William Anthony Colón Román (born April 28, 1950) is an American salsa musician and social activist. He began his career as a trombonist and also sings, writes, produces and acts. He is also involved in the politics of New York City. Colón is considered a pioneer of Salsa music and a best-selling artist in the genre, having been a key figure in the nascent New York City scene associated with the legendary Fania Records. He is also noteworthy for having assumed the gangster image in his album covers before it was culturally popular. Early years Colón was born in the South Bronx in New York City to Puerto Rican parents. He picked up the trumpet from a young age, and later switched to trombone, inspired by the all-trombone sound of Mon Rivera and Barry Rogers. He spent some summers at his maternal grandmother's sister's farm in the outskirts of Manatí, Puerto Rico on the road to neighboring Ciales, Puerto Rico. At the age of 15, he was signed to Fania Records, and at 17, he recorded his first album, which ultimately sold more than 300,000 copies. The main record producer at Fania at the time, Johnny Pacheco, recommended Héctor Lavoe to him. He has also acted in films, including roles in Vigilante (1983), The Last Fight (1983), Miami Vice (in the season 3 episode "Cuba Libre") (1987) and It Could Happen to You (1994). Colón has been a civil rights, community, and political activist since the age of 16. He has served as a member of the Latino Commission on AIDS and President of the Arthur Schomburg Coalition for a Better New York, member of the Board of Directors of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. In 1995, Colón became the first person of color to serve on the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) national board, replacing Stephen Sondheim, and was also a member of the ASCAP Foundation. Music career Beyond the trombone, he has also worked as a composer, arranger, and singer, and eventually as a producer and director. Combining elements of jazz, rock, and salsa, his work incorporates the rhythms of traditional music from African descendants in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Brazil, representing mostly a one-way flow from Puerto Rico to the New York-based diaspora. "His life and music commute back and forth between his home turf in the Bronx and his ancestral