IN
MEMORIAM: THE QUEEN OF SALSA, CELIA CRUZ
Two
of her later bestselling albums on Seeco, Homenaje A Los Santos and Homenaje A
Los Santos Vol. 2, contained recordings of sacred songs, and her association
with Santeria or Yoruba has been highlighted in UK media coverage though she
claims to be a practising Roman Catholic). In addition to radio, Cruz worked
with the group Gloria Matancera and in small theatres and cabaret. She
befriended Roderico "Rodney" Neyra, later choreographer at the famous
Tropicana nightclub in Havana, who helped her get work there as a singer
during the club's winter seasons. She toured Mexico and Venezuela with him and
his dance troupe, Las Mulatas De Fuego (The Fiery Mulattas). Neyra introduced
Cruz to Rogelio Martínez, the director of the popular band Sonora Matancera.
On 3 August 1950, Cruz replaced Myrta Silva, who had returned to her native
Puerto Rico, as lead vocalist of Sonora Matancera on their weekly show on
Radio Progreso. Cruz made her recording debut with Sonora Matancera on a 78
rpm single released in January 1951 entitled "Cao Cao Mani Picao" (later
included on Canciones Premiadas De Celia Cruz, her biggest hit album on Seeco),
with the flip-side "Mata Siguaraya" (later contained on Homenaje A Los Santos
Vol.2). She made a long list of records during her 15-year tenure with the
band. During the 50s, Cruz and the band appeared on television, topped the
bill at the Tropicana and toured the Caribbean, South and Central America and
the USA. She made her first appearance in New York at the old St. Nicholas
Arena in 1957. Cruz and Sonora Matancera left post-revolutionary Cuba
permanently in July 1960. "We gave them the impression we were just going on
another temporary tour abroad. That's how we got out" (quoted in her 1983
biography). They worked in Mexico for one-and-a-half years, during which time
they made their fifth Mexican movie appearance. "Castro never forgave me", she
said in a 1987 interview.
The
Cuban government refused her permission to return home to attend her father's
funeral. A lengthy commitment at the Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles, in 1961
enabled Celia and Sonora Matancera to apply for US residency. In July 1962 she
was able to dispense with her
chaperone (a female relative), when she married
the band's first trumpeter, Pedro Knight, who became her manager and on-stage
musical director. After finishing with Sonora Matancera in 1965, Cruz switched
to Tico Records - then a division of Morris Levy's Roulette Records - and
released a series of 12 albums (excluding compilations) between 1966 and 1972,
including seven in partnership with Tito Puente and four recorded in Mexico
with the band of Memo Salamanca (issued by Tico in the USA under license from
the Mexican Orfeon label). A combination of poor promotion and a young Latino
audience more interested in other music styles than music from the old
country, meant that her Tico releases clocked up poor sales. However, by the
early 70s, young Latinos "in New York, New Jersey and Miami began to take a
new pride in their roots, and salsa became the musical symbol of that
rediscovered identity" (quote from Elizabeth Llorente, 1987). Jerry Masucci,
who co-ran the successful salsa labels, Fania and Vaya, with bandleader Johnny
Pacheco, had his eye on the Tico catalogue and was especially interested in
developing Cruz's talents. He struck a deal with Levy, and Tico became part of
the Fania fold. Cruz was touring in Mexico in 1973 when it was decided that
she would sing the part of Gracia Divina on Larry Harlow's Latin opera album
Hommy on Fania, a version of the Who's Tommy. Cruz's outstanding performance
at the all-star Carnegie Hall presentation of Hommy on 29 March 1973 served to
re-launch her career and connect her with a new, younger audience. Her
new-found popularity was consolidated the following year. The summer of 1974
saw the release of Celia & Johnny, the first of a series of six successful
collaborations with Pacheco on Vaya, which went gold. Masucci thought of
alternating Cruz with other top leaders on his roster, like Willie Colón, Papo
Lucca and Ray Barretto, whose bands each had their own trademark sound. Cruz
made her album debut with the Fania All Stars in 1975 on the two-volume Live
At Yankee Stadium. Bobby Valentín's re-arrangement of her 60s track
"Bemba Colora" ("Red Lips", originally from Son Con Guaguanco produced by Al
Santiago) on volume two was a show stopper with the hypnotized audience
chanting the single word chorus "colora" and calling Cruz back for an encore.
Film footage of this performance was featured in Masucci's movie Salsa.
Continues on the next page.