#5: Superman by Celi Bee and the Buzzy Bunch

City: Sept-Iles, PQ
Radio Station: CKCN
Peak Month: June 1977
Peak Position in Sept-Iles ~ #6
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #41
YouTube: “Superman”
Lyrics: “Superman”

Celida Ines Camacho was born in 1950 in Brooklyn, New York, of Puerto Rican parents. She spent part of her childhood back in Puerto Rico. There she met Pepe Luis Soto in Puerto Rico in the 1960s and they began making music together. Not only did they make music together, they made love and were married around 1968. They also formed the duo Celinés y Pepe Luis, releasing several singles and performing around Puerto Rico. In 1972, Celida won a festival called Festival De La Voz y La Cancion, with the song, “Yo Quiero Un Pincel. She was initially popular in Spain, and Puerto Rico where her single, “Half A Love”, became successful.

In 1977 she signed a record contract with TK Records. Simultaneously, Soto wrote a song called “Superman”. Celida recorded the song, credited to Celi Bee and the Buzzy Bunch.

The Buzzy Bunch was Celi Bee’s backing group, composed of only Pepe Luis Soto and his studio musicians. Soto was born in Puerto Rico. He was a songwriter, producer, arranger and bandleader. After “Superman”, his next hit was “You’ve Got Magic” by the Rice and Beans Orchestra which reached #11 on the Billboard National Disco Action Top 40. Soto was the front man for the Rice and Beans Orchestra. The name playfully referenced Puerto Rican/Latin cuisine while nodding to disco’s dance-floor energy. He wrote more hits for Celi Bee & The Buzzy Bunch (see below). Overall, Soto’s style was polished, commercial disco tailored for clubs — energetic and fun rather than underground or experimental. It captured the peak disco era’s optimism and danceability while injecting Puerto Rican warmth and professionalism.

“Superman” is a direct reference to the ‘man of steel.’ The song begins, “Is it a bird? No. Is it a plane? No. It’s Superman.” The song crossed over to erotic inferences for a woman who could be Superman’s lover:
Superman, you make me feel
I’m the queen of the world.
Superman, you make me feel so special,
when you move me up and down, and round.
You get so deep inside and wow.
You warm me up, it’s super then.
I wanna shout again and again.

Celi Bee shouts “Do it to me,” “I love it” and “I need it.” You can decide what she’s talking about.

“Superman” peaked at #2 in Miami, and Duluth (MN), and #6 in Sept-Iles (PQ). On the Billboard National Disco Action Top 40, “Superman” reached #3. It peaked at #41 on the Billboard Hot 100, and also charted on Top 40 radio in Australia. A debut album featuring “Superman”, Celi Bee & The Buzzy Bunch, climbed to #39 on the Billboard 200 (pop) Album chart.

In early 1979, Herbie Mann’s cover of “Superman” reached #26 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 1978, Celi Bee & The Buzzy Bunch released “Macho Man (A Real, Real One)” also written by Pepe Luis Soto. The single climbed to #23 on the Billboard National Disco Action Top 40. It was from the second album, Alternating Currents. Another track from the album, “Hold Your Horses, Babe”, charted in the UK. Other singles released at this time, “One Love”, “Coming Up Strong” and “Together”, failed to chart on the pop or disco surveys. 

The third charting single from the group was “”Fly Me on the Wings of Love”, which was the title track from Celi Bee’s third album Fly Me On The Wings Of Love. It was another disco tune penned by Soto which reached #16 on the Billboard disco chart. A fourth single release, “Blow My Mind”, also cracked the Top 30 on the Billboard disco chart reaching #29 in December 1979. The single was the title track from Blow My Mind, the fourth album in three years from Celi Bee & The Buzzy Bunch.

In 1980, Celi Bee and Pepe Luis Soto got a divorce. In 1983, she released the single “I’m Free”.

In 1986, the group returned to the recording studio to release the album Como Agua Y Arena. A final single, “I Can’t Let Go”, reached the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot Dance/Disco: Club Play chart in 1987.

Unlike Donna Summer, Gloria Gaynor, the Pointer Sisters, Chaka Khan, and Sister Sledge, Celi Bee & The Buzzy Bunch were not able to repeat their Top Ten success. However, “Superman” gave Celi Bee & The Buzzy Bunch mainstream visibility and over the decades has kept the single on oldies disco playlists.

After the late 80s, Celida transitioned from disco star to a private life focused on employment as a teacher in public education in Florida. She avoided the spotlight after the disco genre’s downturn. Similarly, Pepe Soto left the music industry after disco waned. He is in his late 70s (or early 80s) and hopefully enjoying retirement in Puerto Rico.

August 12, 2026
Ray McGinnis

References:
“Celi Bee (Celinés),” Fundación Nacional para la Cultura Popular.
“Celi Bee History,” FaceBook, December 3, 2018.
Rice and Beans Orchestra, “You’ve Got Magic“, TK Productions, 1978.
Herbie Mann, “Superman“, Atlantic Records, 1978.

CKCN 560-AM Sept-Iles (PQ) Top Ten | June 18, 1977