Formed by Valentin Cané, bassist Pablo "Babu" Vásquez, vocalist Eugene Pérez, timbales player Manuel "Jimagua" Sánchez, trumpet player Ismael Goberna, and guitarists Domingo Medina, José Manuel Valera, Julio Gobín, and Juan Bautista Llopis, the band has gone through many personnel changes in more than seven decades. Dámaso Pérez Prado was one of the group's pianists and arrangers in its early days. Vocalists in the group have included Daniel Santos, Bienvenido Granda, Leo Marini, Nelson Pinedo, Alberto Beltrán, Bobby Capó, Carlos Argentino, Celio González, Myrta Silva, and its greatest alumna, Celia Cruz.
The Sonora Matancera is best known for its harmonic use of four trumpets, a trademark sound that has led musical purists to reject attempts from any musical group with the word "sonora" in its name to use it, should the group not feature an all-trumpet brass section. Groups such as the Puerto Rico-based Sonora Ponceña follow the rule. Bongo and batá drums as well as accordion and hammond organ featured prominently among the instruments used.
The Sonora is also peculiar for its backup singers, notably Manuel Díaz Alonso, "Caíto", whose nasal delivery was much imitated by many Latino orchestras, most notably for those directed by Venezuelan-born bandleader and singer Oscar D'León.
Original director, Valentin Cane, led the band until poor health forced him to retire at the end of the 1930s. Initially known as Septeto Soprano, the group adapted its name to La Sonora Matancera in 1932. Leaving Cuba, at the advent of the revolution of the 1950s and 1960s, the group settled in New York City, where they continued to share their love of salsa with enthusiastic audiences.
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| Name | Celia Cruz |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso |
| Alias | La Reina de la Salsa, La Guarachera de Cuba |
| Born | October 21, 1924Havana, Cuba |
| Died | July 16, 2003Fort Lee, New Jersey, United States |
| Genre | Salsa, Bolero |
| Occupation | Singer |
| Years active | 1948–2003 |
| Associated acts | Sonora Matancera, Fania All-Stars |
| Url |
She spent most of her career living in New Jersey, and working in the United States and several Latin American countries.
Celia Cobo of Billboard Magazine once said "Cruz is indisputably the best known and most influential female figure in the history of Cuban music." Cruz once said in an interview "If I had a chance I wouldn't have been singing and dancing, I would be a teacher just like my dad wanted me to be".
While growing up in Cuba's diverse 1930s musical climate, Cruz listened to many musicians that later influenced her adult career, such as Paulina Alvarez, Fernando Collazo, Abelardo Barroso, Pablo Quevedo, Arsenio Rodríguez, and Arcaño y sus Maravillas. Celia Cruz also studied the words to Yoruba songs with colleague Mercedita Valdes (an Akpwon santeria singer) from Cuba and Celia made various recordings of this religious genre singing even back up for other female akpwons like Candita Batista.
When she was a teenager, her aunt took her and her cousin to cabarets to sing, but her father encouraged her to keep attending school, in hopes that she would become a Spanish language teacher. However, one of her teachers told her that as an entertainer she could earn in one day what most Cuban teachers earned in a month. Cruz began singing in Havana's radio station Radio Garcia-Serra's popular "Hora del Té" daily broadcast, she sang the tango "Nostalgias", (and won a cake as first place) often winning cakes and also opportunities to participate in more contests. Her first recordings were made in 1948 in Venezuela. Before that, Cruz had recorded for radio stations.
With Fidel Castro assuming control of Cuba in 1959, Cruz and her husband, Pedro Knight, refused to return to their homeland and became citizens of the United States.
In 1966, Cruz and Tito Puente began an association that would lead to eight albums for Tico Records. The albums were not as successful as expected. However, Puente and Cruz later joined the Vaya Records label. There, she joined accomplished pianist Larry Harlow and was soon headlining a concert at New York's Carnegie Hall.
Cruz's 1974 album with Johnny Pacheco, Celia y Johnny, was very successful, and Cruz soon found herself in a group named the Fania All-Stars, which was an ensemble of salsa musicians from every orchestra signed by the Fania label (owner of Vaya Records). With the Fania All-Stars, Cruz had the opportunity of visiting England, France, Zaire (Today's DR Congo), and to return to tour Latin America; her performance in Zaire is included in the film Soul Power. In the late 1970s, she participated in an Eastern Air Lines commercial in Puerto Rico, singing the catchy phrase ¡Esto sí es volar! (This really is flying!).
Celia Cruz used to sing the identifying spot for WQBA radio station in Miami, formerly known as "La Cubanísima" : "I am the voice of Cuba, from this land, far away,..., I am liberty, I am WQBA, the most Cuban! (Yo soy de Cuba, la voz, desde esta tierra lejana, ..., soy libertad, soy WQBA, Cubanísima!)
During the 1980s, Cruz made many tours in Latin America and Europe, doing multiple concerts and television shows wherever she went, and singing both with younger stars and stars of her own era. She began a crossover of sorts, when she participated in the 1988 Hollywood production of Salsa, alongside Robby Draco Rosa.
In 1990, Cruz won a Grammy Award for Best Tropical Latin Performance - Ray Barretto & Celia Cruz - Ritmo en el Corazon. She later recorded an anniversary album with la Sonora Matancera. In 1992, she starred with Armand Assante and Antonio Banderas in the film The Mambo Kings. In 1994, President Bill Clinton awarded Cruz the National Medal of Arts. In 2001, she recorded a new album, on which Johnny Pacheco was one of the producers.
On July 16, 2002, Cruz performed to a full house at the free outdoor performing arts festival Central Park SummerStage in New York City. During the performance she sang, "Bemba Colora." A live recording of this song was subsequently made available in 2005 on a commemorative CD honoring the festival's then 20 year history entitled, "Central Park SummerStage: Live from the Heart of the City."
In early 2003, she had surgery to correct knee problems that she had for a few years, and she intended to continue working indefinitely. She had weight issues.
Celia Cruz appeared on the Dionne Warwick album My Friends & Me 2006.
After her death in New Jersey, her body was taken to Miami to lie in state in downtown Miami's Freedom Tower, where more than 200,000 of her South Florida fans paid their final respects. Her body was returned to New Jersey where tens of thousands of fans paid tribute to her at the funeral home. A service was held for her in St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue. She was interred in a private mausoleum at the Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx; an epilogue in her autobiography notes that, in accordance with her wishes, Cuban soil that she had saved from a visit to Guantánamo Bay was used in her entombment.
On June 4, 2004, the heavily-Cuban-populated town of Union City, New Jersey heralded its annual Cuban Day Parade by dedicating its new Celia Cruz Park (also known as Celia Cruz Plaza), which features a sidewalk star in her honor, at 31st Street and Bergenline Avenue, with Cruz's widower, Pedro Knight, present. There are four other similar dedications to Cruz around the world. Cruz's star has expanded into Union City's "Walk of Fame", as new marble stars are added each spring to honor Latin entertainment and media personalities, such as merengue singer Joseíto Mateo, salsa singer La India, Cuban musician Israel "Cachao" Lopez, Cuban tenor Beny Moré, Tito Puente, Spanish language television news anchor Rafael Pineda, salsa pioneer Johnny Pacheco, singer/bandleader Gilberto Santa Rosa and music promoter Ralph Mercado.
On May 18, 2005, the National Museum of American History, administered by the Smithsonian Institution and located in Washington, D.C., opened "¡Azúcar!", an exhibit celebrating the life and music of Celia Cruz. The exhibit highlights important moments in Cruz's life and career through photographs, personal documents, costumes, videos, and music.
On September 26, 2007, through May 25, 2008, Celia, a musical based on the life of Celia Cruz, played at the off-Broadway venue, New World Stages. Some performances were in Spanish and some in English. The show won four 2008 HOLA awards.
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Category:1917 births Category:1987 deaths Category:People from Arecibo, Puerto Rico Category:Puerto Rican composers Category:Puerto Rican female singers Category:Puerto Rican singer-songwriters Category:Women composers
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
