R.I.P. Willie Colón: Salsa legend dead at 75
“His music was not just heard; it was lived,” Fania Records shared in a statement.
Innovative composer, vibrant trombonist, bandleader, and salsa visionary Willie Colón has died. On social media yesterday (February 21), his family confirmed the news. “It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved husband, father, and renowned musician, Willie Colón,” their statement read. “He passed away peacefully this morning, surrounded by his loving family.” Colón was 75 years old.
Colón’s Puerto Rican grandmother exposed him to Latin sounds at a young age. In the Bronx, he heard guaracha, jíbaro, tango, and Cuban music and, by 1961, he learned the flute, trumpet, and bugle before eventually settling on the trombone. It was Barry Rogers’ playing on Mon Rivera and Joe Cotto’s “Dolores” that nudged him in the instrument’s direction. At 15, after gigging at weddings under the stewardship of Rivera, the Fania label signed Colón to a record deal. His first album, 1967’s El Malo, sold over 300,000 copies, and Colón later became one of the best-selling salsa artists of all time. His work combined funk, jazz, R&B, Latin rhythms, and the political teachings of figures like Martin Luther King Jr. together. “It was rebellious music,” he told the Miami Herald 20 years ago. “The music wasn’t explicitly political yet, but the music was a magnet that would bring people together.”