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Soledad O’Brien
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Latin music has always been with me. I discovered Celia Cruz as a kid because it was what my mom and grandmother listened to; they talked about how they knew her decades ago and how she lived nearby. So, when I had chance to interview Celia not long before she died in 2003, I decided I was going to talk with her about her deep and abiding friendship with my grandmother in Cuba. It was clear Celia literally had no idea who I was talking about, but she was like, “I do remember!” It was so sweet and generous of her. She probably thought, “I’m not going to destroy the memory of her grandmother.” This experience reminded me of how much we hold onto those people who make it out—I’m sure it was the classic case of when someone leaves the country and everyone lays claim to them.
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I remember Celia being larger than life and with a great big laugh. She actually reminded me a lot of my grandmother with her perfectly done nails and coiffed hair. My grandmother was a lot like that: no matter what you are doing, you are ready to face your public. As an adult, I thought a lot of Celia’s modern music was great and fun to dance to; but the songs I began to associate with her, my mom and grandmother would have no idea what I was talking about. So, I enjoyed the experience of interviewing her in a 360-degree kind of way.
On another occasion, I remember going to see Juanes in concert. I did a story with him and he actually sang “Happy Birthday” to me. It was amazing. I went back to the newsroom and said, “Juanes has sold out Madison Square Garden for the next three nights. You can’t get tickets!” People were like, “We don’t know who he is,” instead of “Here’s a guy who sold out Madison Square Garden ten blocks from this office, why don’t I know who he is?” I’m always amazed at the lack of curiosity. It’s like, “I’ve never heard of them, so they can’t matter.”
A lot of what we are doing at Starfish, the company I run, is telling the big story but through individuals, the characters, the people that embody that bigger story, that untold story that shines a light on bigger issues in our country. Now I’m working on a project with Quincy Jones which looks at the Cuban jazz musician Alfredo Rodríguez. I love it, of course, with my Cuban roots, my love of music, but I also just like that Rodríguez’s story of coming to America is such a classic Cuban story. It’s an immigrant story. An American story. — As told to Carlos J. Queiros
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