{"id":58755,"date":"2026-02-24T00:20:28","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T00:20:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/24\/ruben-blades-remembers-willie-colon\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T00:20:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T00:20:28","slug":"ruben-blades-remembers-willie-colon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/24\/ruben-blades-remembers-willie-colon\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruben Blades Remembers Willie Colon"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\tAs promised, Rub\u00e9n Blades is paying tribute to his longtime collaborator and friend Willie Col\u00f3n<\/a>. Colon died on Saturda<\/a>y at age 75.<\/p>\n

\n\tOnce his family announced the news, Blades took to Instagram<\/a>. \u201cWhat I was reluctant to believe: Willie Col\u00f3n has indeed passed away. I send my deepest condolences to his wife Julia, his children, family, and loved ones. I will write more about Willie and his vital and important musical legacy <\/a>later when I calm down,\u201d Blades said. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe Panamanian musician made good on his promise and shared his in-depth thoughts on his complex relationship with Col\u00f3n in a lengthy post on his website<\/a>, written in Spanish. Blades began by detailing the last time he saw the Puerto Rican singer \u201cat the wake of our friend and colleague, the bongo player Jorge \u2018Georgie\u2019 Gonz\u00e1lez.\u201d He continued: \u201cI felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around and there was Willie. If I was surprised to see him, the rest of the people present almost fainted when they saw us together. Contrary to what some might have expected, our conversation was cordial.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe two musicians together pioneered the contemporary salsa boom in the Seventies. Their 1978 album,\u00a0Siembra<\/em><\/a>, which landed at Number One on\u00a0Rolling Stone<\/em>\u2019s Best Salsa Albums list, became the best-selling salsa album of all time, a distinction it held for decades.\u00a0But in recent years,
Blades and Col\u00f3n were not as close after the two became embroiled in a thorny legal battle over contracts and political differences.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Panamanian musician addressed these challenges in his tribute, while concurrently holding reverence for Col\u00f3n\u2019s impact. \u201cDespite the difficulties that existed and will continue to exist, we both always respected what we did and the experiences we went through during those six years and six albums together, creating musical directions unprecedented at the time, in a genre brimming with immeasurable talent,\u201d he wrote in his tribute.<\/p>\n

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\n\tBlades went on to recount the first time he met Col\u00f3n and fellow influential salsa musician H\u00e9ctor Lavoe in Panama. \u201cThe energy and rebellious spirit that emanated from the young band made me a fan for life,\u201d he wrote. The Panamanian singer kept recounting the impact that his \u201cpersonal, emotional and intellectual connection\u201d with Col\u00f3n yielded, including how it \u201cwould propel the Afro-Cuban genre to new heights, even on a global scale.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tIn his tribute, Blades remembered the bright moments with Col\u00f3n, from the Puerto Rican singer\u2019s solo production work on a PBS television show to how he supported his early political stances, including one particular Miami performance of anti-imperialist anthem \u201cTibur\u00f3n.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cRegarding our personal differences, I\u2019ll say that these exist and will continue to exist in every type of relationship,\u201d Blades wrote, adding, \u201cI will always feel affection for Willie, even though I don\u2019t understand why he decided to sue me.\u201d He also called out Col\u00f3n\u2019s social media presence later in life, which included many MAGA talking points and pro-Trump posts. \u201cAnd although his support and sympathy for the most deceitful, narcissistic, and racist politician the United States has ever seen also bothered me, none of this affects the reality of what we managed to create musically, nor does it erase or cancel my affection for him, the positive memories, the laughter, the struggles, triumphs, difficulties, and sacrifices we shared,\u201d Blades said.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe continued to emphasize his overall appreciation for the salsa singer: \u201cDespite everything, my admiration for Willie and my respect for his work will never disappear, and I will never allow hatred to be a part of our past relationship. Blades highlighted the pair\u2019s ability \u201cto present and solidify messages of unity and possibility, of truth, solidarity, and hope, in salsa songs to the entire world, receiving massive popular support, especially in Spanish-speaking countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\u201cWillie Col\u00f3n is gone, but only physically. His extraordinary legacy will continue to live on through people who love music and dance,\u201d Blades wrote before drawing parallels from Bad Bunny\u2019s<\/a> \u201csuccessful\u201d Super Bowl <\/a>halftime show performance to he and Col\u00f3n\u2019s song \u201cPl\u00e1stico\u201d off Siembra<\/em>. \u201cThe flags \u2026 have a precedent: they repeat the first call for unity to all the nations of Latin America ever recorded in Latin popular music,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

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\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\t\u201cToday, a new generation is present and cultivates the seed we sowed together almost five decades ago. Today, when the task of reclaiming the identity and rightful place of our culture seems more urgent than ever, our work, done with love and faith, still contributes to promoting the Pan-American ideal we have always defended and which eternally unites us, despite all hardships,\u201d Blades added.<\/p>\n

\n\tBlades ended his long note with a sweet farewell: \u201cYou\u2019re not dead, my friend. On the contrary; now you\u2019re just beginning to live.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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As promised, Rub\u00e9n Blades is paying tribute to his longtime collaborator and friend Willie Col\u00f3n. Colon died on Saturday at age 75. Once his…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":58756,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop","article","has-excerpt","has-avatar","has-author","has-date","has-comment-count","has-category-meta","has-read-more","thumbnail-"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}