  Santana has spanned over 3
decades of music in various incarnations of
members and players, with Carlos Santana
always being the frontman and the inspiration
for their blend of world music and rock
sensibility. Carlos Santana was born July 20,
1947 in Mexico and later moved to California
with his family as a teenager. Musical
influences first came in the form of his
father who was a mariachi violinist. It was
in San Francisco where Carlos was able to
find a mix for his traditional Mexican
musical roots and his developing interests in
rock and roll within a diverse musical
community.
Carlos Santana's success began
in San Francisco as part of the Santana Blues
Band by 1966. The group then
became Santana and performed at Woodstock. In
December, 1969, Santana was released and after
their impressive Woodstock performance,
Santana signed with Columbia Records. The
group hit it big with the classics "Evil
Ways" and "Jingo." The
original lineup of the group included Carlos,
Gregg Rolie, David Brown, Michael Shrieve,
Mike Carabello, and Jose Chepito. Santana was certified gold in
1969.
 Abraxas was released with the
hits "Black Magic Woman / Gypsy
Queen" and "Oye Como Va" and
the LP topped the charts.
Santana
III was released with the
favorites "Everybody's Everything"
and "No One To Depend On" and also
topped the LP charts. Neal Schon, Tom Rutley,
and Coke Escovedo joined the group as Brown
left.
 Carlos
Santana & Buddy Miles! Live! was released and
certified gold.
Caravanserai was released and the
lineup of the group changed as Rolie and
Schon departed and formed Journey.
 Welcome and Love,
Devotion And Surrender were released and
certified gold.
Illuminations (a
collaboration with Alice Coltrane
and David Holland) and Borboletta were released
 Santana released a hits
compilation - Santana's
Greatest Hits.
Amigos was released
with another new line-up of group members
which was to change again by the end of the
year.
Amigos was certified gold.
 Santana released Festival.
Festival was certified gold.
Moonflower was released.
 Moonflower was certified gold.
Inner
Secrets was released and
certified gold.
 Marathon was released.
 # 184
Singles Artist of the Year
Santana hit the Top 40
with "You Know That I Love
You."
The
Swing Of Delight was released.
 # 77
Singles Artist of the Year
 Zebop! was released with the
hit "Winning."
Santana hit the Top 40
with "Winning."
Zebop! was certified gold.
 # 80
Singles Artist of the Year
 Shango was released.
Santana hit the Top 40
with "Hold On."
Santana hit the Top 10 with "Hold On."
Havana
Moon was released.
 # 175
Singles Artist of the Year
 Beyond
Appearances was released.
Santana appeared at
Live Aid.
 Carlos Santana worked
on the music for the film La
Bamba.
Abraxas was certified 4x
platinum, Santana was certified 2x
platinum, Santana
III was certified 2x
platinum, Caravanserai was certified
platinum, Santana's
Greatest Hits was certified
platinum, and Carlos
Santana & Buddy Miles! Live! was certified
platinum.
 Freedom was released.
Blues
For Salvador was released.
Santana participated in
the "Rock 'N Roll Summit" concert.
Carlos Santana won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental
Performance for Blues
For Salvador.
 Viva
Santana! was released.
Carlos Santana toured
with jazz saxophonist Wayne Shorter.
Borboletta was certified gold.
 Spirits
Dancing In The Flesh was released.
Moonflower was certified
platinum.
Santana's
Greatest Hits was certified 2x platinum.
Carlos Santana was arrested on
marijuana possession charges in Houston, TX.
 Milagro was released
as Santana changed record companies and
signed with Polydor Records.
Santana was
nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental
Performance ("Gypsy/Grajonca").
Sacred
Fire: Santana Live In South America was released.
 Santana
Brothers was released.
Marathon was certified gold.
Santana signed with
Arista Records.
Santana was
nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental
Performance ("Every Now And Then"
with Vernon Reid).
Carlos Santana received a star
on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Carlos Santana was honored with
the Billboard Century Award.
Rock
'N Roll Hall Of Fame's 500
Songs That Shaped Rock And Roll includes "Black
Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen."
 Live
At The Fillmore 1968 was released.
Carlos Santana was honored as
the Latino Music Legend of the Year at the
Chicano Music Awards.
Moonflower was certified 2x
platinum and Viva
Santana! was certified gold.
 Santana was inducted into the Rock
'N Roll Hall of Fame.
The
Best Of Santana was released.
Ranked # 87 on VH1: Greatest
Artists of Rock & Roll (and
# 43 on Rock On The Net's
Poll).
 # 48
Singles Artist of the Year
Supernatural was released
with collaborations with Lauryn
Hill, Eric
Clapton, Wyclef
Jean, Dave
Matthews, Everlast, and more. The first
single "Smooth" featuring Rob Thomas of Matchbox
20 hit #1 on the singles charts by
the end of the year propelling the LP to the
top of the charts as well. Santana said of
the LP: "You can really feel God's hand
in this. Usually when you do a CD with so
many incredibly talented people there's no
glue, no cohesiveness. But on Supernatural, everyone involved
from the musicians to the engineers
understood the intentions, motives and
purpose of making this CD. We all the
bullseye."
 Supernatural was certified gold.
Santana hit the Top 40 with
"Smooth" featuring Rob
Thomas.
(available
for download at   )
Supernatural topped the Billboard
Latin 50 Albums chart for 1 week.
Supernatural was certified
platinum.
Supernatural was certified 2x
platinum.
Santana hit the Top
10
with "Smooth."
Santana hit #1
for a week with "Smooth" and also topped
the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 weeks.
The
Best Of Santana was certified gold and Supernatural was certified 3x
platinum.
"Smooth" topped the
Billboard Adult Top 40 for 25 weeks.
The single "Smooth" was certified
platinum (and topped the Billboard Hot 100
Singles Airplay chart for 5 weeks, the
Billboard Hot 100 Singles Sales chart for 2
weeks, and the Billboard Top 40 Tracks chart
for 10 weeks).
Supernatural was certified 5x
platinum and Zebop! was certified
platinum.
 # 26
Singles Artist of the Year
Santana won an American Music
Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Album (Supernatural) and was also
nominated for Favorite Pop/Rock
Band/Duo/Group.
Supernatural was certified 7x
platinum.
Santana
returned to the Top 40 with "Maria,
Maria"
(featuring The Product G&B)
at the end of the month.
Carlos Santana
dominated the Grammy
Awards with awards
for Album of the Year and Best Rock Album (Supernatural), Record of the Year and Best Pop Collaboration with
Vocals
("Smooth" with Rob
Thomas), Best Pop Vocal Performance by a
Duo or Group ("Maria,
Maria"),
Best Pop Instrumental
Performance ("El Farol"), Best Rock Instrumental
Performance ("The Calling" with Eric
Clapton), and Best Rock Performance by a Duo
or Group with Vocal ("Put
Your Lights On" with Everlast). Santana was also
nominated for Best Pop Collaboration with
Vocals
("Love
Of My Life" with Dave
Matthews).
The single
"Maria,
Maria"
was certified platinum.
Supernatural was certified 8x
platinum.
"Maria,
Maria"
topped the Billboard Maxi-Singles Sales chart
for 4 weeks.
 Carlos Santana told Rolling
Stone that he was sexually abused as
a child in Mexico.
Supernatural was certified 10x
platinum.
The
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