Celia Cruz

Even by Hollywood standards, it was a memorable evening. It's not every day that salsa fans get to see Celia Cruz perform a rousing rendition of her super hit "Que Le Den Candela" in a setting so intimate that it makes the House of Blues feel like the Forum--with actress Jennifer Lopez among those dancing the night away just a few feet from the stage.

NEW YORK -- Playing the Queen of Salsa on stage is a dream come true for Xiomara Laugart, the star of the musical "Celia: The Life and Music of Celia Cruz." But the singer doesn't want to mislead the audience. "I am not Celia. I don't sing like Celia," said Laugart, a former member of funk band Yerba Buena, who is making her stage debut in the off-Broadway production. Like Cruz, Laugart is Cuban and a singer. But Cruz "is the Queen of Salsa. I am the queen of my house," Laugart said. "Imagine!

Cruz's most arresting album in recent years is actually a compilation of tunes spanning the period from the early '80s to this year, in which the diva duets with some of the most celebrated figures in Latin pop. The track selection is flawless on a collection that emphasizes how seductive her voice can actually be.

Pedro Knight, a former lead trumpet player for Cuba's legendary band La Sonora Matancera and the devoted husband of the late "Queen of Salsa" Celia Cruz, whose career he helped guide, has died. He was 85. Knight died Saturday at Methodist Hospital in Arcadia, hospital spokesman Tony Yang said. Although the cause of death was not given, Knight had suffered from complications of diabetes and had a series of strokes last year.

Pedro Knight, a former lead trumpet player for Cuba's legendary band La Sonora Matancera and the devoted husband of the late "Queen of Salsa" Celia Cruz, whose career he helped guide, has died. He was 85. Knight died Saturday at Methodist Hospital in Arcadia, hospital spokesman Tony Yang said. Although the cause of death was not given, Knight had suffered from complications of diabetes and had a series of strokes last year.

"I heard that the club didn't know who I was," Celia Cruz said playfully to the wildly enthusiastic, sold-out crowd early in her first-ever appearance Saturday night at the House of Blues. Then, she added, triumphantly, "Now they know." Indeed, it was a night to remember--and an important one for Cruz herself.

There was very little jazz and plenty of mambo, salsa and guaguanco at the Hollywood Bowl during Wednesday's "Latin Jazz Spectacular," a deceptively named show that nevertheless allowed the audience an opportunity to experience veteran Cuban singer Celia Cruz at her very best. Perhaps because her latest album, "La Negra Tiene Tumbao," has just received four Latin Grammy nominations, the singer was particularly high-spirited, delivering her most dynamic local performance in years.

Step aside, quebraditas , at least for this edition of Latin Pulse. Salsa is gradually recovering its momentum of the mid-'70s, and you can tell it in the growing number of salsa clubs throughout Los Angeles. This survey of noteworthy recent Latin pop albums includes the latest works by both "The Queen of Salsa" and the aspiring "Queen of Merengue," as well as the more traditional Afro-Cuban sounds of Conjunto Cespedes.

The Queen of Salsa is dead. Celia Cruz, the Afro-Cuban singer who rose from a humble Havana home to command half a century of Latin dance music with her sonorous voice and regal yet folksy personality, died Wednesday afternoon at her Fort Lee, N.J., home after a battle with brain cancer. She was 77. Her death came two days after her 41st wedding anniversary.

The most thorough reference books fail to list the year singer Celia Cruz was born in Havana. The only known fact is that her birthday comes every Oct. 21. But Thursday at the Galaxy Concert Theatre, the first night of Cruz's Southern California tour, the riddle was effectively answered. After watching her energetic opening set, those in the audience could clearly see that the groundbreaking, Afro-Cuban vocalist is, undeniably, ageless.

When Cuban singer Celia Cruz died three years ago, it seemed salsa music died along with her. Not that her death caused the demise. But in retrospect, it's almost poetic how her life paralleled the ebb and flow of the music itself: Cruz's career saw its own ups and downs over half a century. Yet she always found herself at the epicenter of salsa's most exciting moments. Those moments and more are the focus of a new exhibit titled "¡Azucar!

I'd like to thank Agustin Gurza for his great article on Celia Cruz ("A Big Crown to Fill," Oct. 24). Celia was truly one of a kind and quoting my old friend Tito Puente, "Celia is just as much a musician as any of the guys in the band." Another one of my favorite female singers is Bobi Cespedes of Conjunto Cespedes fame. Her rendition of Lagrimas Negras from the CD "Una Sola Casa" is breathtaking. Bobi Cespedes is a wonderful singer and performer with mucho soul. Another Cuban import.

More than a year after the death of Cuban singer Celia Cruz, the public's fascination with her lives on. Almost weekly, it seems, we get a new book, DVD documentary or CD compilation summoning up the woman whose career spanned more than half a century. It's no cliche to say Cruz was one of a kind. This grande dame was the only female vocalist to achieve broad acceptance and sustained success in the male-dominated world of Afro-Caribbean music.

Salsa queen Celia Cruz was removed from a U.S. list of suspected communists in 1965 after she performed and raised money for groups trying to overthrow Cuban President Fidel Castro, according to newly released immigration documents. U.S. officials suspected in the 1950s that Cruz, who died last year of a brain tumor, supported Castro's communist government. She was refused a visa at least twice starting in 1952 because U.S. law at the time forbade entry to foreigners affiliated with communists.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a new high school named in memory of "Queen of Salsa" Celia Cruz. The DeWitt Clinton High School-Lehman College Celia Cruz Bronx High School of Music is scheduled to open in September. The 90 students enrolled this year will take academic classes at DeWitt and their music classes at Lehman College, where the music school will be located. The Cuban-born Cruz died last month from a brain tumor at 77.

A horse-drawn carriage draped in Celia Cruz's favorite color -- purple -- will carry the Queen of Salsa down Fifth Avenue to St. Patrick's Cathedral today, leaving the funeral home where tens of thousands of fans said goodbye Monday. The city will then honor the Havana-born singer the same way she moved the world: with music. Patti LaBelle will sing "Ave Maria." Salsa singer Victor Manuelle will also perform.

Salsa queen Celia Cruz was removed from a U.S. list of suspected communists in 1965 after she performed and raised money for groups trying to overthrow Cuban President Fidel Castro, according to newly released immigration documents. U.S. officials suspected in the 1950s that Cruz, who died last year of a brain tumor, supported Castro's communist government. She was refused a visa at least twice starting in 1952 because U.S. law at the time forbade entry to foreigners affiliated with communists.

Mourners danced and music filled the air as about 100,000 fans, who had waited hours in the hot South Florida sunshine Saturday, paid homage to salsa legend Celia Cruz. "She was Cuba's gift to the world," said Blanca Casa, who left the island in 1970. "She is the Cuban symbol, like the flag. I'm so proud of her." Cruz, the "Queen of Salsa" who recorded more than 70 albums, died Wednesday at age 77 of a brain tumor.

Mourners danced and music filled the air as about 100,000 fans, who had waited hours in the hot South Florida sunshine Saturday, paid homage to salsa legend Celia Cruz. "She was Cuba's gift to the world," said Blanca Casa, who left the island in 1970. "She is the Cuban symbol, like the flag. I'm so proud of her." Cruz, the "Queen of Salsa" who recorded more than 70 albums, died Wednesday at age 77 of a brain tumor.

Celia Cruz sent me a Christmas card in 1985. It was one of those that had a photograph on the front, the singer pictured in a festive red dress along with her dapper husband, musician Pedro Knight, his arm around her shoulder. Celia, as everybody knew her, also took the time to send me a couple of postcards while on the road, from Helsinki and Holland. She addressed them to "Amigo Agustin," always on behalf of her and her beloved Pedro.