Res. No. 440
Resolution declaring April 28 as Willie Colón Day in the City of New York to honor the multi-talented trombone player, bandleader, composer, and producer, who was a New York City pioneer of Latin music and a beloved salsa legend
By Council Members Farías, Aldebol, Cabán, J. Sanchez, Avilés, Encarnación, Hudson and Louis
Whereas, William Anthony Colón Román was born in the South Bronx on April 28, 1950, and raised by his Puerto Rican grandmother, who encouraged his interest in music; and
Whereas, Known professionally as Willie Colón, he started playing trumpet at the age of 12, but switched to the trombone two years later and began working professionally while still a teenager; and
Whereas, At 16, he began following his mentor and collaborator bandleader-composer-trombonist Mon Rivera to nightclubs, where Colón was often invited up to play with the band; and
Whereas, Colón described the new salsa sound he helped create, which was influenced by R&B, jazz, and Caribbean dance music, as “rebellious music” forged in the days of civil rights unrest and as music that “wasn’t explicitly political…but was a magnet that would bring people together,” according to an interview in The Miami Herald; and
Whereas, Colón’s first album, El Malo, recorded for Johnny Pacheco’s Fania label in 1967 at the age of 17, featured Puerto Rican vocalist Héctor Lavoe and began their prolific collaboration of two decades; and
Whereas, For decades that followed the album, Colón enjoyed performing in the “bad boy” persona that emerged from El Malo; and
Whereas, Colón’s 1978 album Siembra, part of a long and productive partnership with Panamanian singer and songwriter Rubén Blades, became one of the best-selling salsa albums of all time and produced the masterpiece seven-minute single “Pedro Navaja,” described by Rolling Stone magazine as “an existential tale of Latino gangsters, out of luck prostitutes, and carefree drunkards-with references to Kafka and Kurt Weill, and a sardonic chorus: la vida tiene sorpresas (life is full of surprises)”; and
Whereas, Colón went on to record more albums with Blades, including Canciones del Solar de los Aburridos (1981), which produced hit singles like “Tiburon,” “Ligia Elena,” and “Te Estan Buscando”; and
Whereas, Colón also played with Latin music superstars Celia Cruz, the Cuban-born queen of salsa, and musician-bandleader-songwriter-Tito Puente, among others; and
Whereas, Colón was nominated for 10 GRAMMY Awards across two decades for best Latin recording and best tropical Latin performance for 10 different albums, including Canciones del Solar de los Aburridos, Corazon Guerrero, Criollo, Especial No. 5, Altos Secretos, Color Americano, Hecho en Puerto Rico, and Tras la Tormenta; and
Whereas, Colón received The Latin Recording Academy’s lifetime achievement award in 2004 and was inducted into the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2019; and
Whereas, In 2015, Billboard magazine named Colón one of the 30 most influential Latin artists of all time, noting that he was “instrumental in creating the sound that became known as salsa,” that he “did much to cultivate the streetwise urban Latino image adopted by artists today,” and that “his album El Malo is a classic testimony to the Nuyorican sound and style of the ’70s”; and
Whereas, When Rolling Stone magazine named the 50 greatest salsa albums of all time, Colón had produced or performed on six of them, including the number one selection, Siembra, and Asalto Navideño, the best-ever Christmas Latin music record, which produced the hit single “La Murga”; and
Whereas, During his long career, Colón made more than 40 albums, including nine that went gold and five that went platinum; and
Whereas, According to Rolling Stone magazine, singles that “serve as an introduction to [Colón’s] genius,” stretch from 1969’s “Che Che Colé,” an adaptation of a children’s song from Ghana; to 1981’s “Oh Qué Será,” the beginning of the salsa romántica sound; to 1993’s “Idilio,” a “late-career smash,” which “boasts fiery trombone moñas and Willie’s vocals in rare form”; and
Whereas, Long interested in politics, Colón ran unsuccessfully in a 1994 Democratic primary for a Bronx-Westchester County seat in the United States House of Representatives and later worked for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg as a liaison to the Latin Media and Entertainment Commission; and
Whereas, Colón died on February 21, 2026, at the age of 75 and was remembered by his family, friends, and fans at a public funeral mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on March 9, 2026; and
Whereas, In a Facebook post announcing Colón’s death, his manager Pietro Carlos wrote that Colón’s “trombone was the voice of the people”; and
Whereas, Colón took his ever-evolving brand of salsa from the South Bronx to worldwide acclaim; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York declares April 28 as Willie Colón Day in the City of New York to honor the multi-talented trombone player, bandleader, composer, and producer, who was a New York City pioneer of Latin music and a beloved salsa legend.
LS #22224
4/27/26
RHP