Willie Colón: 1950—: Salsa performer, producer, composer, activist

Willie Colón was one of the founders of the jazz-inflected Latin American dance music known as salsa. In the words of the Los Angeles Times, he was "the unifier, the alche-mist, [and] the enabler" of the rhythmic salsa style. An unusually multitalented musician, Colón became a star himself and succeeded in bringing other musicians together to create new sounds. Colón is noted among historians and loved by audiences for his contributions as a trombonist, bandleader, producer, vocalist, composer, lyricist, and arranger on more than 40 top-selling salsa albums. Always a musician who tried to combine social commentary with danceable entertainment, in the 1990s and early 2000s, Colón became more and more involved with community issues in New York City, and ran for political office several times.

William Anthony Colón Román was born on April 28, 1950, in the New York City borough of the Bronx. His parents had come to New York from Puerto Rico. Colón was partially raised by his grandmother, who had performed music in the rural Puerto Rican jibaro style, and who gave him a trumpet and a paid-up time slot with a music teacher when he was 12. Before long Colón had organized a band that played at dances and local social functions. His classical training won him a spot in the New York Youth Symphony and would contribute to the striking versatility Colón showed later in his career.

Switched to Trombone

Colón found his own musical soul when he switched from trumpet to trombone, inspired by listening to the music of trombonist Barry Rogers in the pioneering band of Eddie Palmieri, and the three-trombone band performing under leader Mon Rivera. "The trombone used to be this sweet thing, a Tommy Dorsey, big band instrument," Colón told the Boston Globe. "Nobody had thought of having it as a front line instrument. But we saw the trombone could be a nasty, loud instrument with Barry Rogers." After a preliminary single on the Futura label, Colón was signed in 1967 to Fania, the label that eventually became central to the salsa recording industry. Recording as a trombonist and bandleader, Colón released El malo, an album that despite its rough edges spawned the regional hit "Jazzy" and announced a new force in Latin music.

By 1974 Colón had released 15 albums in partnership with his lead vocalist Hector Lavoe who, according to the Boston Globe, reluctantly came on board after telling Colón, "Your band stinks." However, Lavoe ended up co-composing many of the band's songs with Colón. Out of a swirl of new Latin styles that arose in the late 1960s grew a lasting form, known as salsa, that featured virtuoso, jazz-influenced brass playing; intense, upbeat rhythms influenced by Dominican merengue; Colombian cumbia; the pace of urban life in general; and a vocal focus that enabled songwriters to stretch beyond simple dance-and-have-fun themes. Some have credited Colón with originating the word "salsa," although its origins remain obscure. In any event, Colón showed sales muscle, and 1970's Cosa nuestra became the first in a string of 20 gold records awarded for sales of 500,000 or more copies, including five that were platinum million-sellers.

When Lavoe left Colón's band in 1975 for a solo career, Colón produced his first two solo albums. Colón also produced albums by Cuban-American superstar Celia Cruz and shared the spotlight with her on the Celia y Willie album of 1981. He also collaborated at various times with Mon Rivera, percussionist Ernie Agosto, and the Fania All Stars. But his most important collaboration was with Panamanian songwriter and vocalist Rubén Blades, whom Colón had met in Panama in 1969. Blades's eclectic and adventurous approach to Latin music paralleled Colón's own, and he replaced Lavoe as Colón's lead vocalist. Blades was subsequently featured on several Colón albums between 1977 and 1982.

Broadened Topics of Salsa Lyrics

The creative partnership between Colón and Blades was a stormy but productive one, and the two parted company acrimoniously several times over the years. However, in 1978 they created Siembra, one of salsa's all-time bestselling albums. In the 1980s and 1990s, Colón began to diversify the topics addressed in his songs. "El gran varon" dealt with the AIDS scourge, and other songs dealt with such topics as poverty and military dictatorships in Latin America. "That's the magic, the real secret of what I do: balancing the commercial, the artistic and the social—without being heavy-handed or foisting something on people to the point they reject it," Colón told the Boston Globe.

Colón studied music theory and orchestration in the late 1970s, and his musical skills increased along with his poetic reach. He remained much in demand in the 1980s and 1990s as a producer and arranger, and made several solo recordings featuring his own vocals. Especially successful was Fantasmas, one of the best selling albums of his career. Colón recorded a few tracks in English, but for the most part he avoided crossover efforts. "I think what we do plays a very important role in the community and I want to remain true to the people we represent, who supported me from the beginning," he told the Boston Globe. Colón amassed 11 Grammy award nominations, and in 1991 the former Bronx high school dropout became the recipient of a Chubb fellowship from Yale University.

Entered Politics

A legendary figure throughout the Spanish-speaking Western Hemisphere, Colón continued to make music in the 1990s and 2000s. When he performed in large outdoor settings, as he did at an Easter concert at Mexico City's central Zócalo in 2000, he often drew crowds of 100,000 or more. But Colón's interests increasingly turned to community activism and politics during the 1990s. "Sometimes writing a song is not enough," the singer told the New York Times, explaining his decision to challenge Bronx U.S. Representative Eliot Engel in the 1994 New York Democratic primary election.

Colón lost, but garnered a respectable 38 percent of the vote, and he also did well in a citywide race for New York Public Advocate in 2001, although it was an unsuccessful bid. Colón continued to turn his energies to the public good in various ways. He served on the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities under President Bill Clinton, became a spokesperson for the CARE International relief agency, joined the agitation against the U.S. Navy bombing range on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, and was instrumental in persuading New York Governor George Pataki to lend his support to the ultimately successful effort to halt the bombings. In 2001 Colón composed and produced a Spanish-language jingle for the successful mayoral campaign of Republican candidate Michael Bloom-berg. As he gained contacts and experience, it seemed possible that Colón might one day exert political influence to match the tremendous impact he had already made on the musical lives of Latin Americans, as well as on everyone else whose attention was ever snared by the musical flavor of salsa.

Selected discography

El malo, Fania, 1968.

Cosa nuestra, Fania, 1971.

Crime Pays, Fania, 1973.

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, Fania, 1976.

Siembra, Fania, 1978.

Solo, Fania, 1979.

Fantasmas, Fania, 1981.

Criollos, RCA, 1984.

Altos secretos, Fania, 1989.

Grandes exitos, Fania, 1992.

Super exitos, Fania, 1992.

The Best, Sony Discos, 1992.

Best, Vol. 2, Sony, 1994.

Brillantes, Sony, 1996.

Best, Fania, 1996.

20th Anniversary, Sony Discos, 1999.

Colleción de Oro, Sony, 2002.

Sources

Periodicals

Boston Globe, September 21, 1990, p. Arts & Film-48; June 17, 1993, p. Calendar-9.

Daily News (New York), October 22, 1999, p. 4.

Houston Chronicle, June 27, 1993, p. Zest-7; June 17, 1996, p. Houston-4.

Los Angeles Times, November 12, 2002, p. Calendar-8.

New York Times, June 25, 1994, Section 1, p. 25; September 29, 2001, p. D2.

On-line

"Willie Colón," All Music Guide, www.allmusic.com (March 26, 2003).

"Willie Colón," Lycos.com, www.music.lycos.com (March 26, 2003).

"Willie Colón - Biography," Willie Colón Homepage, www.williecolon.com/bio.htm (March 26, 2003).

—James M. Manheim