Ruth Fernández, ‘The Soul of Puerto Rican Song’, Dies at Age 92

By Arturo Mendoza

The “soul of Puerto Rican song,” Ruth Hernández died Jan. 9 in San Juan at age 92. Born in Ponce, she was gifted with a deep, strong voice and iron will from childhood. As a black woman in a white man’s world, she broke countless barriers as a singer and civic leader nationally and globally. By age 14, she was performing professionally, and in the 1970s, served eight years in the island’s Senate.

Her death was attributed to septic shock and pneumonia. The island government immediately ordered three days of official mourning.

Fernández performed in New York’s Carnegie Hall and worldwide. She was a pioneer against racial and gender discrimination.

The legend is passed down how, early in her career, she arrived to perform at a fashionable hotel in San Juan and was instructed to enter the stage area through the kitchen because of skin color of her skin color.

Without hesitation, she marched through the front entrance.

She was married twice, but did not have any children. Nonetheless, many affectionately referred to her as “Aunt Ruth.”