Born: 20th July, 1947 (Autlán de Navarro, Jalisco, Mexico)
Profile: He is a Mexican rock guitarist. He became famous in the late 60's and early 70's with his band, "Santana", which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion. The band's sound featured his melodic, blues-based guitar lines set against Latin rhythms featuring percussion instruments such as timbales and congas not generally heard in rock music.
History: His father was a mariachi violinist, and young Santana learned to play the violin at age 5 and the guitar at age 8. In 1965, he met with Javier Bátiz, a famous guitarist from Tijuana, Mexico, and was said to have been Santana's guitar teacher who taught him to play a different style of guitar soloing. After learning Batiz's techniques, Santana would make them his own as well.
From Tijuana, he then moved to San Francisco, where he got the chance to see his idols, most notably BB King, performing live. He was also introduced to a variety of new musical influences, including jazz and folk music. After several years busking for spare change, Santana decided to become a full-time musician, and in 1966, he formed the "Santana Blues Band", with fellow street musicians, bassist David Brown and keyboardist Gregg Rolie.
With their highly original blend of Latin-infused rock, jazz, blues, salsa, and African rhythms, the band (which quickly became known simply as Santana) gained an immediate following on the San Francisco strip club. The band's early success, capped off by a memorable performance at Woodstock in 1969, led to a recording contract with Columbia Records, then run by Clive Davis.
Santana was signed by CBS Records and went into the studio to record their first album, simply titled 'Santana' and became a huge hit, reaching #4 on the US album charts, and the catchy single 'Evil Ways' reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1970, the group reached its early commercial peak with their second album, 'Abraxas', which reached #1 on the album charts and went on to sell over four million copies.
In 1972, Santana became a huge fan of the pioneering fusion band "The Mahavishnu Orchestra" and its guitarist John McLaughlin. A year later, Santana and McLaughlin recorded an album together, 'Love, Devotion, Surrender' with members of "Santana" and "The Mahavishnu Orchestra".
In 1983, Santana paid tribute to his early rock roots by doing the film score to 'La Bamba', which was based on the tragically short life of Rock & Roll legend Ritchie Valens. Although Santana and his band had concentrated on trying to produce albums with commercial appeal during the 80's, changing tastes in popular culture began to reflect in the band's sagging record sales. But, Santana retained a great deal of respect in both jazz and rock circles, when Prince and guitarist Kirk Hammett (Metallica) citing him as an influence.
In 1991, Santana made a guest appearance on Ottmar Liebert's solo album 'Para Ti', and on a cover of his own song, 'Samba Pa Ti'. Though, Santana's record sales in the 90's were very low. Toward the end of the decade, he was without a contract. However, Clive Davis, who had worked with Santana previously, signed him and encouraged him to record a star-studded album with mostly younger artists. The result was 1999's album 'Supernatural'. The single 'Smooth' which featured Rob Thomas (Matchbox 20), spent 12 weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and eventually sold over 15 million copies in the US.
Until now, Carlos Santana is still active and busy touring the world with his work in the music industry, he has spent more then 3 decades of his life as a musician and worked with so many artist along the way. In 2003, Santana was named 15th on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the '100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time'.
Influences: BB. King, John Lee Hooker, Jimi Hendrix, Ritchie Valens, John McLaughlin and Mike Bloomfield
Axology: Gibson SG guitars, Yamaha SG 175B, PRS guitar - Santana signature series, Alvarez Yairi CY127CE nylon strings and Mesa/Boogie amplifiers
Signature song(s): Black Magic Woman - Santana (Abraxas, 1970) and Smooth - Santana (Supernatural, 1999)
Link(s):
http://www.santana.com/ (Official website)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-y2LUh-9AA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9ZRS0F5t34
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