THE BRONX — Legendary salsa musician Willie Colón has spent decades performing internationally, but the widely acclaimed artist still gets nervous when he comes home to put on a concert in The Bronx.
"I see a lot of the old people from the block and a lot of my old friends and stuff, faces in the crowd," he said of the audience at his Bronx shows, "so it’s a little harder to play for them because they know me. They know the real Willie."
"It’s got to be a good show. I can’t BS them, you know?" he continued. "They're not really impressed by the persona, the image."
Colón will come face to face with these nerves on Dec. 10, when he returns to his native borough for an 8 p.m. Christmas concert at Lehman Center for the Performing Arts, located at 250 Bedford Park Blvd W.
The concert will feature holiday songs like "Asalto Navideño," "Canto a Borinquen" and "Arbolito," as well as classic salsa hits like "Oh Que Sera," "Sin Poderte Hablar" and "Idilio," according to Lehman Center.
Although Colón said it can be disarming and nerve-wracking to return to The Bronx and perform in front of his friends, his anxiety about this has not overpowered his excitement about the show.
"It’s great to be able to come back where it all started, come back to The Bronx where I’m from," he said, "and we don’t get to play Christmas songs all year round, so it's fun to break that stuff out."
Tickets for the show range from $40 to $100 and can be purchased online at lehmancenter.org or by calling the box office at 718-960-8833.
The 63-year-old Colón was born in The Bronx and has been on the music scene for decades, forming his first band in 1964 when he was just 14, earning 11 Grammy nominations and selling more than 30 million records over his lengthy career.
He is known as a singer, trombonist and composer and has recorded a total of 40 albums so far, five of which went platinum and 15 of which went gold.
Even more music is on the way, as Colón said he plans to release three records within the next year.
"I’m kind of excited that vinyls are coming back and that kids have discovered vinyls," he said. "People like them, so in that respect, I’d like to get back in the game and release some vinyls."
Colón has been very active in politics throughout his career as well, running for New York's 17th congressional district in 1993 and for New York City's Public Advocate in 2001, according to his website.
He said he would like to see the country move on, calm down and come together after its particularly divisive presidential election and maintained that music has a unique ability to help accomplish these goals.
"Music is the only thing that really has succeeded above everything else. That’s what I love about it," he said. "There’s something magical and spiritual about music."
