Willie Colón, salsa pioneer, has died at 75

Willie Colón, the salsa legend who took the genre to new heights while recording more than two dozen albums for Fania Records, died Saturday. He was 75 years old.

Colón’s family shared the news in a post on the musician’s Facebook page. No cause of death was provided.

“While we grieve his absence, we also rejoice in the timeless gift of his music and the cherished memories he created that will live on forever,” read the statement.

The New York City trombonist and bandleader was a key part of Latin music’s evolution during the 1970s. He was born in the Bronx in 1950 but had direct ties to Puerto Rico, thanks to grandparents who still lived on the island. As a young teenager Colón was soaking up popular music of the 1960s: R&B, rock, jazz … and Puerto Rican folk music, which he heard while visiting his extended family during the summer.

He started playing trumpet at age 12 then switched to trombone. By age 15, he was recording with a new upstart indie record label called Fania Records. At age 17 he released his first album, a record that was so raw and unorthodox that critics and older musicians panned it. No matter — it became popular with young Nuyoricans who were looking for something to hang their identity on.

The album featured Puerto Rican vocalist Hector Lavoe, who went on to become one of salsa’s first major stars as a solo act — but only after he recorded several very popular albums with Colón between 1967 and 1975.

Two years later Colón recruited vocalist Ruben Blades to join his band, and this time his music addressed some of the social issues the two musicians were seeing in the Latino community. That led up to the duo’s Siembra, released in 1978 and still considered one of the high watermarks of salsa.

Musically, Colón’s trombone-based brass section set his band apart from other popular Fania bands. He was also busy as a producer and arranger for many Fania albums, which led to him teaming up with Cuban vocalist Celia Cruz for an album called Only They Could Have Made This Album.

Willie Colón’s later years were a mix of music and politics. In 1994, he ran as a Democrat in the primary for New York’s 17th congressional district, and later for the office of New York City Advocate. He served for more than a decade as an advisor to former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg.

In the 2010s, Colón took a slight detour from music by enrolling in the Westchester County Police Academy. He was sworn in as a police officer in 2014 at age 64 and stayed with the department for eight years part time while still performing. He resigned in 2022 as a deputy lieutenant.

Ultimately it’s the music that Colón will be remembered for. His was the sound of the Puerto Rican community in New York finding its voice.