Willie Colón, a beloved Nuyorican musician and a legend in the salsa music scene both in New York City and around the world, has died, his family announced Saturday. He was 75 years old.
“It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved husband, father and renowned musician, Willie Colón,” read a statement released on social media.
“He departed peacefully this morning, surrounded by his loving family,” it continued. “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.”
While no cause of death was given, the music community had been asking for prayers after Colón was hospitalized days earlier at Lawrence Hospital in Bronxville with respiratory problems among other medical complications, according to Colombia One.
The salsa sensation was born on April 28, 1950, in the South Bronx of New York City. The music he would go on to make was heavily influenced by his grandmother, who taught him to speak Spanish and instilled in him a love of the family’s Puerto Rican culture.
He took to music fairly early in life, picking up the trumpet at an early age before eventually finding his love for the trombone.
At just 16, he recorded his first album, 1967’s “El Malo,” alongside Héctor Lavoe, which sold more than 300,000 copies.
Colón followed up his initial success with “Che Ché Colé” in 1969, the Christmas album “Asalto Navideño” in 1971, and then “El Baquiné de los Angelitos Negros,” a ballet set to salsa music.
From there, he launched his own singing career, putting out two solo albums: “The Good, Bad and The Ugly” in 1976 and “Solo” in 1988. His genre-defining discography eventually included more than 40 albums and 16 LPs.
Over the course of his nearly 60-year career, Colón was was nominated eight times for Grammy Awards in the tropical music category and has sold more than 8 million records worldwide.
He was inducted into the International Latin Music Hall of Fame in 2000, received a lifetime achievement award from The Latin Recording Academy in 2004, and was inducted into the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2019.
“Today, we’ve lost an architect of the New York sound, a trombonist who made metal his banner and wrote eternal chapters in our musical history,” Colón’s manager, Pietro Carlos, said in post on Saturday.
“Willie didn’t just change salsa; he expanded it, politicized it, clothed it in urban chronicles and took it to stages where it hadn’t been heard before,” he continued. “His trombone was the voice of the people, an echo of the Caribbean in New York, a bridge between cultures.”
According to NBC 4 New York, Colón’s last performance was on Aug. 9, 2025 during a sold-out concert in San Juan with the Puerto Rico Philharmonic Orchestra.
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