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Carlos Augusto Alves Santana (born July 20, 1947) is a Mexican American rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion. The band's sound featured his melodic, blues-based guitar lines set against Latin and African rhythms featuring percussion instruments such as timbales and congas not generally heard in rock music. Santana continued to work in these forms over the following decades. He experienced a resurgence of popularity and critical acclaim in the late 1990s. Rolling Stone named Santana number 15 on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time in 2003. He has won 10 Grammy Awards and 3 Latin Grammy Awards.

Biography

Early life

Santana was born in Autlán de Navarro, Jalisco, Mexico. His father was a mariachi violinist, and Carlos learned to play the violin at age five and the guitar at age eight. Young Carlos was heavily influenced by Ritchie Valens at a time when there were very few Latinos in American rock and pop music. The family moved from Autlán de Navarro to Tijuana, the city on Mexico's border with California, and then San Francisco. Carlos stayed in Tijuana but joined his family in San Francisco later and graduated from James Lick Middle School and Mission High School there. He graduated from Mission High in 1965. Javier Bátiz, a famous guitarist from Tijuana, said to have been Carlos's guitar teacher who taught him to play a different style of guitar soloing. After learning Batiz's techniques, Santana would make them his own as well.

In San Francisco, he got the chance to see his idols, most notably B.B. King, perform live. He was also 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. After several years spent working as a dishwasher in a diner and busking for spare change, Santana decided to become a full-time musician. In 1966, he gained prominence by a series of accidental events all happening on the same day. Santana was a frequent spectator at Bill Graham's Fillmore West. During a Sunday matinee show, Paul Butterfield was slated to perform there but was unable to do so as a result of being intoxicated. Bill Graham put together an impromptu band of musicians he knew mainly from the Grateful Dead, Butterfield's own band and Jefferson Airplane, but he had not yet picked all of the guitarists at the time. Santana's manager, Stan Marcum, immediately suggested to Graham that Santana join the impromptu band and Graham assented. During the jam session, Santana's guitar playing and solo gained the notice of both the audience and Graham. During the same year, Santana formed the Santana Blues Band, with fellow street musicians, David Brown and Gregg Rolie (bassist and keyboard player, respectively).

With their highly original blend of Latin-infused rock, jazz, blues, salsa, and African rhythms, the band (which quickly became known simply as Santana) gained an immediate following on the San Francisco strip club. The band's early success, capped off by a memorable performance at Woodstock in 1969, led to a recording contract with Columbia Records, then run by Clive Davis.

Personal life

He became a naturalized American citizen in 1965.

On October 19, 2007, his wife of 34 years, Deborah, filed for divorce citing "irreconcilable differences".Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).

In 2005, Herbie Hancock approached Santana to collaborate on an album again using the Supernatural formula. Possibilities was released on August 30, 2005, featuring Carlos Santana and Angélique Kidjo on "Safiatou". Also, in 2005, the fellow Latin star Shakira invited Santana to play soft rock guitar ballad Illegal on her second English-language studio album Oral Fixation Vol. 2.

Santana's 2005 album All That I Am consisting primarily of collaborations with other artists; the first single, the peppy "I'm Feeling You", was again with Michelle Branch and The Wreckers. Other musicians joining the mix this time included Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Kirk Hammett from Metallica, hip-hop/reggae star Sean Paul and R&B singer Joss Stone. In April and May 2006, Santana toured Europe, where he promoted his son Salvador Santana's band as his opening act.

In 2007, Santana appeared, along with Sheila E. and José Feliciano, on Gloria Estefan's album 90 Millas, on the single "No Llores". He also teamed again with Chad Kroeger for the hit single "Into the Night".

In 2008, Santana started working with his long-time friend, Marcelo Vieira, on his solo album Marcelo Vieira's Acoustic Sounds, which is due to be released at the end of the year. It features tracks such as "For Flavia" and "Across the Grave", the latter featuring heavy melodic riffs by Santana.

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. On July 8, 2009, Carlos Santana appeared at the Athens Olympic Stadium in Athens with his 10-member all-star band as part of his "Supernatural Santana – A Trip through the Hits" European tour. On July 10, 2009, he also appeared at Philip II Stadium in Skopje. With 2.5 hours concert and 20 000 people, Santana appeared for the first time in that region. "Supernatural Santana – A Trip through the Hits" is currently playing at The Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas, where it will play through the end 2009.

Santana is featured as a playable character in the music video game Guitar Hero 5. A live recording of his song "No One To Depend On" is included in game, which was released on September 1, 2009.

Carlos recently opened a chain of upscale Mexican restaurants called "Maria Maria". It is a combined effort with Chef Roberto Santibanez. They are located in Tempe Arizona, Mill Valley (now closed), Walnut Creek, and Danville, California, Austin, Texas, and Boca Raton Florida.

Influences

Around the age of 8, Santana "fell under the influence" of blues performers like B.B. King and John Lee Hooker. He also credits Jimi Hendrix, Mike Bloomfield and Peter Green as important influences; he considered Bloomfield a direct mentor, writing of a key meeting with Bloomfield in San Francisco in the foreword he wrote to a biography of Bloomfield, Michael Bloomfield: If You Love These Blues-An Oral History in 2000.

Equipment

This section is written like a story. Please help rewrite this article to introduce an encyclopedic style and a neutral point of view. (November 2009)

Guitars

Santana played a red Gibson SG Special with P-90 pickups at the Woodstock festival. From 1976 until 1982, his main guitar was a Yamaha SG 175B and sometimes a white Gibson SG Custom with 3 open coil pick-ups. In 1982 he started to use a custom made PRS guitar, which became his main instrument around 1988. Santana currently uses a Santana II model guitar using PRS Santana III pickups with nickel covers and a tremolo, with .009-.042 gauge D'Addario strings. Santana's guitar necks and fretboards are constructed out of a single solid piece of Brazilian Rosewood, this helps create the smooth, singing, glass-like tone that he is famous for.

Carlos Santana also uses a classical guitar, the Alvarez Yairi CY127CE with Alvarez tension nylon strings.

Effects

Santana does not use many effects pedals. His PRS guitar is connected to a Mu-Tron wah wah pedal (or, more recently, a Dunlop 535Q wah) and a T-Rex Replica delay pedal, then through a customized Jim Dunlop amp switcher which in turn is connected to the different amps or cabinets.

Previous setups include an Ibanez Tube Screamer right after the guitar.

In the song "Stand Up" from the album Marathon, Santana uses a Heil talk box in the guitar solo.

Amplifiers

The Santana lead guitar tone is produced by a humbucker equipped guitar (Gibson/Yamaha/PRS) into a small but effective preamp (consisting of Gain & Master Volume controls) for the Mesa Boogie . He also literally put the Boogie in Mesa Boogie: 'Santana exclaimed to Smith, "Shit, man. That little thing really Boogies!" It was this statement that brought the Boogie name to fruition.'

Specifically, Santana combines a Mesa/Boogie Mark I head running through a Boogie cabinet with Altec 417-8H (or recently JBL E120s) speakers, and a Dumble Overdrive Reverb and/or a Dumble Overdrive Special running through a Brown or Marshall 4x12 cabinet with Celestion G12M "Greenback" speakers, depending on the desired sound. Shure KSM-32 microphones are used to pick up the sound, going to the PA. Additionally, a Fender Cyber-Twin Amp is mostly used at home.

Discography

Awards and nominations

References

1. ^ "Welcome to the Pacific Coast Immigration Museum". learn.pacificcoastimmigration.org. Retrieved October 19, 2010.
2. Posted Sep 18, 2003 12:00 AM (September 18, 2003). "''The 100 Greatest Guitar players of All Time''; ''Rolling Stone''". Rollingstone.com. Retrieved March 13, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
3. "Santana received 10 Grammy Awards and 3 Latin Grammy Awards". allmusic. 1999. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
4. Javier Batiz
5. ^ Ruhlmann, William (2003). "Carlos Santana > Biography". allmusic. Retrieved June 25, 2009.
6. Shapiro, Marc, “Carlos Santana: Back on Top”, pages 57-58, St. Martin’s Press, ISBN 0-312-26904-8, 2000.
7. "Carlos Santana Grooves in Guitar Hero 5, which included the song black magic woman". idiomag. July 21, 2009. Retrieved July 24, 2009.
8. Ella Lawrence (January 28, 2010). "Carlos Santana opens Maria Maria in Danville". San Francisco Chronicle.
9. "Carlos Santana". Nndb.com. Retrieved March 13, 2010.
10. "Carlos Santana Influences". Dougpayne.com. April 23, 1977. Retrieved March 13, 2010.
11. "Santana – Musician's Corner – Blue Guitar". Santana.com. Retrieved March 13, 2010.
12. "Santana – Musician's Corner – Red Guitar". Santana.com. Retrieved March 13, 2010.
13. "Santana – Musician's Corner – Acoustic Guitar". Santana.com. Retrieved March 13, 2010.
14. His rig can be seen in a magazine article cited at T-Rex's website
15. "Carlos Santana Spreads the Gospel of Tone" by Darrin Fox, Guitar Player Magazine, June edition 2005.
16. Overview of Santana's old effects setup.

Sources

• Soul Sacrifice; The Carlos Santana Story Simon Leng 2000
• Space Between The Stars Deborah Santana 2004
• Rolling Stone "The Resurrection of Carlos Santana" Ben Fong Torres 1972
• New Musical Express "Spirit of Santana" Chris Charlesworth November 1973
• Guitar Player Magazine 1978
• Rolling Stone "The Epic Life of Carlos Santana" 2000
• Santana I – Sony Legacy Edition: liner notes
• Abraxas – Sony Legacy Edition: liner notes
• Santana III – Sony Legacy edition: liner notes
• Viva Santana – CBS CD release 1988; liner notes
• Power, Passion and Beauty – The Story of the Legendary Mahavishnu Orchestra Walter Kolosky 2006
• Best of Carlos Santana – Wolf Marshall 1996; introduction and interview

Further reading

• Chipley Slavicek, Louise. Carlos Santana, Chelsea House Publications or Facts on File, 2006, 119 p., ISBN 0-7910-8844-8
• Leng, Simon. Soul Sacrifice: The Santana Story, Firefly-S.A.F. Publishing, 2000, 224 p., ISBN 0-946719-29-2. Republ. as Santana, Catedra, 2002, ISBN 84-376-1947-5
• McCarthy, Jim; Ron Sansoe, Ron, foreword by Carlos Santana. Voices of Latin Rock: The People and Events That Created This Sound, Omnibus Press, 2004 and Hal Leonard Publishing, 2005, 316 p., ISBN 0-634-08061-X
• Miller, Hal; Santana Debbie; Faulkner, John (ed.), w/ a foreword by Bill Graham. Santana: A Retrospective of the Santana Band's Twenty Years in Music, San Francisco Mission Cultural Center, 1987 or 1988, 50p., no ISBN. Includes a 4-p genealogical tree w/ the members's name for every Santana band from 1966.
• Molenda, Michael (ed.). Guitar Player Presents Carlos Santana, Backbeat Books, 2010, 124 p., ISBN 978-0-87930-976-3
• Remstein, Henna. Carlos Santana (Latinos in the Limelight), Chelsea House Publications, 2001, 64 p., ISBN 0-7910-6473-5
• Shapiro, Marc. Carlos Santana: Back on Top, St-Martin's Press, 2000 and 2002, 288 p., ISBN 0-312-28852-2
• Sumsion, Michael. Maximum Santana: The Unauthorized Biography of Santana, Chrome Dreams, 2003, ISBN 1-84240-107-6. A CD-audio biog
• Weinstein, Norman. Carlos Santana: A Biography, Greenwood Press, 2009, 152 p., ISBN 978-0313354205
• Woog, Adam. Carlos Santana: Legendary Guitarist, Lucent Books, 2006, 104 p., ISBN 1-59018-972-8

External links

• Official website
• Milagro Foundation
• 2006 Carlos Santana Interview
• Concerts online at Wolfgang's Vault
• Santana's Gear

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• Grammy Award winners
• Latin Grammy Award winners
• Arista Records artists
• American people of Mexican descent
• Mexican people of Spanish descent
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• Naturalized citizens of the United States
• People from Autlán, Jalisco
• People from Tijuana
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• 1947 births
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