Featured In
ALBUMCelia - SingleGente de Zona & Celia Cruz
Albums by Celia Cruz
ALBUMViva México: La Reina Le Canta MéxicoCelia Cruz
ALBUMRegalo del AlmaCelia Cruz
ALBUMHits MixCelia Cruz
ALBUMLa Negra Tiene TumbaoCelia Cruz
ALBUMSiempre ViviréCelia Cruz
ALBUMFestejando NavidadLa Sonora Matancera & Celia Cruz
ALBUMIrrepetibleCelia Cruz
ALBUM¡Azúcar!Celia Cruz
ALBUMBoleros (Remastered)Celia Cruz
ALBUMTributo a Ismael RiveraCelia Cruz
Celia Cruz's Popular Music Videos
Guantanamera (Live In Africa)
Celia Cruz
Oye Como Va
Celia Cruz
Kymbala (Live In Africa)
Celia Cruz
Rie y Llora
Celia Cruz
Contrapunto Musical
Celia Cruz
Guantanamera (feat. Lauryn Hill, Celia Cruz & Jeni Fujita) [Official Video]
Wyclef Jean
Celia
Gente de Zona & Celia Cruz
Bemba colorá (feat. Banda Gigante Bacardí) [Live]
Celia Cruz
Oye como va (feat. Banda Gigante Bacardí) [Live]
Celia Cruz, Paquito D'Rivera, Albita & Lucrecia
Cuando se quiere de veras (feat. Combo Pasión Cubana) [Live]
Albita & Celia Cruz
Artist Playlists
Celia Cruz Essentials
The Queen of Salsa is here! ¡Azúcar!
Artist Biography
The first time legendary Cuban singer Celia Cruz stepped up to a microphone was during an amateur vocal contest at a Havana radio station, where she took home first prize—a cake.
∙ After embracing Afro-Cuban music while at Cuba’s Conservatory of Music, she landed her first major gig in 1950—as a vocalist with big band La Sonora Matancera.
∙ In 1960, Cruz and her future husband, trumpeter Pedro Knight, headed to the US, where she began her solo career fronting a band formed for her by Tito Puente.
∙ Her army of fans crowned her Queen of Salsa due to her electrifying live performances and the 70 albums she released between 1958 and 2003.
∙ Cruz’s bold fashion style was so iconic that the Smithsonian Institution put her trademark orange-red-and-white polka-dot dress and shoes in its permanent collection.
∙ She brought her charisma to the big screen, taking roles in The Mambo Kings and The Perez Family, both about a subject she knew well—Cubans trying their luck in the US.
∙ “La Negra Tiene Tumbao,” a celebration of Black womanhood that blended Afro-Cuban and urban grooves, picked up three Latin Grammy nominations in 2002, while its namesake LP won for Best Salsa Album.
∙ In addition to receiving a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a National Medal of the Arts, she had a street in Miami renamed in her honor: Celia Cruz Way.
Hometown
Havana, Cuba
Genre
Música tropical