Carlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican-American musician. He first became famous with his band named Santana, which pioneered a fusion of rock and Latin American music.
Background
Musician Carlos Santana was born on July 20, 1947, in Autlán de Navarro, Mexico. His father, Jose, was an accomplished professional violinist, and as a child Carlos learned to play the instrument from his father, though he ultimately didn't enjoy the tones he created. He would eventually take up the electric guitar, for which he developed an ardent passion.
In 1955, the family moved from Autlán de Navarro to Tijuana, the border city between Mexico and California. As a teenager, Santana began performing in Tijuana strip clubs, inspired by the American rock & roll and blues music of artists like B.B. King, Ray Charles and Little Richard. In the early 1960s, Santana moved again with his family, this time to San Francisco, where his father had already relocated to find work. Carlos became a naturalized American citizen in 1965.
Education
Carlos Santana attended James Lick Middle School. In 1965 he graduated from Mission High School.
Carlos was accepted into the California State University, Northridge and Humboldt State University, but turned down both of the offers.
Santana began playing the violin at age five; by age eight, however, he had switched to the guitar. As a teenager, he played in bands in Tijuana, Mexico, where he was exposed not only to the local norteño music but to blues, especially to guitarists T-Bone Walker and B.B. King. Although his family moved to San Francisco in the 1960s, Santana returned frequently to Tijuana. Influenced by the San Francisco Bay Area’s burgeoning rock scene, in 1966 he formed the Santana Blues Band, which came to the attention of rock music impresario Bill Graham. The band began performing at the legendary club Fillmore West, and, though largely unknown, it triumphed at the Woodstock festival in 1969.
Signed to Columbia, Santana’s band - by then known as Santana, “Blues Band” having been dropped from the name - released a series of hit albums that infused rock with a Latin feel rooted in Afro-Cuban rhythms and that centered on Carlos’s extraordinary lead guitar playing, characterized by the distinctive sustaining of individual notes that became his trademark. Santana, featuring the top-10 hit “Evil Ways,” peaked at number four on the album charts in 1969. Abraxas, with the hits “Black Magic Woman” and “Oye Como Va,” reached number one the next year. Santana III (1971) and Caravanserai (1972) followed.
Over the next two decades, however, the group’s output was more uneven - and less commercially successful - as Santana led ever-shifting personnel toward a jazz-rock fusion that reflected his admiration for Miles Davis and John Coltrane and resulted in collaborations with jazz artists such as Buddy Miles, Stanley Clarke, and John McLaughlin. Having earlier shown an interest in spirituality, particularly the philosophy of Sri Chinmoy, Santana became a born-again Christian in 1992. Meditation and mysticism became central to his life, and he began to see himself as a musical shaman whose pursuit of songs that offered hope and healing culminated in Supernatural (1999). Supernatural - crafted with the support of such notable collaborators as pop rocker Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty, hip-hop luminary Lauryn Hill, fellow guitar legend Eric Clapton, and former Arista Records head Clive Davis - helped Santana launch an important comeback. In 2000 he won three Latin Grammy and eight Grammy awards - including album of the year for Supernatural and song of the year for “Smooth.”
Among the band’s later releases were the albums Shaman (2002), which won a Grammy for “The Game of Love”; All That I Am (2005); Corazón (2014); and Santana IV (2016). “Dar um jeito (We Will Find a Way),” a collaboration with Wyclef Jean, was the official anthem of the 2014 World Cup. In 2017 Santana and R&B legends the Isley Brothers released Power of Peace.
In the fall of 2014 Carlos Santana released his memoir “The Universal Tone: Bringing My Story to Light” which offers a page-turning tale of musical self-determination and inner self-discovery, with personal stories filled with colorful detail and life-affirming lessons. It’s a profoundly inspiring tale of divine inspiration and musical fearlessness that does not balk at finding the humor in the world of high-flying fame, or at speaking plainly of Santana’s personal revelations and the infinite possibility he sees in each person he meets.
In 2016, Carlos reunited with the revered early ’70s Santana lineup to release an album entitled: ‘Santana IV.’ The album debuted at #5 on Billboard’s Top 200 Chart, #2 on Billboard’s Top Current Chart, #2 on Billboard’s Rock Chart, and #1 on Billboard’s Independent Albums Chart. This album marks Santana’s fourteenth Top 10 album.
In 2017, Carlos Santana and Cindy Blackman Santana joined forces with The Isley Brothers (Ronald and Ernie) to release Power of Peace, an album celebrating the timeless sounds of funk, soul, blues, rock, jazz, and pop. Santana is currently headlining a multi-year residency at House of Blues at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.
Beyond music, in the lifestyle and entertainment realm, River Of Colors (ROC) has enjoyed tremendous success with the Carlos by Carlos Santana and Unity by Carlos Santana brand names. Founded in 1997, ROC is dedicated to bringing products to market that embody the passion and integrity of Carlos Santana-and that are true to his distinctive style and taste. ROC’s endeavors encompass products including shoes, handbags, headwear, eyewear and sparkling wine, as well as signature musical instruments including electric guitars and hand percussion instruments. ROC products are distributed at better retail stores internationally.
In 2014, Santana published his memoir The Universal Tone: Bringing My Story to Light. "I'm not Latino, or Spanish; what I am is a child of light," the musician said in an NPR interview. "I want this book for people to understand that you don't have to be the Dalai Lama, or the Pope, or Mother Teresa, or Jesus Christ to create blessings and miracles."
“I love Jesus, but I don’t buy into the guilt, shame, judgment, condemn and fear. I think that’s Godzilla God. God is love. It’s not Godzilla, you know.” - Carlos Santana
Politics
Carlos executive produced the Peter Bratt-directed documentary film DOLORES, about the life and work of Dolores Huerta, who is among the most important, yet least known, activists in American history. An equal partner in co-founding the first farm workers unions with Cesar Chavez, her enormous contributions have gone largely unrecognized. Dolores tirelessly led the fight for racial and labor justice alongside Chavez, becoming one of the most defiant feminists of the twentieth century-and she continues the fight to this day, at 87. With intimate and unprecedented access to this intensely private mother to eleven, the film reveals the raw, personal stakes involved in committing one’s life to social change.
Views
The arc of Santana’s performing and recording career is complemented by a lifelong devotion to social activism and humanitarian causes. The Milagro Foundation, originally established by Carlos Santana and his family in 1998, has granted more than seven million dollars to non-profit programs supporting underserved children and youth in the areas of arts, education and health. Milagro means “miracle,” and the image of children as divine miracles of light and hope-gifts to our lives-is the inspiration behind its name.
Carlos has a charitable front too. He has actively involved in San Francisco Earthquake Relief, Doctors Without Borders, Indigenous People Fund, Hispanic Media & Education Group, Amnesty International, LA Museum of Tolerance, and many such causes.
He had also spent all his profits earned from Shaman tour, to provide funds for AIDS patients.
Quotations:
“My mom would say 'OK, we're poor, but we're not dirty and filthy, clean the house. She would say, 'What are you doing?' And if you say 'nothing,' 'I know! Make yourself useful. Don't just sit there like a lump. Do something.'”
“I was drawn to music just by watching everybody, children, older people, and especially women looking at my dad. Every time he played, women were like, 'Oh Don Jose,' you know? And I'm like 'Ooh, Don Jose?! I want some of that.' I didn't know what to call it, but I know that now we call it 'being adored.' I love that dimension of music more than anything, you know? To adore supreme integrity and elegance, I want that.”
“...I could tell that, like my father, I could tell a story that universally would be received because that’s what a real musician is. He’s a storyteller and you tell the story and you remind people of their own forgotten song, because everyone has a forgotten song.”
“Music is a healing force because it reminds people on a molecular structure of your own divinity - your own luminosity. We are holy, sacred and divine.”
"The most valuable possession you can own is an open heart. The most powerful weapon you can be is an instrument of peace."
"Peace has never come from dropping bombs. Real peace comes from enlightenment and educating people to behave more in a divine manner."
"Some songs are just like tattoos for your brain... you hear them and they're affixed to you."
"Most people are prisoners, thinking only about the future or living in the past. They are not in the present, and the present is where everything begins."
"If our history can challenge the next wave of musicians to keep moving and changing, to keep spiritually hungry and horny, that's what it's all about."
"First of all, the music that people call Latin or Spanish is really African. So Black people need to get the credit for that."
Membership
The Milagro Foundation
,
United States
Personality
Delivered with a level of passion and soul equal to the legendary sonic charge of his guitar, the sound of Carlos Santana is one of the world’s best-known musical signatures. For more than four decades-from Santana’s earliest days as a groundbreaking Afro-Latin-blues-rock fusion outfit in San Francisco-Carlos has been the visionary force behind artistry that transcends musical genres and generational, cultural and geographical boundaries.
Long before the category now known as “world music” was named, Santana’s ever-evolving sound was always ahead of its time in its universal appeal, and today registers as ideally in sync with the 21st century’s pan-cultural landscape. And, with a dedication to humanitarian outreach and social activism that parallels his lifelong relationship with music, Carlos Santana is as much an exemplary world citizen as a global music icon.
Physical Characteristics:
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Dark Brown
Interests
meditation, fashion design
Philosophers & Thinkers
Mother Teresa
Politicians
Mahatma Gandhi, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Che Guevara
Writers
"The Fifth Agreement" by Don Miguel Ruiz, "End your story begin your life" by Jim Dreaver, "The Keys of Enoch" by JJ Hurtak, "The Body of Light" by Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki, "A Course in Miracles" by Foundation for Inner Peace, "A Mini Course for Life" by Gerald Jampolsky, M.D. and Diane Cirincione, PH.D, "The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment" by Eckhart Tolle, "Nothing in This Book Is True, But It’s Exactly How Things Are" by Bob Frissell
Artists
Salvador Dali
Music & Bands
latin rock, chicano rock, rock, blues rock, funk, jazz fusion, tejano music, salsa, pop, free jazz, Jimi Hendrix, Mike Bloomfield, Peter Green, Bob Marley, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Kenny Garrett, Fritz Reiner, John McLaughlin
Connections
Carlos Santana lived in Marin County, California, with his wife, Deborah, whom he married in 1973, and their three children, Salvador, Stella and Angelica. On October 19, 2007, he and his wife filed for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences."
Carlos Santana became engaged to drummer Cindy Blackman, a member of his band who's previously worked with Lenny Kravitz, in July 2010. The two were married in December of that year.
1988 - Best Rock Instrumental Performance (Orchestra, Group Or Soloist), Blues for Salvador, Carlos Santana
2000 - Record of the Year, "Smooth" (with Rob Thomas); Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals; Album of the Year, Supernatural; Best Rock Album; Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, "Maria Maria" (with the Product G&B); Best Pop Instrumental Performance, "El Farol"; Best Rock Instrumental Performance, "The Calling" (with Eric Clapton); Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group, "Put Your Lights On" (with Everlast)
2003 - Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, "The Game of Love" (with Michelle Branch)
1988 - Best Rock Instrumental Performance (Orchestra, Group Or Soloist), Blues for Salvador, Carlos Santana
2000 - Record of the Year, "Smooth" (with Rob Thomas); Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals; Album of the Year, Supernatural; Best Rock Album; Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, "Maria Maria" (with the Product G&B); Best Pop Instrumental Performance, "El Farol"; Best Rock Instrumental Performance, "The Calling" (with Eric Clapton); Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group, "Put Your Lights On" (with Everlast)
2003 - Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, "The Game of Love" (with Michelle Branch)
Record of the Year,
America
"Smooth" 2000
"Smooth" 2000
Latin Grammy Awards,
United States
2000 - Record of the Year, "Corazón Espinado" (featuring Maná); Best Rock Vocal Performance, Duo or Group; Best Pop Instrumental Performance, "El Farol"
2000 - Record of the Year, "Corazón Espinado" (featuring Maná); Best Rock Vocal Performance, Duo or Group; Best Pop Instrumental Performance, "El Farol"