American basketball player A’ja Wilson
Credit: © Thurman James, CSM/Alamy Images

On Wednesday, October 18th, the Las Vegas Aces defeated the New York Liberty, 70 to 69, to clinch the best-of-five Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) Finals, three games to one, at the Liberty’s home court the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The Las Vegas Aces took home their second championship in a row, becoming the first WNBA team in 21 years to win the title consecutively. Finals MVP forward A’ja Wilson led the team while guard Chelsea Gray, center Kiah Stokes, and forward Candace Parker sat out due to injuries. Las Vegas became the first team in league history to win a playoff without multiple starters who played the previous game.

Australian center for the Aces Cayla George scored 11 points in 30 minutes. Regular season MVP New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart only scored 10 points in the entire game. Wilson played 39 of the 40-minute game, scoring 24 points and securing 16 rebounds.

Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon, helped the Aces meld their exceptional individual talents into a strong championship unit. Hammon had been an assistant coach with the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs and a seven-time All-Star in a 16 year WNBA career. Hammon secured star Candace Parker for the season. Although Parker was out on injury, she is now the first player in the WNBA to win three championships from three different teams after playing for the Los Angeles Sparks and the Chicago Sky.

The basketball teams met for Game 4 before a large Liberty home crowd. The score remained close throughout the game with the Liberty gaining a lead and the Aces catching up several times. The Aces gained momentum to control the game at the end of the third quarter, bringing the score to a tie at 51. With the Aces leading the game at 70 to 69, Liberty forward Breanna Stewart attempted a three-pointer at the last second but fell short.

American women’s basketball star Breanna Stewart
Credit: © Zach Bolinger, Icon Sportswire/AP Photo

The Aces’ Wilson was named Defensive Player of the Year. The All-WNBA Team included Wilson, Breanna Stewart, and Alyssa Thomas who plays for the Connecticut Suns. Indiana Fever forward Aliyah Boston was named Rookie of the Year. The Connecticut Suns coach Stephanie White was named Coach of the Year.

Nicole Aunapu Mann became the first Indigenous American woman in space in October 2022 aboard NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission to the International Space Station.
Credit: NASA

Today is Indigenous Peoples’ Day in the United States! Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebrates and honors Indigenous Americans’ history and culture. On October 5, 2022, Mann became the first Indigenous (native) American woman in space. Nicole Aunapu Mann is an American astronaut and Marine Corps test pilot. Mann and three other astronauts launched on National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) SpaceX Crew-5 mission to the International Space Station (ISS). While aboard the ISS, Mann will served as flight engineer. Mann and the crew safely landed back on Earth on March 11, 2023. Mann is a member of the Wailacki people of the Round Valley Indian Tribes. The Round Valley Indian Tribes is a confederation of tribes designated to the Round Valley Indian Reservation in Mendocino County, California.

In 2013, the NASA chose Mann to be an astronaut. Mann completed astronaut training in July 2015. She led the development of the Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) launch facility, the Orion crewed spacecraft, and Space Launch System (SLS), built to carry the Orion craft into space. NASA selected Mann to serve as mission commander on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission on the Crew Dragon capsule en route to the International Space Station. SpaceX is a private company that owns and operates the rocket and spacecraft used in the mission. A Falcon 9 rocket was scheduled to launch the mission’s Crew Dragon capsule.

Mann joined the United States Marine Corps in 1999 as a second lieutenant. She reported to the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida, for flight training in 2001. Mann became a Navy pilot in 2003 and began her operational flying career in 2004.  Mann deployed twice to Afghanistan and Iraq, completing 47 combat missions. After her deployments, she completed Navy Test Pilot School and served as a test pilot for many types of naval aircraft.

Nicole Victoria Aunapu was born in Petaluma, California, on June 27, 1977. She enrolled in the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1995. Mann earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1999. She completed a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from California’s Stanford University in 2001. In 2009, she married Navy pilot Travis Mann.

American gymnast Simone Biles receives the Presidential medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden during a ceremony where President Joe Biden will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to seventeen recipients in the East Room of The White House on July 7, 2022 in Washington, DC.
Credit: © Oliver Contreras, SIPA USA/Alamy Images

With seven Olympic gold medals, one silver, two bronze, and a President Medal of Freedom, Simone Biles has quite a collection! Simone Biles, an American gymnastics star, is the most decorated gymnast in the history of the sport. In 2019, she surpassed the record previously held by Vitaly Scherbo of Belarus, winning 25 world championship medals. Biles has been celebrated internationally for her grace and athletic skill in executing the most difficult moves in women’s gymnastics. This August Biles won her eighth U.S. Championship after a hiatus from competing since the 2020 Summer Olympics. (The games were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.) Her win this year marks ten years since she first won the National Championship.

On July 7, 2022, Biles received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden, becoming the youngest living person in United States history to earn the honor. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian honor awarded by the president of the United States for outstanding service. The medal recognizes individuals who have made “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, or to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.”

The honor was established on July 6, 1945, as the U.S. Medal of Freedom by President Harry S. Truman to recognize notable civilian service that aided the United States during a time of war. On Feb. 22, 1963, after extensive study by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Arthur J. Goldberg and Assistant Secretary of Labor Daniel Patrick Moynihan, President John F. Kennedy reintroduced the medal as an honor for distinguished civilian service in peacetime. It was renamed the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Recipients have included educators, diplomats, former presidents and first ladies, authors, scientists, medical researchers, military leaders, humanitarians, religious leaders, civil rights activists, business executives, journalists, athletes, and performers.

Biles was a star of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She won a team gold medal as well as individual gold medals in the all-around, vault, and floor exercise events, plus a bronze medal on the balance beam. By winning five medals, Biles tied the record for the most medals won by an American woman gymnast in a single Olympics. Her four gold medals tied the world record for the most gold medals won in a single Olympics by a female gymnast.

In 2019, Biles became the first woman to win five world championships in the all-around event. She is the first Black American to hold the women’s world all-around champion title. She won the world floor exercise title five times, the balance beam title in three times, and the vault title two times. Biles won the United States national all-around championship seven times. She was also a member of the American team that won gold medals in the 2014 and 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

At the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Biles brought attention to the intense pressure Olympic athletes face. After balking on the vault event in the team final, she withdrew from the rest of the team competition and four individual events—all-around, vault, uneven bars, and floor exercise—citing mental health issues. Biles went on to win a bronze medal on the balance beam. She also won a team silver medal.

Simone Arianne Biles was born on March 14, 1997, in Columbus, Ohio. She grew up in Texas, raised by her grandparents. Biles was introduced to gymnastics at the age of six on a day-care field trip to a gym in Spring, Texas. She began copying the moves of gymnasts practicing in the gym, attracting the attention of a coach. Biles soon enrolled in recreational classes at the gym under instructor Aimee Boorman, who became her coach. Biles, who stands only 4 feet 8 inches (1.42 meters) tall, entered her first competition in 2011. She won her first gold medals in 2013. Within two years, she became one of the most celebrated and dominant gymnasts in history.

American musician Tina Turner
Credit: © Rob Verhorst, Redferns/Getty Images

Tina Turner was simply “The Best.” Turner was an American rhythm-and-blues and rock singer. She became known as the “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll” for her raspy voice and dynamic stage performances over a decades-long career. Turner died on May 24, 2023.

Turner was born in Brownsville, Tennessee, on Nov. 25, 1939. Her real name was Anna Mae Bullock. She met the guitarist-bandleader Ike Turner in an East St. Louis, Illinois, nightclub in 1956, and he later hired her as a singer. They performed together as Ike and Tina Turner and were married. The couple’s first hit record was “A Fool in Love” (1960). Their record “River Deep – Mountain High” (1966) became a big hit in the United Kingdom and increased their popularity in Europe. The couple’s best-selling record was “Proud Mary” (1971).

Ike and Tina separated in 1976 and were divorced in 1978. Tina then built her own career. Her greatest individual success as a singer came in 1984, when her Private Dancer album and its single “What’s Love Got to Do with It” became best-selling records. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 with Ike. In 2021, Tina was inducted again, as a solo performer.

Turner had a small role in the motion picture Tommy (1975) and a major role in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985). Her autobiography I, Tina (1986) was made into the movie What’s Love Got to Do with It (1993). Turner also wrote the autobiography My Love Story (2018). In 2019, the musical Tina, based on her life, opened on Broadway. Turner wrote the self-help book Happiness Becomes You: A Guide to Changing Your Life for Good (2020).

Turner became a Kennedy Center honoree in 2005. She became a Swiss citizen in 2013. Turner won a number of Grammy Awards for her music, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.

American actress Anna May Wong on November 17, 1937. Photo to promote her upcoming film Daughter of Shanghai.
Credit: © Paramount Pictures

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. All month long, Behind the Headlines will celebrate the accomplishments and heritage of Asians and Pacific Islanders.

Anna May Wong was a Chinese American actress. She became famous during the early years of the American motion-picture industry. During her lifetime, Wong was one of few Asian American performers who achieved widespread success. She eventually grew disappointed with the limited roles offered to her. She also became an outspoken critic of the casting of white performers as Asian characters.

Wong Liu Tsong was born on Jan. 3, 1905, in Los Angeles, California. Her parents operated a laundry. Wong made her first motion-picture appearance as an extra in The Red Lantern (1919). She then continued acting in small roles. For years, she hid her work as an extra from her family. Wong’s first credited role was in Bits of Life (1921). After her father learned of her acting career, he insisted on being present when she was on set.

Wong starred in the 1923 film Toll of the Sea, the first widely released feature film made in Technicolor. Before Technicolor, films were either black and white, or colored by hand. In Toll of the Sea, Wong played the romantic lead, a role that brought her new fame. However, her stardom began to strain her family life, as photographers and fans showed up at the family laundry to see her. Wong’s family was further upset by her role as an untrustworthy “Mongol slave” in The Thief of Bagdad (1924).

By the late 1920’s, Wong had grown disappointed with Hollywood. She was consistently offered roles as enslaved people, temptresses, and villains. In contrast, sympathetic leading roles were often reserved for white performers. Even leading Asian characters were often played by better-known white actors made up to look Asian. In The Crimson City (1928), for example, Wong played a supporting role to lead actress Myrna Loy, a white woman made up to look Asian. Wong moved to Europe in hopes of finding more realistic roles. There, she learned to speak French, German, and Italian. In 1929, Wong starred alongside the British actor Laurence Olivier in the play A Circle of Chalk in London.

In 1931, Wong starred as the lead in the Broadway play On the Spot. The role led to Wong’s return to Hollywood, with Daughter of the Dragon (1931) and Shanghai Express (1932). Both films offered the type of Asian villain role that Wong had sought to escape. However, Shanghai Express allowed for a more nuanced performance. In it, Wong plays Hui Fei, a prostitute (sex worker) and an ally of a Chinese warlord who later betrays him.

Despite the acclaim she received for Shanghai Express, Wong continued to be offered disappointing roles. For example, producers wanted Wong to play a dancer called Lotus in the film The Good Earth (1937). But Wong wanted to play O-Lan, a leading Chinese character. The German actress Luise Rainer went on to win an Academy Award for portraying O-Lan.

In 1936, Wong left Hollywood again, this time for China. In China, she was criticized for her early film roles and for being too western for Chinese audiences. After Wong returned to the United States, filmmakers were more interested in hiring her to coach white actors playing Asian characters. In 1942, Wong retired from acting in movies.

During the 1950’s, Wong acted in television shows. In the TV series “The Gallery of Madame Liu Tsong” (1951), she played an art gallery owner who solved crimes. In 1960, she returned to motion pictures, playing a housekeeper in Portrait in Black. The same year, she was given a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, a series of bronze stars set in the sidewalk and named for celebrities. Wong died on Feb. 3, 1961, from a heart attack.

American basketball player Candace Parker
Credit: © SPP Sport Press Photo/Alamy Images

March is Women’s History Month, an annual observance of women’s achievements and contributions to society. This month, Behind the Headlines will feature woman pioneers in a variety of areas.

Candace Parker is an outstanding American women’s basketball player. Parker, a forward, is tall for a female player at 6 feet 4 inches (193 centimeters). She became the first woman to dunk in a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball game and then the first to dunk twice in a single NCAA game. Parker is known for her ability to control the game through offense, often leading in points and rebounds.

Candace Nicole Parker was born on April 19, 1986, in St. Louis, Missouri. Her family later moved to Naperville, Illinois. She was a star player at Naperville Central High School, leading her team to state championships in 2003 and 2004. Parker committed to play at the University of Tennessee in 2004. She played for Team USA on the U18 (under age 18) team that won the gold medal at the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Americas Championship. In 2006, Parker joined the Women’s Senior National Team. The next year, she led the team to win the FIBA Americas Championship, qualifying it for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Parker redshirted her first season at the University of Tennessee due to a knee injury. A so-called redshirt player limits their participation in a sport to avoid losing a year of eligibility. Parker helped lead the University of Tennessee to women’s NCAA basketball championships in 2007 and 2008. In both seasons, she led the team in points and rebounds and was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the tournament’s Final Four phase.

The Los Angeles Sparks of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) made Parker the first player selected in the 2008 WNBA draft. She became the first player to be named the WNBA’s MVP and Rookie of the Year in the same year, for the 2008 season. Parker was named MVP again in 2013. The Los Angeles Sparks defeated the Minnesota Lynx to claim the 2016 WNBA title. Parker scored 28 points and grabbed (caught) 12 rebounds in the final game. She was named the Finals MVP for the tournament. In 2021, Parker signed a two-year contract with the WNBA’s Chicago Sky. That season, she led the team to win the WNBA title against the Phoenix Mercury. In 2023, Parker signed a contract to play for the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces.

Parker has also played in professional leagues in China and Russia, winning numerous league titles and individual awards. She played on United States teams that won gold medals in international competitions, including the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

American poet Ada Limón
Credit: Shawn Miller, Library of Congress

March is Women’s History Month, an annual observance of women’s achievements and contributions to society. This month, Behind the Headlines will feature woman pioneers in a variety of areas.

Pioneers venture into unknown territories and uncharted waters. A genuine poetry pioneer, Ada Limón has found new ways to interact with readers and big emotions. Limón was named poet laureate of the United States in 2022. The poet laureate is appointed by the librarian of Congress and works to increase the national appreciation and awareness of poetry. Limón, who is of Mexican American heritage, was the first Hispanic American woman chosen for the position. She succeeded the American poet and musician Joy Harjo, who was the poet laureate from 2019 to 2022.

Limon’s style is melodic and accessible. The images in her poetry often embrace the natural world, in which she frequently finds a sense of wonder. The librarian of Congress Carla Hayden praised Limon’s poems for exploring “the beauty and heartbreak that is living, in ways that help us move forward.”

Limon’s first poetry collections were Lucky Wreck and This Big Fake World: A Story in Verse (both 2006). Her third collection, Sharks in the Rivers (2010), considers the possibility of embracing change and finding beauty in a risky, ever-changing world. Bright Dead Things (2015) deals with carrying on and preserving one’s identity in the face of loss and alienation. Her poetry collections also include The Carrying (2018) and The Hurting Kind (2022).

Ada Limón was born on March 28, 1976, in Sonoma, California. She completed a B.A. degree in drama at the University of Washington in 1998. She earned an M.F.A. degree in creative writing from New York University in 2001. She worked in marketing for magazine firms in New York City, before she began writing full time in 2010.

In 2014, Limón began teaching in the M.F.A. program of Queens University of Charlotte, in North Carolina. She often gives readings of her poetry. In 2021 and 2022, she was the host of the poetry podcast called “The Slowdown,” which offers a few moments of reflection through the reading of a poem each weekday. The podcast was launched in 2019 by the poet Tracy K. Smith during her term as poet laureate of the United States.

Mikaela Shiffrin is a champion American alpine skier. Shiffrin won the slalom gold medal at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, making her the youngest slalom champion in Olympic history. In 2018, she won the giant slalom gold medal at the Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. She has also won the slalom world championship several times.
Credit: © Stefan Holm, Shutterstock

March is Women’s History Month, an annual observance of women’s achievements and contributions to society. This month, Behind the Headlines will feature woman pioneers in a variety of areas.

On Saturday, March 11, 2023, American Alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin won her 87th World Cup race in Slovenia. Shiffrin broke Swedish skier Ingemar Stenmark’s record for most career World Cup victories. Her record-breaking victory occurred 12 years after her first World Cup win at 15. She completed the course hundredths of a second faster than her opponents, securing her place as one of the greatest skiers of all time.

Shiffrin was born on March 13, 1995, in Vail, Colorado. She began skiing at the age of 3. Her family moved to New Hampshire when she was 8. Shiffrin graduated in 2013 from Burke Mountain Academy in Vermont, a high school for young skiers. In 2011, she made her World Cup debut at the age of 15, winning the bronze medal at Lienz, Austria. Later that year, at the age of 16, she won the slalom title at the United States National Championships in Winter Park, Colorado. She thus became the youngest skier to win that event. Slalom skiing involves racing down a winding course with flags. In 2012, she won her first World Cup race and was named World Cup Rookie of the Year.

Shiffrin won the slalom gold medal at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, making her the youngest slalom champion in Olympic history. In 2018, she won the giant slalom gold medal and the combined silver medal at the Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. She also won the slalom World Championship in 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019; the super G World Championship in 2019; the combined World Championship in 2021; and the giant slalom World Championship in 2023. Shiffrin has won more world championship titles (7) than any other American skier.

The slalom, giant slalom, and super G are three of the skiing races that make up the Alpine World Cup. The cup is awarded annually to the men and women who have won the most points in a series of five races—the slalom, giant slalom, downhill, super G, and combined. Shiffrin initially concentrated on the slalom and giant slalom. She won the World Cup slalom title in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2023. In 2019 and 2023, she also won the World Cup giant slalom title. In 2016, she began competing in the other three World Cup events. Shiffrin won the World Cup super G title in 2019. She won the overall World Cup title in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, and 2023 for earning the most combined points in all the events. In 2022, Shiffrin won her 47th World Cup slalom race, setting the record for most career World Cup victories in a single event.

In 2016, the Mattel toy company introduced three new body types for the iconic Barbie doll—tall, curvy, and petite. Barbie also is now available in a variety of skin tones and hair styles. The makeover from the original Barbie’s extremely thin and unrealistic body type was aimed at helping girls to feel more confident about their own body image.
Credit: Mattel

Today, March 9th is National Barbie Day! Barbie is a teenage fashion doll made by the toy company Mattel, Inc. The iconic doll was introduced in 1959 by the American toy inventors Elliot and Ruth Handler. The couple founded Mattel in 1945. Mattel is one of the world’s largest toy companies, and Barbie is one of the world’s most popular dolls. Mattel also introduced the world to Hot Wheels toy cars in 1968.

This coming July, a stacked cast will portray Barbie’s story in a movie! Australian actress Margot Robbie plays Barbie with Canadian actor Ryan Gosling as Ken. The glamorous, pink-clad blonde Robbie is featured alongside other stars including American actor Will Ferrel, Canadian actor Simu Liu, and Canadian actor Michael Cera. The movie will be the first live-action portrayal of the Barbie doll in a movie, 64 years after Barbie dolls graced the shelves of toy stores!

Back in the 1950’s, Ruth Handler saw her daughter, Barbara, playing with paper dolls. She decided to make a doll that had many beautiful outfits. Ruth’s inspiration for Barbie was a German doll called Bild-Lilli. She named the new doll after her daughter.

Barbie doll
Credit: © Robin Beckham, BEEP Stock/Alamy Images

Mattel introduced the 11 1/2-inch (29-centimeter) vinyl Barbie doll at the American International Toy Fair in New York City. The doll created some controversy because the teenage Barbie had the figure of an adult woman. Barbie was one of the first toys to be advertised on television. The doll became popular almost immediately.

Clothes for the Barbie doll were sold separately and came with accessories and shoes. Over the years, sales of the outfits produced more profits for Mattel than the doll itself. The company has sold over a billion Barbie outfits.

Mattel introduced other dolls as friends and family members of Barbie. Such dolls included her boyfriend, Ken, (introduced in 1961); her friend Midge (1963); and her sister Skipper (1964). Some of Barbie’s other friends have included an African American girl named Christie (added in 1968); a Hispanic girl named Teresa (1988); and an Asian or Pacific Island girl named Kira (1990). Barbie’s friend Becky, who uses a wheelchair because of a disability, was added in 1997.

Mattel made a wide variety of toys to accompany the Barbie doll. In 1962, the company introduced a cardboard dollhouse called Barbie’s Dream House. By the 1980’s, the dollhouse was made of pink vinyl, and the color pink soon came to be associated with Barbie. Other Barbie toys include vacation homes, cars, airplanes, a camper, and a cruise ship. There are also Barbie games, books, paper dolls, coloring books, lunch boxes, movies, video games, websites, and apps (software applications) for smartphones.

Barbie has assumed a number of roles through the years. She appears here as an architect, from the “I Can Be…” line of Barbie dolls. The line is meant to encourage girls in careers.
Credit: AP Photo

Since her introduction, Barbie has been featured as a fairy, a princess, and the fairy-tale character Rapunzel. Barbie has also been sold with outfits and accessories representing different careers in the “I Can Be…” series. Barbie can be dressed as an astronaut, computer engineer, dentist, news anchor, president, race car driver, and as many other professionals. In 2015, Mattel introduced “Hello Barbie,” a doll that uses Wi-Fi and speech recognition technology to engage in two-way conversations with a child. Wi-Fi is a wireless computer networking technology. The doll can also play games and tells jokes. In the 2010′s, Mattel also introduced new Barbie dolls with different body types and more varied skin tones, eye colors, and hair. Some new dolls used a wheelchair or prosthetic (artificial) limb. Such additions were intended to reflect real-life diversity and help children feel more confident about their own unique selves.

Some Barbie dolls are higher-priced collectibles targeted to adults. These include porcelain Barbies dressed in designer or vintage fashions and dolls representing Hollywood stars and other celebrities.

Celia Cruz was born in Cuba and became internationally famous for her powerful voice, her exciting live performances, and her colorful costumes.
Credit: AP/Wide World

March is Women’s History Month, an annual observance of women’s achievements and contributions to society. This month, Behind the Headlines will feature woman pioneers in a variety of areas.

The Queen of Salsa will become the first Afro-Latina to appear on the United States quarter. As part of the American Women Quarters Program, Cuban-born singer Celia Cruz will be smiling back from quarters soon. Cruz is considered the greatest female singer in the salsa style of music.

Salsa is a style of Latin dance music that blends a variety of African and Spanish elements. The term salsa is Spanish for sauce, perhaps referring to the hot, spicy character of the music. Salsa is rooted in Cuban music of the early 1900’s, especially a style call son. Cuban immigrants carried son to the United States. There, it absorbed elements of Puerto Rican music as well as jazz and rock music, especially in the 1960’s and 1970’s. At this time, the resulting musical blend became known as salsa. Salsa music incorporates many different instruments, including bass, piano, trombone, trumpet, and several types of percussion instruments.

Popularly known as la Reina de la Salsa (the Queen of Salsa), Cruz performed for more than 50 years in both Cuba and the United States. Cruz became internationally famous for her powerful voice, her exciting scat singing (singing wordless syllables instead of lyrics), her colorful costumes, and her skill at engaging the audience during her performance. She recorded more than 70 albums.

Cruz was born in Havana, Cuba, on Oct. 21, 1925. Her full name was Ursula Hilaria Celia Caridad Cruz Alfonso. She began singing as a youngster. In 1950, she joined the band La Sonora Matancera, one of the top tropical bands of its day.

In 1960, La Sonora Matancera left Cuba for a job in Mexico. Rather than return to Cuba, which had come under the dictatorship of Fidel Castro the year before, Cruz and the band went to the United States. She became a permanent U.S. resident in the early 1960’s and a U.S. citizen in 1977. Cruz left La Sonora Matancera to begin her career as a soloist in 1965. She recorded albums with such Latin bandleaders as Willie Colon, Ray Barretto, Johnny Pacheco, and Tito Puente. At the end of her career, Cruz was also performing disco and hip hop music. Cruz died on July 16, 2003.