Willie Colón, the Grammy-nominated architect of urban salsa music and social activist, died Saturday. He was 75. Over his decades-long career, the trombonist, composer, arranger and singer produced more than 40 albums that sold more than 30 million copies worldwide.

Willie Colón, the salsa legend who took the genre to new heights while recording more than two dozen albums for Fania Records, died Saturday.

Colón helped define the salsa genre in the 1970s and '80s.