol of artistic freedom for Cuban American exiles.

Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso was born on October 21, 1925 in the diverse, working-class neighborhood of Santos Suárez in Havana, Cuba, the second of four children. Her father, Simon Cruz, was a railroad stoker and her mother, Catalina Alfonso was a homemaker who took care of an extended family. Celia was one of the eldest among fourteen children- brothers, sisters, and many cousins- she often had to put the younger ones to bed by singing them to sleep. .

While growing up in Cuba's diverse 1930s musical climate, Cruz listened to many musicians who influenced her adult career, including Fernando Collazo, Abelardo Barroso, Pablo Quevedo and Arsenio Rodríguez. Despite her father's opposition and the fact that she was Catholic, as a child Cruz learned santería songs from her neighbor who practiced santería. Cruz also later studied the words to Yoruba songs with colleague Mercedita Valdés (an Akpwon santería singer) from Cuba and made various recordings of this religious genre, even singing backup for other female akpwons like Candita Batista.