Santana Information

Carlos Augusto Alves Santana was born July 20, 1947 in Autlan de Navarro, Jalisco, Mexico. The Grammy Award-winning musician became famous in the late '60s and early '70s with the help of his Santana Blues Band. The Santana Blues Band managed to combine salsa, rock, blues, and jazz. Including a resurgence in popularity in the late '90s, Santana has sold an estimated 80 million albums worldwide.

Carlos Santana moved to San Francisco from Mexico at the age of 13. He hated school and being a nobody in the States; he often ran away from home. He also was displeased with the Beach Boys, who were popular at that time. Eventually, Carlos Santana gave in and stayed in San Francisco, even graduating from Mission High School in 1965. Through his job as a dishwasher, Carlos Santana spent a lot of time in the San Francisco music scene and sneaked into Bill Graham's Fillmore Auditorium to listen to performers such as Muddy Water, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, and various other rock, blues, and jazz musicians.

At the end of 1966, Carlos Santana heard that Tom Frazier was looking to form a new rock band. Together, guitarist/vocalist Carlos Santana, guitarist Tom Frazier, percussionist Mike Carabello, drummer Rod Harper, bass guitarist Gus Rodriguez, and organist/vocalist Gregg Rolie formed the Santana Blues Band. Carlos Santana and Gregg Rolie both believed they were the only ones interested in pursuing music while other others were interesting in being part of the scene.

Eventually, the band became known simply as Santana. By then, the group consisted of Carlos Santana, Gregg Rolie, bassist David Brown, drummer Bob "Doc" Livingston, and percussionist Marcus Malone. Santana was signed to Columbia Records in recorded their self-titled debut after performing at Woodstock Music and Art Festival. Santana hit No. 4 o the U.S. album charts, and "Evil Ways" hit No. 9 on the Billboard 100.

In 1970 the band released their follow up Abraxas, which hit No. 1 on sold over four million copies. Their cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Black Magic Woman" hit No. 4 and a cover of Tito Puente's "Oye Como Va" hit No. 13. The success of the first two albums put Santana on the map, but there was a difference in musical interests within the band. Gregg Rolie and some others were interested in a more hard rock sound, while Carlos Santana was more interested in blues and rock and was after a more jazzy, ethereal element to his music.

Around the same time, Neal Schon was making a name for himself as a San Francisco Bay Area guitar prodigy, and was asked by Eric Clapton to join Derek and the Dominos while he was also asked to join Santana. He chose Santana, and had a huge hand in recording their third album, Santana 3. It went on to reach No. 1 on the charts, sold two million copies, and produced "Everybody's Everything" and "No One to Depend On."

The tension continued, and drug issues were becoming a huge problem. Michael Carabello would quit the band, and James Mingo Lewis was hired as a last-minute replacement. The band recorded Caravanserai in 1972 and other musicians were brought in during the recording; bassist Tom Rutley and Doug Rauch replaced David Brown, and Armando Peraza also joined. Gregg Rolie and Neal Schon left after the album was released, and both of them would end up with Journey.

Santana underwent another line up change and by 1973 featured Carlos Santana and Armando Pereza, but also had bassist Doug Rauch, drummer Michael Shrieve, percussionist Chepito Areas, and keyboardists Tom Coster and Richard Kermode. Jazz vocalist Leon Thomas was recruited at a later date. Barboletta was released in 1974 following the release of Illuminations. Yet another line up of Santana was formed in 1976 and saw the release of Amigos. Moonflower was released in 1977.

As of the early '80s there were plenty of Santana singles still hitting the airwaves. However, Beyond Appearances was released in 1985 and sales were slow. Freedom was released in 1986 but sales fell flat. Around that same time, Carlos Santana began jamming with the likes of John Lee hooker, Aretha Franklin, and McCoy Turner.

Carlos Santana left Columbia Records in 1990 after 22 years with the label and signed with Polygram. His record sales continued to be very low, and Carlos Santana eventually teamed up with Clive Davis of Arista Records. Together, they released Supernatural in 1999. Supernatural featured Carlos Santana collaborating with the likes of Rob Thomas, Eric Clapton, Dave Matthews and such. "Smooth" with Rob Thomas hit No. 1 as the last No. 1 single of the 20th century. Supernatural also hit No. 1 on the charts; "Maria Maria" was also a No. 1 hit, and Supernatural went on to sell 15 million copies in the United States, as Carlos Santana's biggest sales success. Supernatural and the tracks from the album earned Carlos Santana eight Grammy Awards for record of the year, Album of the Year, and Song of the Year, among others.

Shaman was released in 2002, much in the same style of Supernatural. Shaman saw "The Game of Love" hit No. 5 and "Why Don't You and I" also hit the Top 10. Carlos Santana won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "Game of Love." In August 2003, Carlos Santana was named the greatest guitarist of the "List of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" by Rolling Stone.

The most recent album All That I Am was released in 2005. Carlos Santana tours today, sometimes with his son, Salvador Santana, as an opening act.

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