Carlos Santana

Musician

• Born: July 20, 1947
• Place of Birth: Autlán de Navarro, Jalisco, Mexico

MEXICAN-BORN MUSICIAN

The music of Santana, a legendary rock guitarist, is a testament to the ideals of a multicultural society, demonstrating that multiple races, ethnic groups, and musical styles can coexist harmoniously.

AREAS OF ACHIEVEMENT: Music; activism

Early Life

Carlos Santana was born Carlos Augusto Alves Santana on July 20, 1947, in Autlán de Navarro, Mexico, the son of José and Josefina Santana. Santana came from a musical family, and as a child he learned violin from his father. In addition to being trained in the works of Ludwig von Beethoven and other classical composers, Santana learned about music through his live performances, which ranged from accompanying his father on traditional mariachi music to playing blues guitar at Tijuana cabarets patronized by American tourists.

In 1963 Santana’s family immigrated to the United States, settling in San Francisco. The move created a threefold sense of displacement in Santana. As a student he faced a language barrier that adversely affected his academic performance in core subjects. He also was unable to line up steady musical gigs, and his preference for African American blues fused with Mexican-influenced music was incompatible with the surf-rock sound embraced by his peers. Despite the struggle of readjusting to a radically different environment, Santana graduated from Mission High School in 1965. The following year, he organized a group of musicians originally named the Santana Blues Band and later simply named Santana. Over the years, the members of Santana changed, but the composition of its musicians remained multiracial, multiethnic, and occasionally multigendered.

Life’s Work

Concert promoter Bill Graham played an important role in Santana’s early career. Through Graham’s efforts, the band made its live debut at the Fillmore West theater in San Francisco on June 16, 1968. Graham also persuaded organizers of the 1969 Woodstock Music and Arts Festival to include Santana on the program. The band performed a seven-song set on August 16, the second day of the festival. This appearance gave a significant boost to the careers of both the band and Carlos Santana himself, as they were introduced to an audience of about half a million people. At this time, the band’s members were a mix of Anglo, Latino, and African American musicians, including drummer Michael Shrieve; organist and lead vocalist Greg Rolie; bass player David Brown; conga player Mike Carabello, a Puerto Rican; conga and timbale player José Chepitó Areas, from Nicaragua; as well as lead guitarist Carlos Santana. The band’s music was a unique blend of Mississippi Delta blues, San Francisco Bay Area rock, Memphis soul, and Latin jazz.

This early incarnation of Santana produced three classic albums: Santana (1969), Abraxas (1970), and Santana III (1971), which provided some of the first examples of mainstream Latin-influenced rock. Tracks like "Oye Como Va" established the band's distinctive sound and became some of Santana's best-known songs. The self-titled debut album Santana received a boost from a tour and the high-profile Woodstock performance, while Abraxas and Santana III both hit number one on the charts. Early success, however, created friction among band’s members, some of whom left the group. Carlos Santana retained the rights to use the name "Santana," and he changed personnel and musical direction, abandoning a Top Forty format for more serene Latin jazz, with traces of soft rock and middle-of-the-road soul.

In his personal life Santana embarked upon many spiritual quests, ranging from the Roman Catholic heritage of his family to the idealism of the 1960s counterculture, ancient Indian philosophy, and Christianity. In 1972, Santana, through musician John McLaughlin, was introduced to guru Sri Chinmoy. As a disciple of the guru, Carlos embraced a lifestyle of spiritual disciplines, including meditation and alternative dietary practices. Chinmoy gave Santana an honorary name, Devadip, which means “the eye, the lamp, and the light of God.” His spiritual quest became evident in the musical direction of his second trilogy of recordings: Caravansari (1972), Welcome (1973), and Borboletta (1974). The release of these albums coincided with the official end of the 1960s, the closing of the Fillmore East venue, and major shifts in the band’s musical direction and personnel.

In 1973 Santana established the Milagro Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides financial assistance for the education and medical needs of children. That same year, he married Deborah King. The couple had three children, Salvador, Stella, and Angelica, before they divorced in 2008.

From the late 1970s to the late 1990s, Santana's solo albums and efforts with his eponymous band received favorable reviews, but it enjoyed only a few modest hits. Changing tastes in popular music resulted in waning popularity and declining record sales. During these years Carlos became increasingly active in political causes for peace and social justice and was an advocate for human rights, fighting world hunger, and world peace. In 1982, Santana parted ways with Chinmoy because the musician could not reconcile his guru’s teachings with his personal life. He increasingly viewed Chinmoy’s rules, such as being forbidden to have children even within the context of marriage, as irrational.

With some help from Graham, Santana was one of the featured acts at the 1985 Live Aid concert, which raised funds for famine relief in East Africa. He also performed at the Amnesty International Concert in 1986. Carlos Santana and several of his former bandmates were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

After consistently declining record sales over a twenty-year period, the 1999 release of Supernatural was a breakthrough in Carlos’s musical career. It featured contributions and guest appearances from a wide range of artists, including fellow blues-rock guitarist Eric Clapton and younger musicians such as Lauryn Hill, Rob Thomas, and Dave Matthews. The album sold twenty-five million copies to attain multiplatinum-sales status, and it received Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Rock Album. Several of the songs on the album also were honored, with "Smooth" receiving three Grammys, including Best Record of the Year, and the songs "Maria, Maria," "The Calling," and "El Farol" each obtaining a Grammy. Ironically, the success Carlos enjoyed in his fifties far exceeded that of his post-Woodstock period.

Along with the triumph of Supernatural came an expanded fan base across both racial barriers and generational lines. Santana's subsequent albums, though not as hugely successful, sold well and continued to bring critical acclaim. 2002's Shaman contained another Grammy-winning song, a collaboration with Michelle Branch titled "The Game of Love." All That I Am (2005) further established Santana as one of the most popular rock guitarists of the day and an innovative collaborator across genres ranging from reggae to metal to hip-hop. He married his bandmember Cindy Blackman in 2010. The album Shape Shifter followed in 2012 and the Spanish-language release Corazón came in 2014. He continued to tour steadily as well, often playing large stadiums and theaters packed with the fans that had made Santana a household name.

Santana worked with the Isley Brothers on the album The Power of Peace, which was published in 2017. In 2020, the artist's planned tour was cancelled due to COVID-19. In 2023, he was the subject of the documentary "Carlos."

Significance

Contrary to most of his contemporaries, whose successes peaked early in their careers and then waned, Carlos Santana’s greatest commercial success occurred thirty years after his band’s debut album and his critical acclaim endured throughout. Supernatural ranks among the best-selling recordings of all time in all musical genres. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Santana had become a household name, and his popularity transcended cultures and generations. In 2023 Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at number eleven on its list of the two-hundred-fifty greatest guitarists of all time. He became one of the few Latin Americans in the music industry to reach the pinnacle of success, and he has served as a role model for many younger musicians of all races and ethnicities.

Bibliography

"Carlos Santana Biography." Santana. Santana Management, 2014. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.

"Carlos Santana Collapses on Stage Due to a 'Severe' Medical Emergency.'" Datebook, 7 July 2022, datebook.sfchronicle.com/music/carlos-santana-collapses-on-stage-due-to-a-severe-medical-emergency. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.

Leng, Simon. Soul Sacrifice: The Santana Story. London: Firefly, 2000. Print.

Ruhlmann, William. "Carlos Santana: Biography." AllMusic. AllMusic, 2016. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.

"Santana Biography." Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, 2016. Web. 29 Mar. 2016.

Santana, Deborah. Space Between the Stars: My Journey to an Open Heart. One World/Ballantine, 2006. Print.

Shapiro, Marc. Carlos Santana: Back on Top. New York: St. Martin’s, 2000. Print.