Willie Colón, the Grammy-nominated architect of city salsa music and social activist, died Saturday. He was 75.
Over his decades-long profession, the trombonist, composer, arranger and singer produced greater than 40 albums that offered greater than 30 million copies worldwide.
He collaborated with a variety of artists, together with the Fania All Stars, David Byrne and Celia Cruz.
His celebrated collaboration with Rubén Blades, “Siembra,” grew to become one of many bestselling salsa albums of all time, and the pair had been recognized for addressing social points via the style.
Colón’s household and supervisor confirmed his dying via social media posts.
“Willie didn’t simply change salsa; he expanded it, politicized it, clothed it in city chronicles, and took it to levels the place it hadn’t been heard earlier than,” supervisor Pietro Carlos wrote. “His trombone was the voice of the folks, an echo of the Caribbean in New York, a bridge between two cultures.”
Colón, who was nominated for 10 Grammys and one Latin Grammy, made well-known songs comparable to “El gran varón,” “Sin poderte hablar,” “Casanova,” “Amor verdad” and “Oh, qué será.”
Blades mentioned on the social platform X that he confirmed “what I used to be reluctant to imagine” and supplied his condolences to Colón’s household.
The trail to the trombone — and fame
Born in New York’s Bronx borough, Colón was raised by his grandmother and aunt, who from a younger age nurtured him with conventional Puerto Rican music and the standard rhythms of the Latin American repertoire, together with Cuban son and tango.
At age 11 he ventured into the world of music, first with flute, then bugle, trumpet and at last trombone, with which he stood out within the then-nascent style of salsa.
His curiosity in trombone arose after listening to Barry Rogers enjoying it on “Dolores,” Mon Rivera’s track with Joe Cotto.
“It gave the impression of an elephant, a lion … an animal. One thing so completely different that, as quickly as I heard it, I mentioned to myself: ‘I need to play that instrument,’” he recalled in an interview printed within the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo in 2011.
At 17, he joined the group of artists that shaped the well-known document label Fania Information, led and created by Jerry Masucci and Johnny Pacheco.
Fania was largely liable for the brand new sound that was produced within the Latin world of New York and would later be referred to as “salsa.”
Colón’s primary attribute as a musician was the fusion of rhythms, as he harmonized jazz, rock, funk, soul and R&B with the outdated Latin college of Cuban son, cha-cha-cha, mambo and guaracha, including the nostalgia of the normal Puerto Rican sound that encompasses jíbara, bomba and plena music.
In 2004 the Latin Recording Academy awarded Colón a particular Grammy for his profession and contributions to music.
Neighborhood chief and activist
As a neighborhood chief, Colón fought for civil rights, largely in the USA. He was a part of the Hispanic Arts Affiliation, the Latino Fee on AIDS, the Arthur Schomburg Coalition for a Higher New York and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, amongst others.
In 1991 he was honored with the Chubb fellowship from Yale College, a public service recognition additionally awarded to the likes of John F. Kennedy, Moshe Dayan, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Ronald Reagan, amongst others.
Within the political area, he served as particular assistant to David Dinkins, New York’s first Black mayor, and was later appointed particular assistant and adviser to Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Colón had little luck working for public workplace himself, nonetheless. He failed in a problem to then-U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel within the 1994 Democratic main, and in 2001 got here in third within the Democratic main for New York’s public advocate.
He backed Hillary Clinton’s presidential marketing campaign in 2008, however he advised the Observer that he voted for Donald Trump in 2016.
Colón had public clashes with artists and politicians. His friendship with Blades ruptured after Colón sued for breach of contract over the 2003 live performance “Siembra … 25 years later,” held in Puerto Rico.
He additionally sparked an issue when he referred to as the then-president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, “rotten” on a social community.
Colón acted in movies comparable to “Vigilante,” “The Final Combat” and “It May Occur to You,” and on TV in “Miami Vice” and “Demasiado Corazón.” Extra not too long ago he appeared in Dangerous Bunny’s music video for “NuevaYol.”
He’s survived by his spouse and 4 sons.
