El veintiocho de abril/April 28th
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| Photo from New York Latin Culture, 2017. Click HERE. |
One of the founding members of the musical genre known as salsa, Willie Colón has been performing and producing music for more than 50 years. He has won numerous accolades, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Latin Grammys in 2004. Born in the Bronx, New York, Willie Colón was mostly raised by his grandmother, Antonia Roman Pintor, who had grown up in the hills of Puerto Rico and received only a third grade education. Colón's mother was around, but as she was only 16 when she had him, she did not do much parenting. Colon's father was a heroin addict and not a major part of his life. When Colón was 11, his grandmother gave him a trombone, and soon after a neighbor walking by heard him practicing, knocked on the door, and offered to teach him. Colón was performing in local clubs at the age of 14 (with a forged id card) and had signed with the newly formed Fania Records by the age of 15. He recorded his first album, El Malo, with Hector Lavoe, two years later. It went on to sell more than 300,000 copies. Colón has since recorded some 40 albums selling more than 30 million copies worldwide. His 1978 album Siembra with Rubén Blades became the best-selling salsa album of all time, and with its social commentary it remains a staple for many socially conscious Latinos. Colón has always incorporated activism into his music, and life. In 1999 he was a member of the Jubilee 2000 delegation to the Vatican that led to the United States forgiving the debt of some developing countries, and in 2010 he appeared at The National Mall along with Sting, John Legend, The Roots, and other noted musicians for an Earth Day event. In 2012 he was active campaigning against socialist President Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, and after Chávez died in 2013, he endorsed the opposition candidate, Henrique Capriles, and composed a song, Mentira Fresca (Fresh Lies), that became the nickname of the regime candidate, Nicolás Maduro. The song had millions of downloads and plays in Latin America. Colón continues to be active in Venezuelan politics, advocating for the release of political prisoners. Married for more than 40 years to his wife, Julia, with whom he has three sons (Colón has another son from a former relationship), Colón credits her with being his "strength through all [his] ups and downs." He told the Paris Herald in 2010 that hopes that history remembers him "as a man who impacted the world, wasn't afraid to speak up, and who could take a punch." (Much of the information here is from the 2010 Paris Herald article The Ultimate Willie Colón interview. It's great! Click HERE for the full interview).
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| Juan Mata in 2016. Photo from wikipedia. |
Other April 28th birthdays of note:
Jessica Alba (1981- ): Actress and businesswoman whose maternal grandparents are Mexican.
Penelope Cruz (1974- ): Spanish actress who appears in many of Pedro Almodovar's movies. She is married to Spanish actor Javier Bardem.
Juan Mata (1988- ): Spanish soccer player currently playing for Manchester United (through 2018) under a contract worth 34,00 million euro.
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