Born into a Puerto Rican household and raised in a predominantly Puerto Rican neighborhood of the Bronx, Colón was immersed in the arts and culture—and the hardships—of urban Hispanic America throughout his childhood and youth. This environmentwas a powerful force in shaping his career, both as a musician and as an advocate for various Hispanic causes. His formal music education began when his grandmother gave him a trumpet and paid for lessons when he was 12. He shifted his focus to tromboneat age 14, and when he was 17, he made his recording debut with El malo (1967; “The Bad One”). The album was an early example of the New York sound, a trombone-driven movement in Latin music that fused Caribbean rhythms and arrangements with lyrical popular-music styles. Such stylistic blending would characterize Colón’s work throughout his career. El malo also featured Colón’s first collaboration with Puerto Rican vocalist Hector Lavoe, a partnership that would endure through the mid-1970s and yield numerous hit songs, including “I Wish I Had a Watermelon” (1969) and “La murga” (c. 1970).
With the 1975 song “El cazanguero,” Colón began a lengthy partnership with vocalist Rubén Blades. Their album Siembra(1978) became the top-selling title in the catalog of its record label, Fania, and it remained one of the most popular salsa recordings into the early 21st century.
