Celia Cruz born as Ursula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso on October 21st, 1924 in Havana, Cuba was an amazing Cuban singer, who became an iconic singer of salsa music.
Celia Cruz was born to Catalina Alfonso and Simon Cruz, a railroad employee. Celia Cruz grew up listening to the music of several celebrity singers of her time like Paulina Alvarez, Arcano y sus Maravillas, Fernando Collazo, Arsenio Rodriguez, Abelardo Barroso, and Pablo Quevedo. During her teens, Celia's aunt encouraged her and her cousin to sing at cabarets, while her father put her in school to make her a Spanish language teacher.
But in those days in Cuba, what entertainers earned in a day teachers earned in a month. So encouraged by her school teachers and her aunt, Celia Cruz plunged into music.
During the early 1940s Celia became a radio singer. She began singing at Havana's radio station Radio Garcia-Serra's popular "Hora del Te" [Teatime] broadcast. She used to win cakes as a prize at teatime broadcasts; and winning became a regular feature with Celia Cruz. As the years went by, Celia Cruz in the year 1950 got her major breakthrough with a famous Cuban orchestra called "La Sonora Matancera".
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