Hundreds follow funeral procession of salsa queen
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This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from July 2003.
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It was "un ultimo adios" the final goodbye to the Grammy-winning Cruz, with thousands of devotees of the Cuban-born singer clutching photos, waving flags, singing and dancing on an afternoon interrupted by driving thunderstorms.
Inside St. Patrick's Cathedral, the packed crowd of more than 2,000 included Cruz's husband of 41 years, trumpeter Pedro Knight; Mayor Michael Bloomberg; actor Antonio Banderas and wife Melanie Griffith; singer Jon Secada; and singer-actor Ruben Blades. "From heaven, you will continue to be sugar," said auxiliary Bishop Josu Iriondo, addressing the crowd in Spanish as Banderas interpreted for his wife. "Like good sugar, you will live melted in the coffee of your people."
Cruz's trademark was shouting "Azucar!" during her performances _ Spanish for "sugar."
After the funeral Mass, Cruz was buried at the 140-year-old Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, joining musical greats Duke Ellington and Miles Davis.
Umbrella-toting throngs jostled for a look at the funeral carriage, pulled down Manhattan's Fifth Avenue by twin white horses and topped with purple and white flowers. The procession included black limousines overflowing with floral arrangements and a statue of Our Lady of Charity, the patron saint of Cuba. One of the floral arrangements was in the shape of a large Cuban flag.
Cruz died July 16 of a brain tumor in her New Jersey home. She was 77.
Cruz left Cuba after the 1959 revolution and often said she would love to return when Fidel Castro no longer was in power. In the end, Castro outlived Cruz. White-gloved police officers provided an honor guard as Cruz's coffin, draped in the Cuban flag, was brought up the cathedral steps.
"This is a legend that the world has lost, and no one will take her place," said Soraya Alvarez, who staked queen," said Jacqueline Phillpotts, waving a Haitian flag.
Some began gathering at a Manhattan funeral home nine hours before Cruz's funeral cortege took the mile-long trip downtown. Angel Reyes said her music had provided a soundtrack for his life.
He would never listen to it the same way anymore. "When you hear her music, it's good and bad," Reyes said. "It's bad because she's gone. It's a good feeling because you feel it in your soul." The celebrity-studded funeral capped a week of massive mourning, including public viewings in Miami and New York that drew tens of thousands of fans.
Crowds were so thick on Monday that police shut out a spot near the cathedral early Tuesday morning.
Fans also waved the flags of Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Haiti claiming the singer as their own. "I came here to pay tribute to a great down a stretch of streets.
Gov. George Pataki proclaimed "Celia Cruz Day" across the state to celebrate her "extraordinary accomplishments, talent and grace."
