I have never smoked in my life, said Celia Cruz. My mother and my brother were also smokers, so I decided to do the same.
While my brother was instructing, I developed a cold, so I visited the doctor.
Was Celia Cruz a smoker?
The racy second single from the same-named album, “La Negra Tiene Tumbao,” had its video premiere in Miami in November 2002. Celia Cruz traveled there. Cruz wished to converse while eating. Nothing official
And as was frequently the case with Cruz, the discussion of her CD turned into casual, amiable talk. We were unaware at the time that this would be our final conversation and Cruz’s final significant interview before her passing in July 2003.
Cruz was exposed to a wide range of artists while growing up in Cuba’s varied musical environment of the 1930s, including Fernando Collazo, Abelardo Barroso, Pablo Quevedo, and Arsenio Rodriguez, all of whom had an impact on her adult career.
Cruz heard santera songs from her santera-practicing neighbor when she was young, in spite of her mother’s objections. Together with her colleague Mercedita Valdes, a Cuban singer of Akpwon santera, Cruz later researched the lyrics of Yoruba songs and recorded a number of spiritual compositions.
