The “Queen of Salsa,” Cuban singer Celia Cruz, passed away from a brain tumor in Ft. Lee, New Jersey. She was 77.
The singer, who immigrated to the country in 1960, recorded more than 70 albums and was nominated for 12 Grammys.
What was Celia Cruz cause of death?
Two days after her 41st wedding anniversary, she passed away. She had by her side her tall, lanky, white-haired trumpeter husband Pedro Knight, who had supported her career from the beginning and frequently shared the stage with her.
Cruz’s passing signals the end of an unparalleled era of salsa giants who were able to perform right up until the end of their lives, coming three years after the passing of bandleader Tito Puente, one of her lifelong partners.
Cruz, the second of his parents’ four children and a train stoker, was born in 1925 in Havana’s impoverished Santos Suarez district. More than a dozen kids, including nieces, nephews, and relatives, lived with her.
She began singing in the family and was given the responsibility of lullabying the other kids to sleep.
