{"id":116401,"date":"2026-02-22T02:51:59","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T02:51:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=116401"},"modified":"2026-02-22T02:51:59","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T02:51:59","slug":"willie-colon-trombonist-who-pioneered-salsa-music-dies-aged-75","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=116401","title":{"rendered":"Willie Col\u00f3n, trombonist who pioneered salsa music, dies aged 75"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Salsa music pioneer Willie Col\u00f3n, the trombonist and orchestra leader behind songs like El Malo, Oh, Qu\u00e9 Ser\u00e1, Talento de Televisi\u00f3n and Gitana, has died aged 75, US media reports.<\/p>\n

The Grammy nominated singer-songwriter \u201cpassed away peacefully\u201d on Saturday morning \u201csurrounded by his loving family\u201d, his family said on social media. No cause of death was provided.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we grieve his absence, we also rejoice in the timeless gift of his music and the cherished memories he created that will love on forever,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

The Puerto Rican musician, who sang in Spanish and whose career spanned nearly 60 years, had been named among the most influential Latino artists of all time by Billboard magazine.<\/p>\n

US media attributed Col\u00f3n\u2019s death on Saturday to a statement posted by his family on Facebook and a tribute posted by his long-time manager, Pietro Carlos.<\/p>\n

The BBC has contacted representatives for Col\u00f3n.<\/p>\n

Col\u00f3n \u2013 who was also an arranger and producer \u2013 explored \u201cthe competing associations that Puerto Ricans have with their home and with the United States,\u201d according a biography posted on the LA Philharmonic website.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe uses his songs to depict and investigate the problems of living in the U.S. as a Puerto Rican and also to imply the cultural contributions that Puerto Ricans have to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n

He grew up in New York in an environment marked by Latin migration, street life and Caribbean music as the salsa sound emerged in the US state in the 1960s, the\u00a0BBC\u2019s Mundo\u00a0said, mixing jazz, mambo, j\u00edbara music and chachach\u00e1.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, We\u2019ve lost an architect of the New York sound, a trombonist who made metals his banner and wrote eternal chapters in music history,\u201d his manager Pietro Carlos said in a statement on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom \u2018El Malo\u2019 to anthems that defined generations, his work wasn\u2019t just music, it was identity, neighborhood, consciousness, and resistance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carlos said that Col\u00f3n expanded and politicised salsa music, taking it to stages where it hadn\u2019t been heard before. Col\u00f3n, he explained, used his trombone to echo the sound of the Caribbean in New York and bridge the two cultures.<\/p>\n

Recently, the salsa legend was name-checked in Nuevayol by Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny and briefly appeared in the song\u2019s music video.<\/p>\n

Bad Bunny paid homage to Col\u00f3n in the song\u2019s lyrics, singing: \u201cWillie Col\u00f3n, me dicen el malo, ey. Porque pasan los a\u00f1os y sigo dando palo,\u201d which translates to \u201cWillie Col\u00f3n, they say I\u2019m bad, because the years come and I\u2019m still hitting.\u201d<\/p>\n

William Anthony Col\u00f3n Rom\u00e1n was born on April 28, 1950 in South Bronx, New York to Puerto Rican parents. His grandmother Antonia taught him Spanish and reminded him of the most recognisable elements of Puerto Rican culture, according to a biography from the National Foundation for Popular Culture.<\/p>\n

The famed trombonist started his music career as a child, playing the trumpet at age 12, but later shifted to his iconic trombone, playing on street corners in the neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

In 1967, at 16, he recorded his first album El Malo with H\u00e9ctor Lavoe, forming an inimitable salsa duo for the Fania record label that popularised the songs Calle Luna, calle Sol, Abuelita, Ah, ah, oh, no, Ghana\u2019e, El d\u00eda de mi suerte, La murga and Juana Pe\u00f1a.<\/p>\n

In 1972, he released El Malo \u2013 one of the first albums to feature the \u201cNew York Sound\u201d that sparked a renewed interest in Latin music during the 1970s, according to his website.<\/p>\n

He also produced music alongside Rub\u00e9n Blades, Celia Cruz and Ismael Miranda, and, as a solo artist, continued to relentlessly pursue new musical fusions, such as El Gran Var\u00f3n, Oh, Qu\u00e9 Ser\u00e1 and Amor Verdadero.<\/p>\n

Throughout his career, the artist accumulated more than 40 productions, 30 million copies sold, 15 gold records, five platinum records, and 10 Grammy nominations.<\/p>\n

In the 1970s, the orchestra leader introduced Panamanian singer-songwriter Rub\u00e9n Blades to lead the outfit. In 1975, they released the album Metiendo Mano! \u2013 a collaboration said to be his first foray into intellectual salsa that paved the way for the classic albums Maestra Vida and Canciones del Solar de los Aburridos.<\/p>\n

Their second album Siembra \u2013 featuring disco rhythm, congas and timbales on Plastico \u2013 delved further into political fare and sold more than 3 million records worldwide, becoming a bestseller for the time and among the most consequential albums for the genre.<\/p>\n

The Latin Recording Academy, the professional organisation behind the Latin Grammy Awards, paid tribute to Col\u00f3n on social media as a man whose legacy \u201ctransformed salsa by making it a global phenomenon, establishing a sound and aesthetic that defined an era and continued to inspire generations of artists\u201d.<\/p>\n

Col\u00f3n was recognised with the Latin Grammys\u2019 Musical Excellence Award \u2013 a lifetime achievement honour \u2013 in 2004.<\/p>\n

With nearly 40 albums to his credit, Col\u00f3n also became known as a prominent social activist who supported the Latino Commission on AIDS and the United Nations Immigrant Foundation, and served as a board member at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.<\/p>\n

In 2014, graduated from a police academy in New York and was sworn in as a deputy sheriff for the Department of Public Safety.<\/p>\n

Col\u00f3n is survived by his wife, Julia Craig, whom he wed in 1991, and their children.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Salsa music pioneer Willie Col\u00f3n, the trombonist and orchestra leader behind songs like El Malo, Oh, Qu\u00e9 Ser\u00e1, Talento de Televisi\u00f3n and Gitana, has died aged 75, US media reports.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1377,10,9,12211,17317],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","category-politics","category-popular","category-salsa","category-willie-colon"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=116401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116401\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=116401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=116401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=116401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}