Celia: My Life - Softcover

Cruz, Celia; Reymundo, Ana Cristina

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060725559 ISBN 13: 9780060725556

Publisher: HarperEntertainment, 2005

Synopsis

From her modest childhood in Cuba, to her exile years in Mexico, to her remarkable career and life in America, Celia Cruz -- the Queen of Salsa -- was a woman of contradictions. Her flamboyant costumes clashed with her simple and straightforward demeanor. She was open and accessible to her fans, but staunchly private about her personal life. And now the woman who said, "I never wanted to write an autobiography," has done just that -- saying her final farewell to her fans.

Based on more than five hundred hours of taped interviews recorded just months before her death, Celia includes personal photos, notes, mementos, and anecdotes celebrating the soul of an extraordinary life blessed with talent, burdened with heartbreak, and rewarded with glorious triumphs.

About this title

About the Author:

Ana Cristina Reymundo has been the Editorial Director of Nexos magazine since 1998. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, including Hispanic Media’s 100’s list of Top 100 US Hispanic journalists. She lives in Hurst, Texas.

From Publishers Weekly:

"How did a little black girl from Santos Suárez [a poor, working-class Havana neighborhood] come so far?" asks Cruz. One answer: "Only God knows why I've been so fortunate." Another explanation—that Cruz's success derived from her inimitable vocal style, passion for Cuba and its music, and her desire to keep expanding her oeuvre by recording with new artists and embracing all types of Cuban music (rumba, cha-cha, mambo, etc.)—is less a focal point of this book, but emerges nonetheless as the reason for her eventual status as "a cross-cultural, cross-generational phenomenon," according to People magazine. Cruz (1925–2003) recollects performances with many of the world's greatest musicians, including touring with the famous Sonora Matancera Orchestra and bringing salsa music to the U.S., South America, Asia and Europe. Although Cruz prefers to reminisce about her fabulous life rather than explain her connection to the music that came to define her, her autobiography, conversational in tone, neatly tells the story of a woman who bravely left her beloved homeland for a better life—and wound up bettering the lives of many others with her powerful music. Photos.
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About this edition

• Publisher: HarperEntertainment
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0060725559
• ISBN 13: 9780060725556
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304