Afro-Cuban singer Perez Grillo dies in NYC at 94

Published 7:06 am Thursday, April 8, 2010

NEW YORK — Afro-Cuban music pioneer Graciela Perez Grillo, 94, has died in New York City.

Perez Grillo was known as the first lady of Latin jazz. Her best-known songs include “This is Graciela,” “Intimate and Sentimental” and “That’s the Way I Am.”

Perez Grillo was born in Havana. She moved to New York in 1942 and got her start playing bass and singing with an all-female band.

Her representative Richie Viera said she died Tuesday of natural causes after being hospitalized for some time.