Willie Colón
Sign in to saveAlso known as Willie Colon, William Anthony Colón, William Anthony Colon
William Anthony Colón Román was an American salsa musician and social activist. He began his career as a trombonist but also sang, wrote, produced and acted. Colón was a pioneer of salsa music and a best-selling artist in the genre, having been a key figure in the beginnings of the New York City scene associated with Fania Records. He was also noteworthy for having assumed the gangster image in his album covers before it was culturally popular. From the 1980s on, he was at times deeply involved in the politics of New York City. His hit songs include "Aguanilé" with Hector Lavoe, "Tiburón", and "El gran varón".
OverviewAI-generated
Willie Colón, born William Anthony Colón Román in 1950, was an American singer, jazz musician, record producer, and recording artist. A male baritone vocalist, he was born and died in The Bronx. He played the trombone, voice, and trumpet, and spoke English. His musical genres included salsa, boogaloo, and bolero.
Colón was affiliated with Fania Records and had business or sport partners Héctor Lavoe and Rubén Blades. He died in 2026 from respiratory failure due to natural causes. His name in his native language is Willie Colón.
Synthesized by Vinony from 25 facts across 3 sources: Wikidata, MusicBrainz, Firecrawl. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Works
- 2
Top works
- La Cancion del Lagarto
- Testimony unto the Lord of Lords
via Open Library + Wikidata
Music · MusicBrainz
- Type
- Person
- Gender
- Male
- Country
- United States
- Active from
- 1950
- Active to
- 2026
Discography
- El malo1968
- The Hustler1968
- Cosa nuestra1969
- Guisando (Doing a Job)1969
- The Big Break - La gran fuga1970
- Crime Pays1971
- Asalto navideño1972
- El juicio1972
- Asalto navideño, vol. II1973
- El Dia De Suerte1973
Member of
via MusicBrainz · CC0
Wikipedia views (30d)
24,189 totalvia Wikimedia Pageviews API
Official website
Willie Colon Official Website | Salsa Legend
Discover the incredible career of Willie Colon by listening to his music. Don't miss out on his upcoming launch and events, and be sure to grab some merchandise to show your support!
williecolon.com →Link to the official site · 13,443 chars · not written by Vinony
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- The Bronx
- Place of death
- The Bronx
- Occupation
- recording artist
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Genre
- boogaloo
- Instrument
- trumpet
- Record label
- Fania Records
- Official website
- www.williecolon.com
- Image
- Willie Colón on Trumpet.jpg
- Voice type
- baritone
Show 9 more facts
- date of birth
- 1950-04-28
- Commons category
- Willie Colón
- birth name
- William Anthony Colón Román
- name in native language
- Willie Colón
- social media followers
- 2001675
- partner in business or sport
- Rubén Blades
- date of death
- 2026-02-21
- manner of death
- natural causes
- cause of death
- respiratory failure
Sources (9)
via Wikidata · CC0