{"id":39955,"date":"2026-02-22T00:38:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T00:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/?p=39955"},"modified":"2026-02-22T00:38:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T00:38:21","slug":"salsa-legend-dies-aged-75-as-family-share-heartbreaking-tributes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/?p=39955","title":{"rendered":"Salsa legend dies aged 75 as family share heartbreaking tributes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Legendary salsa musician Willie Col\u00f3n, a pioneer of the salsa and Nuyorican movement, has died at the age of 75, his family announced. Born in the South Bronx in April 1950, Col\u00f3n was a trombonist, composer, poet, and musical director who began his career at just 16 with the album <em>El Malo<\/em>, collaborating with H\u00e9ctor Lavoe. He went on to record 16 albums with Lavoe and later launched a successful solo career, also working with Rub\u00e9n Blades to produce six albums together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Col\u00f3n passed away peacefully on Saturday surrounded by family, though the cause of death was not disclosed. His family expressed gratitude for the support and prayers they received while mourning, saying they would cherish the timeless gift of his music and the memories he created. Fans and the Puerto Rican artistic community had previously asked for prayers as he faced respiratory complications. Col\u00f3n\u2019s legacy in salsa music remains enduring, celebrated worldwide through his recordings and influence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Legendary salsa musician Willie Col\u00f3n, a pioneer of the salsa and Nuyorican movement, has died at the age of 75, his family announced. Born in the South&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":39956,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"views":138,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39955"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39957,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39955\/revisions\/39957"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}