Celia Cruz Celebrates 100th Birthday With Vinyl Release
The release is part of a year-long celebration of the Queen Of Salsa’s 100th birthday.
Queen of Salsa Celia Cruz would have been 100 this year, and Craft Latino is marking the occasion. Cruz’s 1966 album Son Con Guaguancó will be released on vinyl for the first time since its initial release nearly 60 years ago, kicking off the celebration. The party will continue throughout 2025 with more vinyl and digital releases, new video content, and playlists.
Originally released in 1966, Son Con Guaguancó is regarded as a classic of the titular Guaguancó genre and of Latin music as a whole. Known for tracks like “Bemba Colorá,” “Oye Mi Consejo,” and “Se Me Perdió la Cartera,” the new rereleased preserves the original’s tracklist pressed on 180 gram vinyl inside the original cover art. There is also a variant pressed on red vinyl, and a bundling option that includes a Tico Records T-shirt. The album will also make its 192/24 hi-res audio streaming debut with the new release.
Though Cruz would later out-sell Son Con Guaguancó with multiple later records, especially as salsa music took off in popularity in the 1970s, the album is one of her most enduring. In 2017, NPR ranked it among its 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women List, while 2024 list from international curators ranked it 8th in a list of the 600 greatest Latin American albums.
Cruz is one of the best-selling Latin musical artists of all time, estimated as having sold more than 10 million records worldwide. In 2018, Rolling Stone ranked Cruz as the 18th greatest singer of all time, writing “No matter who she performed with, Cruz always shone radiantly, her magic tied into her ability to make people feel.” Though she died in 2003, Cruz continues to inspire generations of artists, with Jennifer Lopez performing a well-received tribute to the Latin icon at the 2013 American Music Awards.
