This Is My New Jersey

Growing up, I would sit on my grandmother’s couch with my Uncle Sonny and look at coins. We would go through all the change he would bring home in his pockets at the end of the day and look for wheat pennies. We filled the old blue coin books and I still have a Tootsie Roll bank filled with pennies from him. It is a great memory I hold dear.

A different Jersey Girl recently had a moment of coin collecting recently when the U.S. Mint announced Jersey’s favorite Daughter, Celia Cruz, has been honored with her likeness on a quarter.

Part of the American Women Quarters series, Celia Cruz was born in Cuba in 1925. She fell in love with a wide variety of music genres at a young age and as she grew up, she studied voice, theory, and piano at Havana’s National Conservatory of Music. Her career took off in 1950 when she was hired to sing for La Sonora Matancera. For more than a decade, Celia toured throughout Latin America, continuing to hone her craft and develop her unique style.

When Fidel Castro came to power in the early 1960s, Celia fled her homeland and settled in Fort Lee and New Jersey became her home. She married Pedro Knight, her longtime friend and trumpet player in her orchestra. in 1966, she met Tito Puente, and her career went to the next level. They played a key role developing a the “new” sound of Salsa, combining African, Latin, and Cuban musical traditions. In time, Cruz earn the title “Queen of Salsa.”

In 2002, Celia was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent surgery in the fall. In November of that same year, she fell during a concert. It was not long after her fall she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer. She passed away the following summer at her home in Fort Lee at the age of 77.

During her amazing life, Celia was nominated for 14 Grammy Awards, winning two. She also won four Latin Grammy Awards. In 2013, she was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame and in 2016, she was posthumously given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. She earned 23 gold albums throughout her career.

And this month, she has been given the honor of being commemorated as the 14th woman in the American Women Quarters series.

Azucar, Celia!