U.S. salsa legend Willie Colón dies at age 75

Salsa music icon Willie Colon died on Saturday (February 21, 2026), his family and longtime manager said, leaving fans mourning the loss of “an architect of the New York sound.”

Colon, known best as a trombonist but who was also a bandleader and producer, was born in the Bronx and known for blending the Puerto Rican music of his parents and grandparents with his home city’s jazz.

He was 75. A cause of death was not given.

Born William Anthony Colon Roman in 1950, the music star “passed away peacefully this morning,” his family said in a statement.

“We’ve lost an architect of the New York sound,” said manager Pietro Carolos.

“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.”

Colon was playing in his own band by 15 and released an album at 17. He went on to record hit records with Puerto Rican singer Hector Lavoe in the 1960s and 1970s.

“Siembra,” released in 1978 with vocalist Ruben Blades, addressed social issues faced by the growing Latino community in the United States.

“I came from a really tough neighborhood,” he once told music publication Billboard. “My father spent time in jail. Almost everybody went to jail… there was a lot of interaction between us and the police.”

He only studied music in junior high school but continued playing and touring through 2025. In a mark of his continued influence, he is name-checked in Grammy-winning singer Bad Bunny’s 2025 hit “Nueva Yol.”