Carlos Santana Biography, Photos and Posters

Carlos Santana

Biography

Born: July, 20 1947
City and Country of Origin: Autlán de Navarro, Jalisco, Mexico
Music Training: the son of a mariachi violinist he learned the violin as a boy switching to the guitar at 8
Awards: 1998 inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; Grammy 2002 Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals-Carlos Santana & Michelle Branch, "The Game Of Love;" 1999 Record Of The Year, "Smooth;" Album Of The Year, Supernatural; Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal, "Maria Maria;" Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals, "Smooth;" Best Pop Instrumental Performance, "El Farol;" Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal, "Put Your Lights On;" Best Rock Instrumental Performance, "The Calling;" Best Rock Album, Supernatural; 1988 Best Rock Instrumental Performance (Orchestra, Group Or Soloist), "Blues For Salvador"
Top Recordings: "Evil Ways," "Black Magic Woman," "Oye Como Va," "Everybody's Everything," "No One to Depend On," "Smooth," "Maria Maria," "The Game of Love" "Why Don't You and I"
Carlos Santana Biography: Carlos Augusto Alves Santana is the son of Jose Santana and Josefina Barragan. He has 2 brothers and 4 sisters. Young Carlos learned to play the violin as a young boy, but switched to the guitar at the age of 8 performing ocassionally with his father who was a mariachi violinist. After the family moved to Tijuana young Carlos became interested in American Blues, R&B, and Rock & Roll. He played bass and guitar in local Tijuana strip clubs and bars and stayed behind for a while after his family moved to San Francisco, but joined them at the age of 13.

He was not interested in school and ran away several times. He disliked the pop sounds of groups like The Beach Boys and Jan and Dean. His family finally convinced him that an education was necessary and he finally was graduated from Mission High School in 1965. He worked as a diswasher to help support his family and grew fond of the shows at Bill Graham's Fillmore Auditorium often sneaking in to watch. In 1966 guitarist Tom Frazier formed a new rock band which included Carlos Santana (guitar/vocals), Mike Carabello (percussion), Rod Harper (drums), Gus Rodriguez (bass guitar), and Seattle native Gregg Rolie (organ/vocals). They called the new band the Santana Blues Band. He was never considered the leader of the group even though the band used his name, this was due to local musician union regulations. The band would eventually become known as just Santana.

In time Bill Graham heard about the group and let them perform at the Fillmore West. At this time the grup consisted of Carlos, Rolie, with David Brown on bass, Bob 'Doc' Livingston on drums, and Marcus Malone on percussion. Since neither Carlos nor Rolie had much of an interest in Latin music, it is often speculated where their sound had its roots. It seems that Carlos had become a fan of Bay Area jazz guitarist Gabor Szabo who featured conga drums in his performance and he liked the sight of the girls gyrating to their beat.

The group was signed by Columbia Records and after their first recording session decided that the group needed to be reworked. This led to the dismissal of Livingston. He was replaced by Michael Shrieve who had a strong background in both jazz and rock. Personal problems forced Marcus Malone to quit the band and the band re-enlisted Michael Carabello. Carabello brought with him percussionist Jose 'Chepito' Areas who was already well known in his native Nicaragua, who brought much needed professional experience.

On the suggestion of Bill Graham the Woodstock Music and Art Festival allowed them to appear even before the release of their first album. Their appearance bacame legendary and the inclucsion in th efilm of the 11 minute instrumental "Soul Sacrifice" brought them even more exposure. Graham gave the group even more advice telling them to record "Evil Ways" as it would get them much air time. Their first album simply named Santana was a huge hit climbing to number 4 on the album charts and "Evil Ways" became number 1 on the Billboard hot 100.

The 1970 album release Abraxas brought the group to the peak of its early success reaching number 1 on the album charts and the single "Black Magic Woman" released from the album reached number 4 while the Tito Puente composition "Oye Como Va" climbed all the way to number 13. It was at this point that Rolie and Carlos began moving in different musical directions. Rolie and the rest of the group wanted to place the emphasis of their music on hard rock while Carlos wanted to develop a more jazzy sound.

In 1971 San Francisco Bay Area guitar prodigy, Neal Schon was asked to join the band. Chepito Areas rejoined the band after recuperating from his illness and the group was also joined by Coke Escovedo in the percussion section. With the help of Luis Gasca of Malo and friends the group recorded the album Santana 3 which hit number 1 on the album charts and spawned hit singles "Everybody's Everything" and "No One to Depend On." However, substance abuse and growing tension over the musical direction of the band led to further splintering. Michael Carabello left the band as did David Brown.

For the bands next album, the 1972 release of Caravanserai. Carlos recruited James Mingo Lewis and Latin-Jazz veteran, Armando Peraza to replace Michael Carabello, and bassists Tom Rutley and Doug Rauch to replace David Brown. Meanwhile the tension took an even greater toll on the group as co-founder Gregg Rolie left the group, to open a restaurant in Seattle with his father, as did Neal Schon. They both would later join up with the newly formed band Journey. The album reflected Carlos' desire to take the band in a more jazz oriented direction and although it received critical praise Carlos was warned by CBS executive Clive Davis that it would jeopardize the groups' position as a top 40 act.

In 1972 Carlos became a big fan of the The Mahavishnu Orchestra which would eventually lead him to becoming a disciple of Sri Chinmoy. One result of this union was a joint album between members of Santana and The Mahavishnu Orchestra called ,"Love, Devotion, Surrender." In 73 Carlos obtained the legal rights to the name Santana and formed a new version of Santana. This one featured Armando Peraza and Chepito Areas on percussion, Doug Rauch on bass, Micheal Shrieve on drums, with Tom Coster and Richard Kermode on keyboards.

Carlos would eventually end his relationship with Chinmoy in 1982. Although the band tried to produce commercially successful recordings during the 80s, tastes in music had changed and the groups record sales began to sag. The singles "Winning" in 1981 and "Hold On" in 1982 both made the top twenty. The 1986 album Freedom once again brought back Buddy Miles after his release from incarceration on drug charges, but album sales were sluggish.

In 1990 Carlos left Columbia Records and signed with Polygram, but poor sales led to his being without a recording contract in the early 90s. It was then that Arista REcords Clive Davis who had worked with Carlos at Columbia signed him and urged him to work with mostly young artists. The first result of this effort was the album Supernatural which included collaborations with Bobby Martin, Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20, Eric Clapton, Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, Maná, Dave Matthews, and others. The first single realesed from this album "Smooth" spent 12 weeks at the top of the Billboard hot 100. The follow up single "Maria Maria" spent 10 weeks at the top of the charts in 2000. Supernatural went on to sell 15 million copies and became Carlos' most critically acclaimed album garnering him 8 Grammys.

The 2002 recording of Shaman would prove not as successful as his prior effort, but did produce the single "The Game of Love" with Michelle Branch which reached number 5 on the hot 100 charts and spent many weeks at the top of the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. "Why Don't You and I" a collaboration Chad Kroeger from Nickelback or Alex Band from The Calling peaked at number 8.

In 2005 Herbie Hancock sought out Carlos to produce an album similar to Supernatural. The result was Possibilities. All That I Am also in 2005 was similar in content to Supernatural and Shaman. In 2006 he embarked on a tour of Europe wiht his son Salvador Santana as his opening act.

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