Who is Celia Cruz? Google Doodle Celebrates Salsa Performer

By Cynthia Herbert :: 1:13 AM

If you’ve searched for anything on Google today, you’ve probably seen the image above, and wondered who it is. Google’s doodle today marks what would have been the 88th birthday of Celia Cruz, considered to be one of the most popular salsa performers of the 20th century.

Cruz was born on October 21, 1925 in Havana, Cuba to a railroad worker and his wife. The family had dozens of children. In her teen years, an aunt took Cruz along with other young female family members to cabarets in Havana, to learn how to sing, and the rest was history.

She had her first big break in 1950 when she was named  lead vocalist for a big band called La Sonora Matancera. In 1959, after the Castro regime took over Cuba, she fled to America, and continued to spread her love for Latin American music throughout the world. Castro barred her return to Cuba, and Cruz died in the U.S. in 2003.

Below, a video of Cruz singing Guantanamera: