Pedro Knight
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Pedro Knight (born 1921) is an accomplished Cuban musician who is better known for being the husband of legendary singer Celia Cruz. Knight is also a Diabetes sufferer.
Knight was a trumpetist at the famous Sonora Matancera when Cruz was hired, as a back-up singer. The couple soon began a relationship that lasted until Cruz's death in 2003.
In 1960, members of the Sonora Matancera moved to Miami, Florida, to avoid Fidel Castro's Cuba. In 1961, they began singing at the prestigious "Hollywood Palladium".
Knight and Cruz got married in 1962. It was at that point, that Knight decided to step back and let his wife take all the lime-light, although he continued to tour as one of her musicians. Ironically, the fact that he took a step back in order to help his wife's career, also made him famous and well-respected across Latin America. He would be interviewed multiple times by television shows and make multiple show business friendships, including Maria Celeste Arraras, who expressed her respects to him about three months after Cruz's death, by telling him on live television to "remember (that we) all like you".
Knight was devastated by Cruz's death. Cruz used to call him "Mi cabecita de algodon" ("my small cotton head"). He stood by her side as she suffered from cancer, and he had expressed hope in public that she would recuperate.
A fact that is not well known by the public is that Knight suffered cancer for some period himself; just one day after Celia Cruz had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from her breast, Knight underwent through surgery himself, having a cancerous tumor removed from his colon.
Although he has been able to attend several activities dedicated to his late wife (such as a book signing of Cruz's auto-biography), his health was severely affected by her death, and, on July 7, 2004, he fainted during a cancer fundraiser in Miami, requiring hospitalization. Doctors there diagnosed him with low blood pressure, caused by his Diabetes and by an emotional breakdown during the ceremony.
Knight is currently involved in various posthumous projects dedicated to his wife, including books, CD's and a biographical movie. He has been accused by some of Cruz's relatives as using the fortune she left behind to his own benefit.