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| Birth Name(s) : Carlos Divadip Satana |
Date of Birth: July 20, 1947 |
| Status:
Married
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Partner:
Deborah King Santana |
| Profession:
Musician |
Official Site
Go to the Carlos Santana Official Homepage |
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Full Carlos Santana Biography
At the beginning of a new century and the dawn of a new millennium, Carlos Santana is at the pinnacle of a remarkable recording and performing career. Carlos' music has spanned five decades, outlasted countless musical trends, sold more than fifty million albums, played live to upwards of thirty million fans, and garnered countless awards and honors, including a 1998 induction into the Rock 'n Roll Hall Of Fame. For over thirty years, Santana has been tirelessly creating his own unique fusion of passionate, guitar-powered music, creatively blending potent rock 'n roll with blues-driven elements, sensuous Afro-Cuban rhythms, and infusions of numerous other global music idioms. Long before 'World Music' was coined as a phrase, Santana was making it and popularizing it-perhaps even defining it...and ever since Carlos and his band exploded onto the stage with an electrifying performance at the original 1969 Woodstock Festival, the world has indeed been listening.
Carlos Santana's latest album release, Supernatural, the 36th of his career, spotlights a legendary artist at the peak of his powers. Supernatural has sold in excess of ten million copies, and has been officially certified 'Dectillion Platinum' - Diamond Status-by the R.I.A.A. It won nine GRAMMYs at the 42nd Annual GRAMMY Awards in February 2000, including Album Of the Year, Best Rock Album, and Record Of The Year and Song Of The Year for 'Smooth,' Santana's unforgettable collaboration with alternative-rock favorite Matchbox Twenty's Rob Thomas. In 1999 anyone on the planet with a radio couldn't help but feel the sultry groove of this Latin flavored, mid-tempo rock masterpiece. Carlos explains that "Some songs are just like tattoos for your brain...you hear them and they're affixed to you"-'Smooth' proved its staying power with a record 12 consecutive weeks at #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, making it the longest running #1 single of 1999.
Supernatural's second single, 'Maria, Maria,' co-written by Wyclef Jean (of The Fugees and solo fame) and featuring on vocals, The Product G & B is an infectious Spanish-textured stroll fusing Latin, African and pan-Caribbean sounds-its multi-genre appeal won it ten weeks in the top slot on the Hot 100 as well as a GRAMMY for Best Performance By A Duo or Group With Vocals. This eclectic tour de force album also guest stars multiple-GRAMMY winning artist Lauryn Hill, the legendary Eric Clapton, Dave Matthews, Everlast, Eagle Eye Cherry, and Maná, among others. Supernatural, well, supernatually bridges cultural, generational and musical realms, forging multi-dimensional, multi-cultural creative partnerships. Carlos says that "Every musician who participated was on the same wavelength and artistic energy as I was...Supernatual is a beautiful example of synchronicity...making it was a truly glorious experience." The album was Santana's 1999 debut for Arista Records, where Carlos was reunited with mentor Clive Davis thirty years after originally signing his very first major label contract with the executive at Columbia in 1969. The result is an instantly classic, powerhouse collection of incredibly diverse songs and soulful vibes united by the spirit and musical passion of Carlos Santana.
This most recent success is a tremendous high point of an artistic journey that began some fifty years ago in the Mexican village of Autlan, where at age five, Carlos was introduced to 'traditional music,' by his father Jose, an accomplished mariachi violinist. The family moved to the border boom town of Tijuana in 1955, where Carlos seriously took up guitar, studying and emulating the sounds of B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, T. Bone Walker and other greats he heard on the radio. As much as he was inspired by the early training he received from his father in traditional musical form and theory, Carlos soon realized his dream was to break free and play rock 'n roll. He began performing with local bands like The T.J.s, adding his own personal flair to the popular songs of the 1950s. As he continued playing with different bands up and down the bustling 'Tijuana Strip,' Carlos Santana began to hone his considerable skills and invent his inimitable sound.
In 1961, he moved Stateside to San Francisco, joining his family, who had relocated there the previous year. Destiny had most certainly brought Carlos to the right place at the right time, planting him smack in the middle of the of the burgeoning and hugely influential Bay Area music scene...as well as in an era-defining melting pot of cultural, political, and artistic change. In this climate, Carlos continued to evolve his unique, genre-bending style, and in 1966, he took his music to the people with the debut performance of the Santana Blues Band. For the next two years, the group was swept up in a whirlwind of acclaim and popularity that carried them from the boards of Bill Graham's historic Fillmore West to the main stage at the epochal Woodstock 'Peace, Love, Music' Festival, where on August 16, 1969, the Santana band's gale-force Latin-flavored rock was delivered to the masses.
Today, millions of fans, new and old, enjoy the work of this extraordinary musician, both through his extensive catalogue repertoire and via the phenomenal impact of Supernatural and its accompanying world tour. Just as Carlos Santana brought the work of Latin music icon Tito Puente to a new generation of rock fans in 1970, he now completes the circle by introducing his massive world music following to an exciting line-up of rock, pop and hip hop personalities via Supernatural's dynamic roster. More than three decades into his career, Carlos Santana is more vital and relevant than ever, one of the biggest musical forces on the planet. His work unites our global village, transcending cultural, genre, and language barriers...its soul-stirring celebration of life, spirit, brotherhood and diversity is as powerful as its creator's magical guitar virtuosity. Carlos Santana is a jubilant 21st century man, and like the new century, he's just getting started. |
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Additional Carlos Santana Biography
Carlos Augusto Alves Santana (born July 20, 1947), is a Grammy Award-winning Mexican-born American Latin rock musician and guitarist.
After a while the name of the band was known simply as "Santana", dropping 'Blues Band' from their title. At this time the group's lineup consisted of Carlos Santana, Rolie, David Brown on bass, Bob 'Doc' Livingston on drums, and Marcus Malone on percussion. Promoter Bill Graham heard them and let them perform at the Fillmore (later Fillmore West). Santana's recording debut occurred as a guest on The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper.
When Caravanserai did emerge in 1972, It marked a strong change in musical direction towards jazz fusion. The album received critical praise, but CBS executive Clive Davis warned Santana and the band that it would sabotage the band's position as a top forty act, even though over the years the album would achieve platinum status. The difficulties Santana and the band went through during this period were chronicled in writer Ben Fong-Torres' Rolling Stone cover story; "The Resurrection of Carlos Santana".
Around this time Santana met Deborah King, whom he later married in 1973. She is the daughter of the late blues singer and guitarist Saunders King. They have three children: Salvador, Stella and Angelica. Together with wife Deborah, Santana founded a nonprofit organization called "The Milagro Foundation" that provides financial aid for educational, medical and other needs.
Supernatural and the different tracks on it then won nine Grammy Awards (eight for Santana personally), including Album of the Year, Record of the Year for "Smooth", and Song of the Year for Thomas and Itaal Shur. Santana's acceptance speeches described his feelings about music's place in one's spiritual existence.
In 2002, Santana released Shaman, revisiting the Supernatural format of guest artists including P.O.D., Seal, and others. Although the album was not the runaway success its predecessor had been, it still produced two radio-friendly hits: the infectious "The Game of Love" featuring Michelle Branch which reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent many weeks at the top of the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart; and "Why Don't You & I" written by and featuring Chad Kroeger from the group Nickelback (the original and a remix with Alex Band from the group The Calling were combined towards chart performance) which reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100. "The Game of Love" went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.
In August 2003, Santana was named fifteenth on Rolling Stone magazine's "List of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". In 2004, the magazine ranked him #90 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
Santana's album All That I Am (2005) followed the format of Supernatural and Shaman, consisting primarily of collaborations with other artists; the first single, the peppy "I'm Feeling You", was again with Michelle Branch and The Wreckers. The song "Just Feel Better" featured Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. Another song on the album, "Trinity," featured Santana collaborating with Kirk Hammett of Metallica and Robert Randolph of Robert Randolph & the Family Band. "Cry Baby Cry" features hip-hop/reggae icon Sean Paul, as well as R&B singer, Joss Stone.
In April and May 2006 he started a tour in Europe where he promoted the band of his son Salvador Santana as his opening act.
In 2007, Santana appeared, along with Sheila E. and Jose Feliciano, on Gloria Estefan's new album 90 Millas, on the single "No Llores".
Santana currently endorses PRS Guitars. He uses a Santana II model guitar using PRS Santana III pickups without covers (the black & white "zebra" coils are visible) and a tremolo, with .09-.42 gauge D'Addario strings. His Signature Series models vary greatly from this in some cases, such as the Santana SE and Santana III guitars (which have ceased production). The Santana III has covered pickups instead, and no abalone stringers between the pickups (a feature unique to his official guitar). The Santana SE guitar has 22 frets, no tremolo, a basic sunburst top, and a pickguard.
Santana's guitar necks and fretboards are constructed out of a single solid piece of Brazilian Rosewood, instead of the more traditional mahogany neck/indian rosewood fretboard combination found in stock Santana models and other PRS guitars. The Brazilian Rosewood helps create the smooth, singing, glass-like tone that he is famous for.
Santana claims to have come up with the idea of a sustain control (the splitting of Gain & Master Volume controls) for the Mesa Boogie . He also put the Boogie in Mesa Boogie: 'Santana exclaimed to Smith, "Shit, man. That little thing really Boogies!" It was this statement that brought the Boogie name to fruition.' |
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Carlos Santana Quote(s)
| First of all, the music that people call Latin or Spanish is really African. So Black people need to get the credit for that. Number two, Latin people are very passionate, and the music that we love is definitely Afro-rooted--whether it's Bob Marley or Afro-Cuban or Brazilian--because it deals with rhythms. |
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