icon

Celia Cruz

Born Ursula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso

1925–2003

Bolero cubanoSon cubano

About Celia Cruz

Celia Cruz rose to fame in the 1950s as the lead singer of La Sonora Matancera and became the most celebrated Cuban voice of the twentieth century. After leaving Cuba in 1960 she settled in the United States and reinvented herself as the Queen of Salsa, dominating the Fania era and recording with Tito Puente, Johnny Pacheco, and Willie Colon. Her cry of Azucar became a global shorthand for Cuban joy.