Editing Celia Cruz (section)

== Early life ==
Celia Caridad Cruz Alfonso was born on 21 October 1925, at 47 Serrano Street in the Santos Suárez neighborhood of [[Havana, Cuba]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cruz |first1=Celia |last2=Reymundo |first2=Ana Cristina |title=Celia: My Life |date=5 July 2005 |publisher=Harper Collins |isbn=978-0-06-072555-6 |page=11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GNwojKkFS-YC |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Bio5">{{cite book |last1=Marceles |first1=Eduardo |title=Azúcar!: The Biography of Celia Cruz |date=2004 |publisher=Reed Press |isbn=9781594290213 |page=5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IAgUAQAAIAAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref name="GN">{{cite web |title=Celia Cruz interview |url=http://generation-ntv.com/writing/celia-cruz-1996 |website=Generation-ntv.com|access-date=19 September 2019 |date=1996}}</ref> Her father, Simón Cruz, was a railway stoker, and her mother, Catalina Alfonso Ramos, a housewife who took care of an extended family.<ref name="Bio5" /> Celia was one of the eldest among fourteen children living in the house, including cousins and her three siblings, Dolores, Gladys, and Bárbaro,<ref>Marceles, Eduardo (2004). ''Azúcar!: The Biography of Celia Cruz''. Reed Press. p. 5: "[Celia Cruz] was the only daughter of Simón Cruz, a railroad worker from the town of Los Palacios, and Catalina Alfonso, who was also from Pinar del Río ... Before her relationship with Simón, Catalina already had a daughter, Dolores, with Aquilino Ramos. After Celia, she also had two other children, Bárbaro and Gladys, with Alejandro Jiménez."</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Petrini |first=Rebecca |date=2004-09-21 |title=Celia Cruz |url=http://fs2.american.edu/aoliver/www/prominenthispanics/cruz.htm |access-date=2022-11-03 |website=Prominent Hispanics in the U.S. |language=es}}</ref> and she used to sing cradle songs to put them to sleep.<ref name="GN" /> According to her mother, she began singing as a child at 9 or 10 months of age, often in the middle of the night.<ref name="GN" /><ref>{{cite web |last1=Wall |first1=Anthony |title=My Name Is Celia Cruz |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qmxcl |website=BBC Arena |publisher=BBC |access-date=5 November 2019 |date=12 February 1988}}</ref> She also sang in school during the Fridays' {{lang|es|actos cívicos}} and in her neighborhood ensemble, Botón de oro.<ref name="GN" />

While growing up in Cuba's diverse 1930s musical climate, Cruz listened to many musicians who influenced her adult career, including Fernando Collazo, [[Abelardo Barroso]], Pablo Quevedo, [[Antonio Arcaño]] and [[Arsenio Rodríguez]].<ref name="SI" /> Despite her father's opposition and the fact that she was [[Catholic Church|Catholic]], as a child Cruz learned [[Santería]] songs from her neighbor who practiced Santería.<ref>{{cite book|title=Celia: mi vida|date=2004|publisher=Harper Collins|isbn=0-06-072606-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/celiamylife00cruz/page/24 24, 74]|author1=Celia Cruz|author2=Ana Cristina Reymundo|url=https://archive.org/details/celiamylife00cruz/page/24}}</ref> Cruz also studied the words to [[Yoruba language|Yoruba]] songs with colleague [[Merceditas Valdés]] (an ''[[akpwon]]'', a Santería singer) from Cuba and later made various recordings of this religious genre, even singing backup for other akpwons like [[Candita Batista]].

As a teenager, her aunt took her and her cousin to [[cabaret]]s to sing, but her father encouraged her to attend school in the hope she would become a teacher. After high school, she attended the Normal School for Teachers in Havana with the intent of becoming a literature teacher.<ref name="Celia Cruz">{{cite web|title=Celia Cruz|url=http://academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate/article/399883#|website=Britannica Academic|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=13 December 2016}}</ref> At the time being a singer was not viewed as an entirely respectable career. However, one of her teachers told her that, as an entertainer, she could earn in one day what most Cuban teachers earned in a month. From 1947, Cruz studied music theory, voice, and piano at Havana's National Conservatory of Music.<ref name="Biografías_1">{{cite web|author=Biografías y Vidas|title=Celia Cruz|url=http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/c/cruz.htm|access-date=25 May 2008}}</ref>

One day, her cousin took her to Havana's radio station [[Radio Garcia-Serra|Radio García-Serra]], where she became a contestant in the "Hora del té" amateur radio program. It was her first time using a microphone and she sang the [[tango]] "Nostalgia" (as a tribute to [[Paulina Álvarez]]<ref name="SI" />), winning a cake as the first prize for her performance.<ref name="GN" /> On other occasions she won silver chains, as well as opportunities to participate in more contests.<ref>{{cite book|title=Celia: mi vida|date=2004|publisher=Harper Collins|isbn=0-06-072606-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/celiamylife00cruz/page/32 32–4]|author1=Celia Cruz|author2=Ana Cristina Reymundo|url=https://archive.org/details/celiamylife00cruz/page/32}}</ref> She also sang in other amateur radio programs such as {{lang|es|La suprema corte del arte}}, broadcast by [[CMQ (Cuba)|CMQ]], always winning first prize. The only exception was when she competed against Vilma Valle, having to split their earnings: 25 dollars each.<ref name="GN" />

In 2004, the ''[[Miami Herald]]'' revealed from partially declassified US State Department papers that Cruz had been linked to Cuba's pre-Revolution communist party, the [[Popular Socialist Party (Cuba)|Popular Socialist Party]] (PSP), as early as the 1940s.<ref>"An untold chapter in the life of Celia Cruz," Rosenberg, C. Miami Herald, Sun, 25 July 2004 Back then, "it was not unusual at all for artists and intellectuals to have some sort of contact with the Communist Party", Univ. of Pittsburgh history professor is quoted in the article. "It was a progressive, liberal force at the time. There was nothing to be ashamed of at the time. That changed in the late 1940s, after the end of World War II".</ref> The article, promoted as an "exclusive", was written by Miami Herald journalist [[Carol Rosenberg]] from Freedom of Information Act requests. It made several revelations. Among them, the US Embassy in Havana denied Cruz a US visa in 1952 and 1955 because of suspected communist affiliations. The article also states that Cruz had joined the youth wing of the PSP at age 20 and had used a concert to arrange a secret meeting with communists in South America on behalf of its then general secretary, [[Blas Roca Calderío]], who has also founded the party in 1925. Cruz had also signed a public letter in support of one of the Party's front groups, the Pro-Peace Congress. The article states that Cruz's surviving husband, [[Pedro Knight]], was asked about this, and is quoted he knew nothing about it. "She never told me about that. She never talked about politics," the article quotes Knight.<ref>"The Cruz file obtained by The Herald is not complete. But the 18 pages released so far begin on July 23, 1955. Marked ''SECRET'', an operations memorandum from the U.S. Embassy in Havana says the singer was refused entry into the United States under a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act that weeds out suspected subversives." ibid.</ref>