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NAPLES — Her sultry and sassy vocals resonated through the Philharmonic Center for the Arts on Saturday night, as a sold-out crowd gathered to remember a salsa legend: Celia Cruz.

It was a red carpet event as the capacity crowd of Southwest Floridians enjoyed the documentary film, “Celia the Queen,” followed by a live performance by Grammy award-winning salsa singer Willy Chirino, a friend of Cruz.

When the documentary film started rolling with an image of her, applause erupted among the more than 1,000 in attendance.

Joining the hundreds of attendees who grew up listening and dancing salsa to Cruz were members of the Lazo family. The Havana, Cuba, immigrants moved to Naples in 1960.

Ray Lazo, 70, recalled growing up in the same neighborhood, Lawton, as Cruz before she became a star.

His entire neighborhood watched on television at Lazo’s house as Cruz won a talent show “Corte Suprema,” similar to American Idol.

“It’s an honor for us to remember her,” Lazo said Saturday night. “We’re proud of her accomplishments.”

His wife, Nancy Lazo, 69, added that Cruz never would be forgotten.

She said in Spanish that the Latino flavor is beginning to come to the Naples area and she wants to have more events geared to the growing Hispanic community.

Cruz, who died at 77 in 2003, recorded more than 75 albums, including 23 that went gold. She won three Grammys, a National Medal of the Arts and gained millions of devoted fans worldwide.

Cruz started her life as the second child of a working-class Havana family. She never intended to be a singer, hoping to be a housewife like her mother. But after winning a local talent contest as a teenager, she catapulted to singing stardom first in her native Cuba and then internationally.

Cruz’s voice was famous in Cuba in the ’50s through her performances with the popular band La Sonora Matancera. But after the communist revolution swept through Cuba in 1959, the singer and her husband of 41 years, Pedro Knight, decided not to return from their Mexican tour.

Eventually, they moved to the United States.

Before the film about her life began, Philharmonic CEO Myra Daniels told the crowd that she was honored that the director and producer, Joe Cardona, wanted to present the film at The Phil.

“It’s a historical happening,” Daniels said.

She added that she has wanted to bring in a star from Latin America for some time.

She thanked the sponsors of the event, including Vista Semanal newspaper, the Naples Daily News, Telemundo 43 and Latino 97.7-FM.

Albert Sabina, Vista Semanal editor and an event organizer, presented a gift to Daniels making her an “official Cuban citizen.”

After Daniels received the gift, she pulled out a hand-rolled cigar.

Throughout the viewing of the film, people in the crowd cheered, applauded, whistled -- and sang -- from their seats.

Afterward, members of the audience said they loved the film and waited patiently for the night to continue with another favorite -- music by Chirino.

“It was fantastic,” Nancy Lazo said in Spanish about the film.

Pedro Prado, 65, who left Cuba in 1962 because he was a vocal critic of Castro’s regime, said the film reminded him what it was like to live in Cuba and that even today, Cruz still continues to transcend the Cuban culture.

“I can feel Cuba because of her music … I have Celia in my blood all the time,” said Prado, owner of Imperial Meat at 4110 Enterprise Ave. in East Naples.

Prado went to Cruz’s funeral in Miami.

Another Cruz fan, Gladys Lobelo, 62, of Golden Gate Estates, said in Spanish the film was spectacular -- and it was great to discover that Cuban culture reached Japan, China and Africa because of Cruz, she added.

Lobelo was at the event with her family and friends, all natives of Venezuela who grew up listening to Cruz.

For Oria Oramas, 81, like many other Cuba natives in attendance, Cruz represents their native country.

“Cruz is a symbol for all the Cubans because she was always Cuban and put the name of Cuba at the top of the world,” said Oramas, a Cuban immigrant who has lived in Naples 39 years.

Among others there were Barbara Cabrera, 43, a first generation Cuban-American, and her son, Christopher, 22.

The Golden Gate resident said she grew up in Philadelphia calling Cruz an aunt because there were many family members living in Cuba that she never got to see.

“This to me is a thrill because typically we have to drive to the other coast or Tampa,” she said.

Since Cruz’s death, Sabina said, Chirino has carried her message of hope.

It was Chirino’s first visit to Southwest Florida. The sounds of his Cuban music, rock and Brazilian-Caribbean rhythms resonated from The Phil late Saturday with a performance by one of the fathers of the “Miami Sound,” and the master of “Miami Salsa.”

During a small-group VIP event on Saturday night, a $2,000 donation from the Naples Daily News and Vista Semanal was presented to The Phil. Sponsors also presented a $2,500 donation to the Celia Cruz Elva Foundation for Cancer.