Carlos Santana – Topping The Charts From The 1960’s Until 2000

Carlos Santana was born in 1947 and became a Mexican and American music artist in 1965. He is most well known for the time spent with his band, Santana. The band was a widely popular rock and Latin American jazz combination. Many of the songs performed by the band would combine guitar played by Carlos Santana with various instruments, such as congas and timbales. At the time, it was an entirely unique sound in the rock music genre.

Carlos Santana and his band have both won several awards. He has received 10 Grammy Awards, 3 Latin Grammy Awards, and was 20th on the Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 greatest guitar players of all time. He released 7 studio albums as a soloist with an additional 24 studio albums released by the band Santana. Many of those albums went platinum multiple times and in multiple countries.

The Beginning Of Santana

Carlos learned to play guitar at a young age and immediately began playing with various bands located on the Tijuana Strip. During his time playing there, he began to develop his own personal style. Carlos often liked to put a unique spin on the 1950’s rock and roll bands that help inspire him. While on the strip, he would learn about many other musical styles that would later shape the sounds of his band.

Carlos did not decide to approach music as a full-time career until 1966. He found himself as a temporary musician in a well-known band that was missing one of its players. While filling the role of the missing guitarist Carlos Santana impressed the audience as well as the musical promoter, Bill Graham.

It was shortly afterward that he formed the Santana Blues Band. The original members included Marcus Malone on percussion, David Brown playing bass guitar, and Gregg Roli playing the organ and as lead vocalist. The band was eventually signed by the Columbia label and the name was shortened to Santana. Santana’s band would then release several albums that were all hugely popular and often topped the album charts.

Later, in 1969, the band was resigned by CBS records. A new drummer, Mike Shrieve, was brought into the band while Marcus Malone was forced to leave. The band made a few more changes and then eventually made an appearance at the Woodstock Music and Art Festival. This was followed by the release of their first album under the CBS label, Santana, in 1969.

The band would release a number of albums over the following years. They would eventually disband, reform again with new members, and then disband yet again.

Stepping Into The 1990’s

Santana returned to the spotlight again during the 1990’s. He released an album in 1990, another in 1992, a third in 1993, and a fourth in 1994. However, the albums did not top the charts and overall sales were suffering. It wasn’t until he signed with Artista Records and recorded a new album with popular bands at the time that Santana returned to stardom.

The album was entitled Supernature and featured musical artists that were topping the charts at the time, such as Cee Lo Green, Everlast, and Matchbox Twenty. His work with these artists took Santana back to the top of the music charts. His largest success at the time was Smooth, which featured the vocals of Rob Thomas over the melodic guitar of Santana.

Today, Carlos Santana is still a well known and widely respected musician. Many people listened to his music in the 1960’s and then were reintroduced again in the 1990’s. Both times, he managed to blend unique guitar playing with popular sounds of the day.