Willie Colon

About

Willie Colón, Bronx-born of Puerto Rican grandparents, has fused his musical talent, his passion for humanity, and his community and political activism into an extraordinary, multifaceted career.

His achievements in all his activities are widely recognized. As musician, composer, arranger, singer, and trombonist, as well as producer and director, Colón still holds the all time record for sales, he has created 40 productions that have sold more than thirty million records worldwide. His collaboration with Ruben Blades, "Siembra", is the biggest selling album of all time for this genre. His collaboration with Hector LaVoe was the milestone that spread this fusion of tropical/urban music throughout Latin America. He is a strong catalog sale artist, whose songs are included in almost every Salsa artist’s repertoire.

Two recent hit TV-soaps, Demasiado Corazón and Perro Amor, used his recordings/compositions as theme songs. He has also won 11 Grammy nominations, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Latin Grammy, fifteen gold and five platinum records, and has collaborated with such musical greats as the Fania All Stars, Héctor LaVoe, Rubén Blades, David Byrne, and Celia Cruz.

His music, which has powerfully influenced modern Latin jazz, reflects both rhythmic traditional lyrics and the cries of farewell and hope from a new generation pressured to abandon their homeland to congregate in urban America. William Anthony Colón Román (his full name) learned the lyrics from his Abuela (grandmother) Antonia, as she rocked him to sleep during his childhood in the heart of the Puerto Rican Bronx. Her strong beliefs and personality also powerfully influenced his devotion to his cultural roots. During his musical and cultural odyssey from the Bronx to the world scene, he moved from a fascination with the tropical paradise of his ancestors to the stark street images of rebellious youth and social struggle and finally to a mature fusion of joy and injustice, beauty and suffering, romance and realism. He has become an articulate and responsible public figure -- clever at injecting political messages into his music without becoming overbearing. He has been a visiting professor and lecturer at many prestigious colleges and universities.