Celia Cruz Biopic in the Works a Decade After Her Death

The life of Cuban salsa singer will be brought to the big screen by her biographer, Eduardo Marceles, the Miami-based newspaper Diario Las Americas reported.

"We've been working on a film script over the last year. An independent producer here in the U.S., is already developing the film. Overall the movie focuses on Celia's early career and shooting could begin by the end of this year," Marceles told the newspaper.

"There will be open casting auditions to select a singer and actress who can play the role of Celia. The actress will not necesarilly have to be Cuban but she will have to be black and will have to have a lot of experience singing and acting because the movie will revolve completely around the Celia character," Marceles added.

Cruz, died ten years ago on July 16, 2003 in New Jersey when she was 77 years old. The singer was born Ursula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso de la Santisima Trinidad on October 21, 1925, in Havana, Cuba.

In 1950 she joined legendary band Sonora Matanceraas as the lead vocalist, where she also met her life-long husband Pedro Knight. During the 60s the group traveled to Mexico, and Cruz would never be able to go back to her home country because of her staunch anti-Castro positions. Although the singer was twice banned from entering the United States during the 1950's because of suspicion that she might have had communist sympathies, Cruz in fact was fiercely anti-communist throught her life. The ban on Cruz' music was only lifted last year in a discrete manner by Raul Castro's government,

Later in her career, Cruz joined drummer Tito Puente, with whom she created what is arguably the most memorable pairing in the history of Latin music. Around the same time, Cruz also joined the Fania All Stars where she worked with the legendary Johnny Pacheco.

The singer toured extensively during the 80's and 90's all over the world, until she settled in the United States where she spent her final years. The Cuban legend died in her Fort Lee, New Jersey home. A memorial service that was attended by a large number of friends and fans was held for her in St. Patrick's Cathedral. She was laid to rest at the Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.