“The Queen of Salsa” has earned a special place in history. Celia Cruz is one of five honorees to be selected for the 2024 American Women Quarters Program, now available for purchase.
Celia Cruz, also known as Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso, died in 2003. Cruz was one of the 20th century’s most well-known Latin performers and won five Grammy Awards, a National Medal of Arts and a posthumous Grammy for Lifetime Achievement.
The coin shows an image of Cruz smiling with her iconic phrase: “¡Azúcar!”. The other side has an image of George Washington, designed by artist Laura Gardin Fraser in 1932 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of America’s first president.
“Celia received so many accolades during her lifetime that it was hard to expect a greater honor than those she had already accumulated during her legendary career. But to have been honored by the U.S. Mint in this way is something that would have surprised her greatly since she was a simple and humble woman,” said Omer Pardillo-Cid, Cruz’s last artistic representative and the executor of her estate, in a press release.
Cruz was known for hit songs like “Quimbara,” “La Vida es un Carnaval,” “La Negra Tiene Tumbao,” and her cover of “Guantanamera.”
Cruz won many awards throughout her lifetime, including three Grammy awards and four Latin Grammys.