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Willie Colón
Genre: Música tropical
Origin: Bronx, NY, United States
Born/Formed: April 28, 1950
Zodiac: Taurus ♉ Read artist horoscope
Since the ’60s, salsa icon and political activist Willie Colón profoundly revolutionized the genre across more than 40 LPs and many high-profile accolades and awards.
∙ At age 17, Colón released his debut LP, 1967’s El Malo, and 40 years later the title track appeared in the popular 2017 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories.
∙ Siembra—his best-selling 1978 salsa LP with Rubén Blades—was inducted into the Latin Grammy Hall of Fame in 2007.
∙ From 1980 to 1990, seven of his albums received Grammy nominations for either Best Tropical Latin Performance or Best Latin Recording.
∙ In 1993, Colón was invited to perform at the inauguration ceremonies for Bill Clinton’s first Presidential term.
∙ Cosa Nuestra—his 1970 LP with Héctor Lavoe—had a 50th anniversary reissue as part of Record Store Day 2020, and it re-entered the Billboard Tropical Albums chart at No. 3.
∙ A member of both the International Latin Music Hall of Fame and the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame, Colón was also honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2004 Latin Grammys.
![La Murga (feat. Héctor Lavoe) [Remastered 2025]](https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Music221/v4/87/86/d6/8786d61e-612b-bd28-2046-a0047909afe1/25CRGIM48687.rgb.jpg/200x200bb.jpg)
![Quítate Tú (feat. Ismael Miranda, Santos Colón, Johnny Pacheco, Adalberto Santiago, Willie Colón, Héctor Lavoe, José Feliciano & Pete "El Conde" Rodríguez) [Live]](https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Music125/v4/09/b2/f8/09b2f812-84e0-7bfd-746e-6af0307f359e/18CRGIM08498.rgb.jpg/200x200bb.jpg)
![Quítate Tú (feat. Ismael Miranda, Santos Colón, Johnny Pacheco, Adalberto Santiago, Willie Colón, Héctor Lavoe, José Feliciano & Pete "El Conde" Rodríguez) [Live]](https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Music126/v4/14/8c/b7/148cb766-b702-7875-0fde-5c21766fcece/23UM1IM30007.rgb.jpg/200x200bb.jpg)