Santana during concert in Barcelona 2003

Carlos Santana (b. July 20 1947) is a Mexican rock and roll and jazz-rock guitarist, originally from Autlan de Navarro, Jalisco . He became famous in the 1960s with his eponymous band Santana.

Carlos Santana's father was a mariachi violinist and young Carlos learned the violin originally, but switched to the guitar when he was eight years old. After a family move to Tijuana, Santana began playing in clubs and bars; he remained in Tijuana when his family moved to San Francisco, California, but soon joined them. In 1966, he helped found the Santana Blues Band, eventually shortened to simply Santana. The band started playing at the Fillmore West, where many of the great San Francisco bands began. Santana's recording debut occurred on The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper with Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield.

Soon signed to Columbia Records, Santana released a self-titled album, Santana, the group at this point consisting of Carlos Santana (guitar), Gregg Rolie (keyboards and vocals), David Brown (bass guitar), Michael Shrieve (drums), Jose Areas (percussion) and Michael Carabello (percussion). On the tour to support the album, the band played at Woodstock; the set was legendary and vastly increased Santana's popularity. Santana became a huge hit, as did Abraxas (1970) and Santana III (1971). The original Santana band then disbanded. Rolie went on to become a founding member of Journey.

Carlos Santana used the name and a series of changing musicians to continue to tour around the country, releasing several albums. During this period, Carlos took the name "Devadip", bestowed upon him by spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy. Many albums followed in the 1970s and 80s, including collaborations with Willie Nelson, Herbie Hancock, Booker T. Jones, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and The Fabulous Thunderbirds. In 1991, Santana made a guest appearance on Ottmar Liebert's album "Solo Para Ti", on the songs "Reaching out 2 U" and a cover of his own song, "Samba Pa Ti". He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

Santana made a comeback in 1999 with the release of Supernatural, which included collaborations with Rob Thomas, Eric Clapton and Lauryn Hill. Supernatural was Santana's best-selling album, reaching number one on the Billboard albums chart, and winning nine Grammy Awards.

In 2002, Santana released Shaman , revisiting the Supernatural format of guest artists including P.O.D., Seal, and Michelle Branch.

In 2005, Santana planned to release his latest album All That I Am, due out on June 14, which will include guest artist Mary J. Blige.

Discography

Albums

(by the band Santana unless otherwise stated)

• Live at the Fillmore '68 (released 1997)
• Santana (1969)
• Abraxas (1970)
• 3 (1971)
• Caravanserai (1972)
• Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles Live! (1972; C.S. with Buddy Miles )
• Love Devotion Surrender (1973; C.S. with John McLaughlin)
• Welcome (1973)
• Lotus (1973)
• Illuminations (1974; C.S. with Alice Coltrane)
• Santana's Greatest Hits (1974)
• Borboletta (1974)
• Amigos (1976)
• Festival (1976)
• Moonflower (1977)
• Inner Secrets (1978)
• Oneness: Silver Dreams, Golden Reality (1979; C.S.)
• Marathon (1979)
• Zebop! (1979)
• The Swing of Delight (1980; C.S.)
• Shango (1982)
• Havana Moon (1983; C.S.)
• Beyond Appearance (1985)
• Viva Santana! — The Very Best of Santana (1986)
• Freedom (1987)
• Blues for Salvador (1987; C.S.)
• The Very Best of Santana vols 1 & 2 (1988)
• Persuasion (1989)
• Latin Tropical (1990)
• Spirits Dancing in the Flesh (1990)
• Milagro (1992)
• Nineteen Eight-Six (1993)
• Sacred Fire: Live in South America (1993)
• Soul Sacrifice (1994)
• Santana Brothers (1994; C.S. with Jorge Santana & Carlos Hernandez)
• As Years Go By (1994)
• Santana Jam (1994)
• Every Day I Have the Blues (1994)
• With a Little help from My Friends (1994)
• Jin-Go-La-Ba (1995)
• Dance of the Rainbow Serpent (1995)
• Evil Ways (1997)
• Jingo (1997)
• Between Good and Evil (1998)
• Awakening (1998)
• Supernatural (1999)
• Jingo Maniac (2000; C.S.)
• Mother Earth 2000 (2001)
• Nuclei/2 (2001)
• Shaman (2002)
• Ceremony: Remixes & Rarities (2003)
• Jammin' Home (2004)
• All That I Am (2005)

External links

• Official site