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Carlos Santana Biography

By: Thomas West

Break Studios Contributing Writer

Carlos Santana is, without a doubt, one of the most recognizable figures in music and you might want to learn about him through a Carlos Santana biography. With his rich and powerful sound, Santana has certainly become one of the most immortal musicians of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Early Life Carlos Santana was born in Autlan De Navarro, Mexico, to a large family. Although he began by playing the violin, he soon decided that the guitar was his true calling and he never turned back. While he was young he played in a number of bars with various groups, quickly establishing himself as a premier musician.

Peak Career In the early 1960s he moved to San Francisco and it was not long before he established his success. His band was a great hit at Woodstock and his first album managed to reach double platinum; his second effort sold 4 million copies and included the hit “Oye Como Va.”

Although Santana was successful throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the 1990s were not a great time for his career and his albums did not sell well. In fact, it reached such a low point that he did not even have a record contract.

Later Success However, encouraged by his colleagues, Santana began joining with younger musicians in an attempt to regain his past success. His album “Supernatural” became a phenomenal hit and featured such great artists as Rob Thomas, Eric Clapton and several others.  It also garnered him several Grammy Awards and extremely high sales of several singles. Since then he has continued to collaborate with some of the day’s finest young artists and others, and his success continues.  He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

Carlos Santana marred Deborah King (the love of his life) in 1972, but they filed for divorce in 2007 after 34 years of marriage.

Posted on: May. 20, 2011