63 Facts About Carlos Santana

Carlos Humberto Santana Barragan is an American guitarist who rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Santana, which pioneered a fusion of rock and roll and Latin American jazz.

Carlos Santana experienced a resurgence of popularity and critical acclaim in the late 1990s.

Carlos Santana has won 10 Grammy Awards and three Latin Grammy Awards, and was inducted along with his namesake band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

Carlos Santana learned to play the violin at age five and the guitar at age eight, under the tutelage of his father, who was a mariachi musician.

Carlos Santana was heavily influenced by Ritchie Valens at a time when there were very few Mexicans in American rock music.

Carlos Santana lived in the Mission District, graduated from James Lick Middle School, and left Mission High School in 1965.

Carlos Santana was accepted at California State University, Northridge and Humboldt State University, but chose not to attend college.

Carlos Santana was introduced to a variety of new musical influences, including jazz and folk music, and witnessed the growing hippie movement centered in San Francisco in the 1960s.

Carlos Santana's guitar playing caught the attention of both the audience and Graham.

Carlos Santana's band was signed by Columbia Records, which shortened its name to simply "Carlos Santana".

The band's first album, Carlos Santana, was released in August 1969 and became a hit, reaching No 4 on the US Billboard 200.

The sudden success which followed put pressure on the group, highlighting the different musical directions Rolie and Carlos Santana were starting to go.

Carlos Santana was increasingly interested in moving beyond his love of blues and rock and wanted more jazzy, ethereal elements in the music.

Carlos Santana became fascinated with Gabor Szabo, Miles Davis, Pharoah Sanders, and John Coltrane, as well as developing a growing interest in spirituality.

Carlos Santana III was another success, reaching No 1 on the album charts, selling two million copies, and yielding the hit "No One to Depend On".

In 1972, Carlos Santana became interested in the pioneering fusion band the Mahavishnu Orchestra and its guitarist, John McLaughlin.

Carlos Santana was given the name Devadip, meaning "The lamp, light and eye of God".

In 1973, Carlos Santana, having obtained legal rights to the band's name, Carlos Santana, formed a new version of the band with Armando Peraza and Chepito Areas on percussion, Doug Rauch on bass, Michael Shrieve on drums, and Tom Coster and Richard Kermode on keyboards.

Carlos Santana later was able to recruit jazz vocalist Leon Thomas for the tour supporting Caravanserai in Japan on July 3 and 4,1973, which was recorded for the 1974 live, sprawling, high-energy triple vinyl LP fusion album Lotus.

Carlos Santana did not agree to those terms, and Lotus was available in the US only as an expensive, imported, three-record set.

Carlos Santana recruited soprano saxophonist Jules Broussard for the lineup.

Graham was critical of Carlos Santana's move into jazz and felt he needed to concentrate on getting Carlos Santana back into the charts with the edgy, streetwise ethnic sound that had made them famous.

Carlos Santana himself was seeing that the group's direction was alienating many fans.

In 1976, Rolling Stone ran a second cover story on Carlos Santana entitled "Carlos Santana Comes Home".

In February 1976, Carlos Santana was presented with fifteen gold disc in Australia, representing sales in excess of 244,000.

Carlos Santana was becoming increasingly disillusioned with what he thought were the unreasonable rules that Chinmoy imposed on his life, and in particular with his refusal to allow Santana and Deborah to start a family.

Carlos Santana felt too that his fame was being used to increase the guru's visibility.

Carlos Santana again paid tribute to his early rock roots by doing the film score to La Bamba, which was based on the life of rock and roll legend Ritchie Valens and starred Lou Diamond Phillips.

The band Carlos Santana returned in 1985 with a new album, Beyond Appearances, and two years later with Freedom.

In 1988, Carlos Santana organized a reunion with past members from the Carlos Santana band for a series of concert dates.

That same year, Carlos Santana formed an all-instrumental group featuring jazz legend Wayne Shorter on tenor and soprano saxophone.

Carlos Santana released another solo record, Blues for Salvador, which won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.

In 1990, Carlos Santana left Columbia Records after twenty-two years and signed with Polygram.

In 1992, Carlos Santana hired the jam band Phish as his opening act.

On his 1992 tour, Carlos Santana regularly invited some or all of the members of Phish to jam with his band during his headlining performances.

Carlos Santana kicked off the 1990s with a new album Spirits Dancing in the Flesh in 1990.

Carlos Santana toured widely over the next few years but there were no further new album releases, and eventually, he was even without a recording contract.

Carlos Santana performed "Black Magic Woman" with the writer of the song, Fleetwood Mac's founder Peter Green.

In early August 2003, Carlos Santana was named fifteenth on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

In 2004, Carlos Santana was honored as the Person of the Year by the Latin Recording Academy.

Carlos Santana was the first songwriter designated a BMI Icon at the company's Latin Awards.

In 2005, Herbie Hancock approached Carlos Santana to collaborate on an album again using the Supernatural formula.

In 2007, Santana appeared, along with Sheila E and Jose Feliciano, on Gloria Estefan's album 90 Millas, on the single "No Llores".

Carlos Santana teamed again with Chad Kroeger for the hit single "Into the Night".

In 2008, Carlos Santana was reported to be working with his longtime friend, Marcelo Vieira, on his solo album Acoustic Demos, which was released at the end of the year.

Carlos Santana performed at the 2009 American Idol Finale with the top 13 finalists, which starred many acts such as KISS, Queen and Rod Stewart.

Carlos Santana is featured as a playable character in the music video game Guitar Hero 5.

In 2012, Carlos Santana released an album Shape Shifter consisting of mostly instrumental tracks.

On September 12,2015, Carlos Santana appeared as a member of Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh's band Phil Lesh and Friends at the third annual Lockn' Festival.

Carlos Santana has continued to act as a mentor to a younger generation of jam acts, like Derek Trucks and Robert Randolph.

In 2016, Carlos Santana reunited with past Santana band members Gregg Rolie, Michael Carabello, Michael Shrieve, and Neil Schon to release the album: Santana IV and the band embarked on a brief tour.

In 2017, Carlos Santana collaborated with the Isley Brothers to release the album The Power of Peace on July 28,2017.

In December 2018, Carlos Santana published a guitar lesson on YouTube as part of the online education series MasterClass.

In October 2019, Carlos Santana was featured on the American rapper Tyga's song "Mamacita" alongside American rapper YG.

Carlos Santana played a red Gibson SG Special with P-90 pickups at the Woodstock festival.

Carlos Santana plays a PRS Santana MD "The Multidimensional" guitar.

Carlos Santana uses a classical guitar, the Alvarez Yairi CY127CE with Alvarez tension nylon strings, in the last years from 2009 he uses custom made, semi-hollow Toru Nittono's "Model-T" Jazz Electric Nylon.

Carlos Santana is known to have used an Electro-Harmonix Big Muff distortion for his famous sustain.

Carlos Santana has used the Audiotech Guitar Products 1x6 Rack Mount Audio Switcher in rehearsals for the 2008 "Live Your Light" tour.

Carlos Santana uses two different guitar picks: the large triangular Dunlop he has used for so many years, and the V-Pick Freakishly Large Round.

On July 9,2010, Carlos Santana proposed to his touring drummer Cindy Blackman on stage during a concert at Tinley Park, Illinois.

Carlos Santana suffered an undisclosed medical emergency on stage at a concert at Pine Knob Music Theatre in Michigan on July 5,2022, but was able to gain consciousness while being helped off the stage.

Carlos Santana's show scheduled for the day after was postponed.