Willie Col\u00f3n, a legendary trombonist and pioneer of salsa music, has died. He was 75.<\/p>\n
His death on Saturday was confirmed in a Facebook<\/a> post by his longtime manager, Pietro Carlos.<\/p>\n News of the singer\u2019s condition circulated on the web in recent days. Yonkers Voice News<\/a> reported Col\u00f3n was admitted to NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester hospital in Bronxville, N.Y., on Tuesday with respiratory problems and he appeared fragile. <\/p>\n :<\/p>\n Born William Anthony Col\u00f3n Rom\u00e1n on April 28, 1950, to Puerto Rican parents in New York City, Col\u00f3n first picked up the trumpet in school. It seemed like a natural choice for the former bugle-playing Boy Scout, who attended the youth program at the suggestion of his grandmother.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I could learn how to be a good boy,\u201d said Col\u00f3n in a 1988 interview with Associated Press.<\/p>\n By age 13, Col\u00f3n had started a band and played at some weddings and in the bustling nightclubs of New York City. At one point, he forged a cabaret card<\/a>, a mandated ID for musicians and entertainers between 1940 and 1967 who worked in establishments serving alcohol, which required individuals to be 18 years and older.<\/p>\n The thrilling 1960s Latin music scene in New York consumed Col\u00f3n, who was deeply inspired by Latin jazz pioneer and bandleader Eddie Palmieri<\/a>, once part of a main act at the Palladium Ballroom who went on to form La Perfecta, a Cuban conjunto that revolutionized the New York Latin music scene with its inclusion of two trombones, played by Barry Rogers and Jose Rodriguez, instead of the costly four-set trumpets.<\/p>\n But Col\u00f3n\u2019s instrumental preference changed once he heard the bodied timbre of Mon Rivera\u2019s all-trombone brass lineup marching to a bomba beat. \u201cIt would knock my socks off,\u201d said Col\u00f3n in a 1988 interview with Associated Press, leading the singer to teach himself how to play the instrument.<\/p>\n By age 15, Col\u00f3n was signed to Fania Records. Two years later at age 17, he went on to release his debut album, \u201cEl Malo,\u201d a record that defined the fierce sounds of New York\u2019s salsa scene, which Col\u00f3n later described as the Latin equivalent of rap.<\/p>\n According to his former label<\/a>, the name of \u201cEl Malo\u201d was bestowed upon Col\u00f3n by older musicians who sought to mock his trombone range at the time, though the young bandleader would find a way to use the label to his advantage.<\/p>\n On the LP, Col\u00f3n\u2019s sound moved away from the polished mambo sounds of orchestral bands decades prior, in large part due to Puerto Rican singer H\u00e9ctor Lavoe, whose vocals can be heard in tracks like the gritty \u201cEl Malo\u201d that vows to knock out any wanna-be street phony.<\/p>\n The pair would go on to record a total of 14 albums<\/a> through 1973, with Lavoe\u2019s talents for improvisation complementing Col\u00f3n\u2019s raw, aggressive trombone.<\/p>\n \u201cSalsa came from the same kind of situation that rap does,\u201d Colon said in a 1992 interview with The Times. \u201cIt was kind of a hybrid of a bunch of different elements. Hector had just come from Puerto Rico and didn\u2019t speak English. I didn\u2019t speak much Spanish, I was a little New York kid. We got together and just started with the same kind of irreverent, rebellious attitude, writing songs about the baddest guy on the block, drugs and sex. Before that, the lyrics and whole attitude of Latin music was, \u2018Look at me dance, listen to those drums, I\u2019m cutting sugar cane.\u2019 It was a rural, folkloric emphasis; we changed it to an inner-city kind of culture.\u201d<\/p>\n Col\u00f3n\u2019s impact went beyond live music. The album cover of \u201cEl Malo,\u201d which showed two serious profiles of Col\u00f3n, depicted the singer as a sly bad boy, and ultimately gave rise to his gangster persona, which would be a throughline in future projects, including his sophomore 1968 album, \u201cThe Hustler\u201d which featured the band with fitted suits, smoking cigars and placing bets in a pool hall. His 1970 album \u201cCosa Nuestra\u201d featured Col\u00f3n smoking a cigar while overlooking a dead body in broad daylight in Manhattan\u2019s East River Bikeway. Most famously, his 1971 album, \u201cLa Gran Fuga,\u201d depicted the singer on a fake FBI \u201cMost Wanted\u201d poster. <\/p>\n These mob-like depictions occurred long before cult-favorite films like Francis Ford Coppola\u2019s 1972 \u201cThe Godfather\u201d and Brian De Palma 1983\u2019s \u201cScarface\u201d became the prominent gangster storylines various male acts venerate in their music.<\/p>\n By 1973, Col\u00f3n and Lavoe split \u2014 allegedly<\/a> due to Lavoe\u2019s drug addiction leading to many missed concert performances \u2014 although the two would remain frequent collaborators until the latter\u2019s death in 1993 due to complications of AIDS.<\/p>\n The Nuyorican musician would introduce Blades as the new singer of his orchestra, whom he had met years prior while visiting Panama during carnivals. They collaborated briefly on Col\u00f3n\u2019s 1975 LP \u201cThe Good, the Bad, the Ugly,\u201d cementing their partnership in the 1977 album \u201cMetiendo Mano,\u201d which delved into socio-political themes, notably in their track \u201cPablo Pueblo<\/a>,\u201d which shares the story of a working class man with broken dreams halted by toils of daily life. Other tracks like \u201cPlantaci\u00f3n Adentro,\u201d detailed the story of Camilo Manrique, a fictionalized enslaved character who died at the hands of a Spanish colonizer in 1745.<\/p>\n Many considered this album Col\u00f3n\u2019s first foray into intellectual salsa \u2014 in large part because of Blades, who had a knack for storytelling<\/a> and political interests (he unsuccessfully ran for president of Panama in 1994) \u2014 that addressed colonialism and class disparities. Together they released three albums, including their 1978 \u201cSiembra,\u201d one of the bestselling salsa albums at that time; from the start, their track \u201cPlastico<\/a>\u201d fused the popular disco music of the moment while addressing superficial beauty standards and colorism in Latin America.<\/p>\n According to 1996 reporting by The Times, \u201cSiembra\u201d delivered pulsating salsa rhythms that \u201ccarried messages of freedom at a time when most of Latin America was oppressed by military dictatorships.\u201d<\/p>\n By 1982, Blades and Col\u00f3n parted ways, but they collaborated again on projects like their 2005 LP \u201cTras La Tormenta\u201d \u2014 which led the bandleader to sing for the first time in his career, \u201cI had to start from zero, and it took me many years to feel comfortable,\u201d Col\u00f3n said.<\/p>\n This newfound independence gave rise to some of Col\u00f3n\u2019s most famous songs, including his 1995 track \u201cTalento de Televisi\u00f3n,\u201d an upbeat song with his signature trombone wailing in the backdrop as he sang about an attractive woman with a lack of talent.<\/p>\n Many across Latin America might be familiar with his 1989 song \u201cEl Gran Varon\u201d \u2014 which narrated the story of a trans woman who is rejected by her father and presumably dies of AIDS \u2014 a landmark salsa song that brought awareness to LGBTQ+ themes during the AIDS crisis. Col\u00f3n would later serve as a member of the Latino Commission on AIDS. \u201cEl Gran Varon\u201d is an anthem to this day.<\/p>\n Col\u00f3n released more than 40 albums in all.<\/p>\n He also acted, taking roles in films including 1982\u2019s \u201cVigilante,\u201d the 1983 sports drama \u201cThe Last Fight,\u201d as well as one-episode stints in TV shows like \u201cMiami Vice\u201d and \u201cThe Cosby Show.\u201d He was even featured in Bad Bunny\u2019s \u201cNuevayol\u201d music video, cutting a slice of cake; the 31-year-old superstar pays homage to the singer in its lyrics: \u201cWillie Col\u00f3n, me dicen el malo, ey. Porque pasan los a\u00f1os y sigo dando palo\u201d\/ \u201cWillie Col\u00f3n, they say I\u2019m bad, because the years come and I\u2019m still hitting.\u201d <\/p>\n In his later years, he became more involved in politics. In 1994, he unsuccessfully went up against U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel of the Bronx in the Democratic primary. He also ran as a Democrat for Public Advocate in 2001, focusing on community issues, education and AIDS awareness, but failed to gain the popular vote. In 2008, he endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton over Barack Obama in the primary election.<\/p>\n On May 26, 2014, after graduating from Westchester County Police Academy, Col\u00f3n was sworn in as a deputy sheriff for the Department of Public Safety, later becoming deputy lieutenant.<\/p>\n As President Trump took office in his first term, Col\u00f3n\u2019s politics shifted<\/a> in support of the right-wing candidate, and he said he would be open to performing at his inauguration in 2017.<\/p>\n