Carlos Santana

Carlos Santana (b. 1947) is an international guitarist and songwriter whose music style embodies an intercultural approach often identified as Latin rock. He was born in Jalisco and raised in Tijuana, where he played violin in mariachi groups as a child with his violinist father in the mid-1950s. After becoming enamored with blues and rock ‘n’ roll, Santana embraced the guitar, which he played in the streets and dance club-strip circuit. In 1963, his family settled in San Francisco, with its diverse cultural and ethnic environment, which inspired him to create a boundary-blurring style rooted in blues, rock, and Afro-Caribbean music. In 1966, the guitarist formed the Santana Blues Band and performed at San Francisco counterculture clubs Fillmore West and Winterland, where the band caught Bill Graham’s attention. In 1969, because of this association, the band performed at Woodstock, appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show, and signed a contract with Columbia Records, resulting in the release of Santana (1969), Abraxas (1970), Santana III (1971), and Caravanserai (1972). Since the 1970s, Santana embarked on an international touring career, collaborated with several musicians including George Benson, Bob Dylan, Tito Puente, Miles Davis, Rubén Blades, José Feliciano, Buddy Guy, Herbie Hancock, B.B. King, John McLaughlin, and Los Lobos, and he embraced Sri Chimnoy’s spiritual teachings. The 1980s were a time of adopting pop music aesthetics with albums such as Zebop (1981) and Shangó (1982). A decade later, Santana won eight GRAMMY® awards for his album Supernatural (1999). Santana, who comes from humble origins and is a member of an underrepresented group in the United States, understands the barriers people must overcome to fulfill their potential. Consequently, he is a passionate activist for a wide range of humanitarian causes, including participation in Live Aid (1985), Amnesty International concert tours (1986), and “Blues for Salvador” (1988), while producing the documentaries Dolores (2017) and Fandango at the Wall: Bringing the United States and Mexico Together (2020) to promote civil rights consciousness. In 1988, Santana and his family established the Milagro Foundation to fund educational, health, and arts programs. Carlos Santana remains one of the few Latin American, Latino, and Chicano musicians to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (1998). As a performing artist, Santana continues to be significant.