¡Azúcar!

As everybody knows, Celia’s Cuban, and she was very critical of Fidel and his regime. She longed to go back to Cuba, but she never did. She represented Cuban people like nobody else. She made her mark in many different forms of latin music, from mambo to cha-cha to salsa. She had her hand in all of that.

I knew her through my dad, Joe Conzo Sr., who was the personal confidant, promoter, and manager for Tito Puente for 40-plus years. When I wasn’t taking pictures of hip-hop—the guys I grew up with—I was hanging on my dad’s coattails and going to concerts and rehearsals. I was befriended by Celia, Tito, Machito...everyone.

As a person, Celia was very down to earth. She was very particular about her costumes and her makeup and the show itself, but behind the scenes, most of those salsa icons were very approachable. They didn’t walk around with bodyguards like you see musicians doing today. Off-stage, Celia was just one of the people.


www.joeconzo.com