La India
The Record

If you pray to the gods of salsa, light the candle and whisper these names: Eddie, Tito, Celia.
Once a club diva with dance music hits, La India couldn't escape the call of her Hispanic roots
and the clave beat. Born Linda Belle Caballero in Puerto Rico, and raised in the Bronx, India
craved latin music like nobody's business. Wanting was one thing, getting was another. Little did
she know that a fairy godmother and two godfathers were out there listening.

Her prayers were first answered by pianist Eddie Palmieri. “Eddie had heard me sing and
wanted to meet me, but I was really scared. He left a Bible of latin jazz, five grammys.
Everyone in my family played his music.” In 1992 he introduced her to the salsa public on “Llegó
La India Via Eddie Palmieri.” They also got along because she loves cigars as much as he
does. Her second record “Dicen Que Soy” went triple platinum in 1994.

Next came the late great Tito Puente. “He meant a lot to me. He was a young person trapped in
a 70-year old's body.” They recorded “Tito Puente/India Jazzin' with The Count Basie
Orchestra” in 1996.

But Celia Cruz has had the greatest influence on La India, professionally and personally.
“You admire Celia for being in the business dominated by men for so long, but also for her
humbleness. Some famous people aren't friendly, but she is so sweet and down-to-earth.
When someone inspires you, in Spanish you call her “apoya,” India says.

Cruz nicknamed India “Princess of Salsa” at a concert in Madison Square Garden. Cruz even
became India's godmother on Valentine's Day in 1997. India wasn't baptized as a baby, and “for
me, baptism is the most important and spiritual part of the Catholic faith. It meant a lot that she
was there for me. She calls me up every year on that day. It's like our own little anniversary.”
Aside from giving musical advice, Cruz--married to Pedro Knight for 40-some years--gives India
pointers on love. “She told me, Never Go To Bed Mad at Each Other.” It's something India
admits she has to work on.

In her own music, India is known for giving advice to women, too. “If I'm singing about a story
where a woman is taking another woman's man, I tell her that she's gonna pay the piper. And
when I sing 'Ese Hombre' [her anti-macho anthem] that doesn't mean I think all men are bad.
But issues are out there happening.”

Like herself, India's regular band is true New York City. “I don't just have Nuyoricans. I have
Cubans, Dominicans, Jewish people, Irish-Americans. Latinos say, 'I didn't know that boy could
play.' It's like, hello, we're in America'.”

Celia and India share the stage on Sunday at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, singing
duets for the first time in years. The night will showcase deep friendship and mutual love. It will
also swing like crazy with music from the two hottest women salsa singers around. They have
great bands, lots of spirit, and many grammy nominations between them.

A new contract with Sony Records means India's first new recording in two years. “I'll find that
right formula. A little bit of latin, a little bit of pop, a little club edge. Everything is all about having
your own style. I have a New York side of me that will never leave—that East Village, Saint
Marks thing. I can see myself in my 60s still shopping at Trash and Vaudeville.”

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