The voice, charisma and talent of Celia Cruz have created one of the most impressive careers in all of music. Merely listing her accomplishments would require a book. Her more than 70 albums have yielded an unending harvest of gold and platinum records, and she has received more than a hundred awards from prestigious institutions around the world. She received the first of her five Grammy Awards in 1989, and also won two Latin Grammy Awards. She received three doctorates Honoris Causa from Yale, Florida International University and Miami University. She has also appeared in 10 movies, most recently including The Mambo Kings and The Pérez Family.
Celia Cruz began singing in amateur contests at the age of 14, in her home city of Havana, Cuba. She studied music theory, piano and voice at the National Music Conservatory.
In 1950 she began singing with the conjunto Sonora Matancera, and with that group she was a central figure in some of the most glorious chapters of Afrocuban music, recording a number of legendary songs, including Yembelaroco Yembelaroco, "Yerbero Moderno," Burundanga Burundanga and "Caramelo." By the end of the '50s the Sonora Matancera was the most popular group in Cuba. Celia's alliance with them took her beyond the coast of Cuba and exported her talent to the world. While in the group she met Pedro Knight, at the time one of the band's two trumpeters. This relationship culminated in matrimony and has lasted 42 years.
On July 15, 1960, she left Cuba. Upon arriving in the United States, she made history once again. In the following decade she recorded various albums with maestro Tito Puente, and together they awoke the interest of the Anglo and European public in Latin music, a phenomenon that in the '70s became known as the salsa boom. Other distinguished Latin musicians with whom she collaborated included Johnny Pacheco (with whom she recorded such classics as Quimbara Quimbara Cucala Cucala and Bemba Colora Bemba Colora) Willie Colón, Pete "Conde" Rodríguez, Ray Barretto, Sonora Ponceña, and the Fania All-Stars.
It is not exactly clear when they started calling her "The Queen of Salsa," but she has carried the title with class and distinction. Celia has had the opportunity to work with important figures of American popular music. Dionne Warwick, Patti Labelle, David Byrne, Gloria Estefan and Wyclef Jean among others. As her talent has always embraced people of all generations and tastes, she has also sung with rock groups such as the Fabulous Cadillacs and Jarabe de Palo.
Some of the most visited streets in the world carry her name. In 1987 she received a star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood. Three years later Calle Ocho in Miami was named "Celia Cruz Way" and, in 1991, that city also awarded her a star on the boulevard, an honor that was also conferred on her in San José (Costa Rica), and in Mexico City.
Among her many distinctions in the '90s, the Smithsonian Institution awarded her their Lifetime Achievement Award; the Republic of Colombia gave her the Presidential Medal of the Arts; she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the prestigious Hispanic Heritage Awards; and the city of San Francisco declared October 25,1997 Celia Cruz Day. But without a doubt one of the most exciting moments of her life was in 1994, when President Bill Clinton awarded her the National Medal of Arts, the United States' highest official honor in the arts, in a ceremony at the White House in Washington, D.C.
In the new millennium, the happiest guarachera in the world has continued to receive tributes and praise. In 2000 Billboard magazine, the most important music-industry publication, published a special tribute to her 50-year career. That year she also won the first Latin Grammy for best tropical album. In 2001 she was nominated for another Latin Grammy, and was installed on the Walk of Fame at the Jackie Gleason Theater of the Performing Arts in Miami Beach. Her accessible personality is always magnetic to people of many different languages, something that was confirmed when she sang Guantanamera Guantanamera together with Luciano Pavarotti in his annual benefit concert in Italy, and in the memorable VH1 Divas Live: The One and Only Aretha Franklin.
For years Celia Cruz has dedicated herself to helping others, and in the summer of 2002 her lifetime companion Pedro Knight and her manager Omer Pardillo realized one of her fondest dreams by creating the Celia Cruz Foundation. The Foundation's mission is to provide financial aid to low-income students who want to study music, and to assist cancer victims. In March 2003, the network Telemundo presented Celia Cruz: ¡Azúcar! a television tribute to her featuring stars of Latin and North American music. Funds generated by that special were donated to the Celia Cruz Foundation.
In spite of all her talent and all her awards, Celia Cruz is characterized by simplicity and a contagious joy. With these attributes she has written one of the most important chapters in the history of the world's music. The mention of Celia's name is enough to fill people with happiness and bring rhythm into their hearts. She is synonymous with her musical genre, and is the best ambassador of Hispanic culture in the world.