To honor the achievements and careers of significant female figures in the United States, the U.S. Mint will circulate a coin with the face of Celia Cruz in 2024.

The legacy of Celia Cruz, one of the most important women in the Latin music industry, continues to be more alive than ever. And it is that recently we learned that the Cuban artist will begin to appear in a cash WE .

As part of the American Women Quarters program, the United States government has chosen Celia Cruz as one of five women who will be honored with their faces on 25-cent coins. With this, the singer becomes the first Afro-Latina to integrate the detailed selection of special parts.

The American Women Quarters plan began in 2022 and will continue through 2026. According to the website of the United States currency in charge of the initiative, the objective is “celebrating the achievements and contributions of women” from this country.

Due to the above, the entity will release five different coin designs with honored women for each year. Of course, the designs will be on the reverse of the coin, since the obverse will continue with the figure of George Washington.

In particular, Celia Cruz is part of the catalog of coins that will be issued in 2024.

The other characters chosen with Celia are Pauli Murray poet, lawyer and women’s rights activist; Patsy Takemoto Mink who was the first woman of color to serve in Congress; walker mary edwards , Civil War-era surgeon and women’s rights advocate; And Zitkala-Sa writer, violinist and activist for the rights of Native American peoples.

Born on October 21, 1925 in Havana, and very young, Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alonso showed obvious signs of attraction to Music : He sang lullabies to small children and liked to watch the cafés of the singers from afar. However, her father didn’t look kindly on Celia’s love of music, let alone building a career in it.

The truth is that he decided to leave behind his father’s desires and in his youth he entered the National Conservatory of Music. In the 1950s, Celia joined as lead singer in the Sonora Matancera , probably the most important salsa band in Cuba at that time. He was there for more than 10 years and the power of his voice left such an impact that it gave the musical group its greatest period of splendour.

However, after the revolution in Cuba, the last years in the musical group were not so good for Celia. He simply did not like the Cuban authorities, like Fidel Castro told him the things he could sing or not . Due to the above, in 1961 the singer decided to leave her native country and emigrate to the United States to develop her career.

In those same years, trumpeter Pedro Knight and Celia fell in love and got married. He will be his manager himself later and will accompany him for all the following years. In 1965, the Cuban began her career as a soloist, where she finally He managed to devote himself to salsa and became an incomparable icon in the Latin genre. .

In life, Celia has always collaborated with other artists from the world of salsa and other genres, such as Ray Barretto, Willie Colón, Tito Puente, Gloria Estefan, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs and Vicente Fernández.

hear the expression “Sugar!” Of course, we all remember Celia’s charisma and overflowing talent. This word is one of the greatest characteristics left by the Cuban singer during her career, always incorporating it into her musical successes so that the public is infected with her pleasure and joy.

Celia died on July 16, 2003 at the age of 77. A brain tumor took her away from the world forever, but despite her death, the impact “the queen of salsa” left on Latin music can never be erased.

Source: Latercera