CELIA CRUZ

For Dia de Los Muertos I’m honoring Celia Cruz. She was born on October 21, 1925 in Havana, Cuba. Cruz grew up in Santo Suarez. Cruz was studying to become a teacher in Havana until she won a talent show on the radio, that’s when she started to pursue her singing career. In 1962, Cruz married a trumpet player named Pedro Knight who became her manager later in her career. Cruz is the second child of fourteen. Catalina Alfonso was her mother who took care of the family and Simon Cruz was her father and he worked in the railroads as a stoker. Her family didn’t want Celia to become a singer, but that’s not what Cruz wanted. She wanted to pursue being a salsa singer. Celia Cruz was the most popular salsa singer ever born. People called her “The Queen of Salsa”. Celia Cruz died on July 16, 2003; she did not recover from a brain tumor surgery and later passed away from cerebral cancer.

I am honoring Celia Cruz because I think she made a difference in the world with her music. She changed the way salsa is listen to. She pursued her dream until the end and I admire that stuck to and loved what she did. I would tell my daughter about this strong Cuban woman and the wonderful music she made. I think she was very important to many people she will always be remembered as The “Queen of Salsa”.
Shantel Ramirez