Hispanic Star: Celia Cruz

Ages 8 to 12

Read about "La Reina de la Salsa" in Hispanic Star: Celia Cruz, and learn the most groundbreaking, iconic Hispanic and Latinx heroes that have shaped our culture and the world in this gripping biography series for young readers. If you can see it, you can be it.

Meet the Queen of Salsa, Celia Cruz—once just a girl from Havana, Cuba, who loved to sing. Her soulful voice, compelling charm, and unstoppable determination led to her meteoric rise to fame, opening the door for Latinx performers everywhere. Her booming career took her from the Sonora Matancera to the Fania All-Stars, with the rising popularity of salsa, a genre born of Afro-Cuban musical stylings. Six decades and more than seventy albums later, Celia’s influence still has an undeniable hold on today’s music.

Hispanic Star proudly celebrates Hispanic and Latinx heroes who have made remarkable contributions to American culture and have been undeniable forces in shaping its future.

About the Author

Claudia Romo Edelman is the founder of the We Are All Human Foundation and Hispanic Star and has worked for twenty-five years with internationally recognized institutions, including the United Nations, the Global Fund, the World Economic Forum, and UNICEF. She’s led some of the most successful global campaigns in the last decade, including Product (RED), the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals in collaboration with the United Nations, the creation of the SDG Lions, and the rebranding of the UN Refugee Agency. Visit her at claudiaromoedelman.com.

William Alexander is a National Book Award–winning Cuban American author who usually writes unrealisms, like Goblin Secrets, Ambassador, and A Properly Unhaunted Place. He teaches in the writing for children and young adults program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Visit him at willalex.net.