Though Cruz was making a name for herself as a backup singer in several bands, her big break came when La Sonora Matancera, a popular orchestra band in Cuba, was suddenly in need of a singer in 1950.Ĭruz was signed, and the band’s success would propel her to fame, but very little of it would be seen in her beloved Cuba. It didn’t take long for Cruz to rise to fame, but she was exiled from her home country She attended a school for teachers after high school before music called to her and she started studying at Havana's National Conservatory of Music in 1947. Her father highly encouraged Cruz to get an education and become a teacher, a common profession for women at the time. But while her career certainly seemed promising, it wasn’t always the life her father Simón Cruz, a railway worker, envisioned for her. It was also the first time she used a microphone.įrom then on, Cruz was highly sought out at radio stations all around the city and had standing times during the weekends, when she’d win almost every contest she signed up for. The young singer had already been playing gigs around town with the local band El Botón de Oro (The Golden Button) when her cousin signed her up for a local radio station contest 'Hora del té' (the tea hour) where she won her first prize for singing. I thought ‘What are those people doing there?… I’m trying to get these kids to sleep.’ Later, I found out that a cousin of mine was bringing the people in.” “I would sing my brothers and sisters to sleep and I noticed that, when I did, there were always neighbors at my door. “I was the oldest sibling at home so I used to put the little ones to sleep,” Cruz explained. Turns out, her cousin knew she’d be a big star someday and would gather people to go by her house and hear her. She had fans lining up to hear her sing before her career even got startedĬruz earned support for her singing career before it even took off, with people from her “barrio” lining up to hear her sing her young siblings to sleep. Celia Cruz circa 1965 Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

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