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Mourners to Line Streets for Celia Cruz

Posted on: Tuesday, 22 July 2003, 06:00 CDT

The Queen of Salsa is going out in style. In two days of commemorations, thousands of fans - many weeping, others singing snippets of tunes - were saying goodbye to Celia Cruz, who died last week at age 78 of a brain tumor.

Thousands of mourners were expected to line the streets for the procession Tuesday, when a horse-drawn carriage was set to take Cruz' body to St. Patrick's Cathedral for a public funeral Mass.

Throngs of fans waited patiently for hours Monday in the hot and humid streets of Manhattan to view Cruz's body at the Frank E. Campbell funeral home, known for its celebrity funerals.

As they wound through police barricades to the funeral home, many chanted "Celia, Celia." Some clutched flowers and carried photos of Cruz.

Mildred Soto, who traveled from New Jersey with three friends, was in line at 5:30 a.m. and waited six hours before entering the funeral home.

"She was an amazing woman, a gorgeous human being ... she will always be inside our hearts," Soto said.

Nilda Romano, 48, of New York City, said she first started dancing to the Cuban-born Cruz's music when she was 15.

"She brought music and love and understanding to the world. She was a very passionate person and we loved her dearly," Romano said.

Cruz's body was flown over the weekend to Miami, where she was immensely popular, especially among the large Cuban population. Tens of thousands paid their respects at a viewing at the Freedom Tower.

She was returned to New York on Sunday to the Campbell funeral home, where celebrities from Judy Garland to John Lennon to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis have rested.

Cruz came to the United States in 1960, a year after the Cuban revolution. She recorded more than 70 albums, earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was honored with a National Endowment of the Arts medal by President Clinton in 1994.

She won best salsa album for "La Negra Tiene Tumbao" at last year's Latin Grammy Awards, and won the same award at this year's Grammys. Her other best-known recordings include "Yerberito Moderno" and "Que le Den Candela."

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