Legendary salsa singer and dancer Celia Cruz, more commonly known as “The Queen of Salsa”, is one of the most important staples in salsa music and cuban culture in America. Born in Havana, Cuba on October 21st, 1925, full name Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso grew up in Barrio Santos Suarez as one of four children. Even as a child Cruz had a deep love for music that drove her passion of wanting to perform for others and pursuing a career as a professional singer. Despite these desires, Cruz’s father had other plans and pushed Cruz into attending The Normal School for Teachers in Havana in the 1940s to become a teacher. During this time Cruz entered “The Tea Hour”; a radio show contest, where she became popular due to her voice, her performance skills, and her natural ability to enamor her crowd. After being hired as a singer in the traveling dance group in Latin America Las Mulatas Del Fuego, Cruz worked her way up to lead female singer in the group La Sonora Matancera. After joining this group she began getting more attention, and the peak of her stardom began. Although she was gaining fame in Cuba and across Latin America in the 1960s, Cruz decided it would be best to not return to Cuba since the Cuban Revolution was at its peak. Instead she would move to the United States; a place where cuban and hispanic culture was not common, popular, or respected. When she moved to the United States in 1961, she married her trumpet player Pedro Knight. Fidel Castro even took her move so personal, that he banned her from ever returning to Cuba. A few years after moving to the US, she joined the Tito Puente Orchestra and expanded their fame and popularity due to her talent, style, and enticing personality. This group plus Cruz’s musical background came together to produce “salsa”; a combination of Cuban and Afro-Latin music. Creating a whole new genre of music, a new label company called “Fania” was created, where Cruz would join and create new songs and covers and expose the world to this newfound music. From this point on, Cruz would collaborate with other artists, create new songs, and bring her musical and cultural influence wherever she would go. Over the course of her career Cruz contributed to more than 80 songs and albums. She won five Grammy awards, earned 23 Gold Records, and made several appearances in shows, movies, and songs. Most importantly, she brought her culture and allowed a new culture to be born when she moved to the United States. Living in the Bronx, Cruz brought her Cuban culture and big personality around those who could and could not relate. Pushing her way in with her name and reputation, salsa became a part of New York culture, running through the veins of El Barrio and every hispanic coming to new York as a result of the Great Depression. Culture was brought out from the shadows that was once not accepted, and became normalized through her music, her reputation, and her giant personality that was not afraid to challenge the status quo. Cruz passed away at the age of 77 on July 16th, 2003, in New Jersey leaving behind her reputation, her salsa hits, and most importantly the cultural expansion and acceptance of thousands of hispanic New Yorkers. References: https://celiacruz.com/biography/ https://www.britannica.com/biography/Celia-Cruz https://www.biography.com/musician/celia-cruz