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Salsa icon Willie Colón and his wife Julia Colón Craig are recovering from a traffic accident they suffered on Tuesday April 20th in North Carolina. He is in a ‘serious but stable condition” according to a statement published by a spokesperson for El Malo, Inc., Colón’s recording company. this Sunday on the artist’s social media platforms.
The accident was described as “life threatening.” It occurred in the Outer Banks region of North Carolina and no other vehicles were involved in the accident. “Injuries included head trama with concussion, lacerations to the scalp... and fractures to his C1 cervical vertebra,” reads the statement.
Along with the statement a photo of the motor home showing various damages and without the windshield was also published. The statement did not explain the causes of the accident, but it was said that Colón and his wife “were pulled out of the rubble and taken to a local hospital.”
Colón will be transferred to another healthcare center in New York “as soon as possible to be treated by his medical team.”
Born in April 1950, in the Bronx, New York, Colón is recognized as an iconic composer, musician and social activist who helped popularize salsa in the United States in the 1970s. He has collaborated with notable musicians such as the Fania All-Stars, Héctor Lavoe, Rubén Blades, David Byrne, and Celia Cruz. He has been nominated for 10 Grammy Awards. In 2014, he even received a Grammy Award for a lifetime of achievement from the Latin Recording Academy.