Carlos Santana By: Lauren Tysinger

Carlos Augusto Alves Santana (in the beginning…) * born on July 20, 1947 to Jose and Josefina Santana in Autlán de Navarro, Jalisco, Mexico * his father was a mariachi violinist and that motivated Carlos to learn the violin, but switched to the guitar when he was 8 (and little did he know he would become a famous guitarist and a talented musician later on in life) * his family moved from Tijuana and that’s when Santana began to play in clubs and bars; he stayed in behind when his family moved to San Francisco, California, but joined them in 1961 at the age of 13 * Carlos attended Mission High School in California when coming to the states and graduated but he didn’t attend college

(the recordings/tour/chaos…) * At the end of 1966, Tom Frazier (who now plays guitar) wanted to form a new rock band. He joined Carlos Santana (plays guitar/vocals), Mike Carabello (plays percussion), Rod Harper (plays drums), Gus Rodrigues (plays bass guitar), and Gregg Rolie (plays organ/vocals), to form the Santana Blues Band (the name was later shorten to Santana) * Bill Graham, a promoter, saw them and wanted the band to play public for the first time in June 1968 at the legendary Fillmore (now known as Fillmore West) (the recordings/tour/chaos…) * Santana signed with Columbia Records in 1969 and soon released an instrumental album, Santana. The group had changed a little and now had Carlos Santana (guitar), Gregg Rolie (keyboards and vocals), David Brown (bass guitar), Michael Shrieve (drums), José "Chepito" Areas (percussion) and Michael Carabello (percussion)

later in 1969 – the band toured the U. S. in 21 states * later in 1969 – the band toured the U.S. in 21 states. They later on had follow-up albums, Abraxas (1970) and Santana III (1971). Right after the last album, the original Santana broke up. * Over the next several years, Carlos still was “Santana”, but didn’t ever have any “set” musicians. (back in show biz!) * First recording after the breakup of the group was a live show performed in Hawaii with singer/drummer Buddy Miles. They released “Live – Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles” in June 1972. * Fall of 1972 – began 9 year involvement with Guru Sri Chinmoy, introduced by John McLaughlin and Caravanserai was soon released

(and then love came down…) 1972 also included: -Lotus album recorded live in Japan while Santana was touring -the release of Love, Devotion and Surrender-Carlos Santana and Mahavishnu with John McLaughlin album in mid July. -the release of Welcome album (November) (and then love came down…) * Santana married his wife Deborah on April 20, 1973 and has 3 children with her -- a son and two daughters between the ages of 15 & 22 His LOVE DOVEY 

(but now he’s back to business) * Santana traveled and gave their First World Tour: Alaska, Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, New Zealand, Mexico, South America, Central America and the USA Albums through 1974 - 2005 - Illuminations-Carlos Santana and Turiya Alice Coltrane album (July 1974) - Greatest Hits album (August 1974) - Borboletta album (October 1974) - Lotus album Internationally (December 1975) - Amigos album (March 1976) - Festival album (December 1976)

- Moonflower album (September 1977) - Inner Secrets album (October 1978) - Marathon album (September 1979) - Oneness, Silver Dreams-Golden Reality album (February 1979) - Swing of Delight album (May 1980) - Zebop! Album (March 1981) - Shango album (July 1982) - Havana Moon album (April 1983) - Beyond Appearances album (February 1985) - Freedom album (February 1987) - Blues for Salvador album (October 1987)

- Viva Santana! album & video (September 20,1988) - Spirits Dancing in the Flesh album (1990) - Milagro CD (1992) - Live Forever CD (October 1993) - Sacred Fire album (November 1993) - "From Afro-Cuban To Rock, Adventures in Rhythm," by Karl Perazo and Raul Rekow featuring the Santana Band. (1994) - Dance of the Rainbow Serpent (August 1995) - "Santana Live at the Fillmore," CD (1997) - ‘Shaman' is released, October (2002) - ‘All that I am’ (2005, which is the most recent)

Some of Santana’s hit songs are : Oye Como Va, Black Magic Woman, and Smooth (Hibriten’s marching band played these my freshmen year!). Carlos Santana and his groups of “Santana” have received 110+ awards from all over the world for their music and recordings. Awards include, but are not limited to: Grammy Award Latin Grammy Award - Billboard Century Award - VH-1 Man Of The Year Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year The World Music Awards, Legend Award

Interesting, but Random Facts... * Santana played in Tijuana with the band "The Strangers," at 13 years old * Carlos and Deborah Santana met for the first time at the Tower of Power Concert at the Marin Civic Audiorium in July 1972 * The city of El Paso declared ‘Santana Day’ (after Carlos Santana of course!) in November 1982 * Carlos and Deborah (his wife) founded the Milagro Foundation (milagro means miracle in Spanish). It is a charitable foundation that supports underrepresented and underprivileged children and youth in the areas of arts, education and health. * Carlos also has his own line of Carlos brand shoes & men’s and women’s fragrance. * Carlos calls himself a family man first, and a musician second.

Santana in ACTION

Bibliography. . . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Santana http://musicbase.h1.ru/PPB/ppb9/Bio_953.htm http://www.pacificsun.com/santana.html http://www.santana.com