Like more than a few bands from the 60s and 70s that survive today, the band Santana has had many lineup changes to the membership, with Guitarist and founder Carlos Santana remaining as the only original member.
While Carlos Santana is personally known for his guitar prowess and unmistakable sound, the first instrument he played at age 5 just so happened to be a violin. His father Jose was a professional violinist. Carlos eventually did pick up a guitar only a few years later, and apparently never put it down.
The band formed in 1966 in San Francisco, seeing runaway success with their appearance at Woodstock in 69, and the release of their big three albums: Santana, Abraxas, and Santana III.
Following its initial success Santana experimented with elements of jazz fusion on their early 70s albums. But in 1999, Santana reached a new peak of commercial and critical success with the album “Supernatural,” and its singles “Smooth”, featuring singer Rob Thomas, and “Maria Maria”. The album reached No. 1 in eleven countries and sold 12 million copies in the US.
In 2014, the “classic” line-up reunited to record Santana IV. The group continues to perform and record today. They are slated to perform at the 50th Anniversary of Woodstock in 2019.
Though Carlos Santana is a musical maven who can play and write songs, he also holds the distinction of being one of the few musicians to own Mexican restaurants, and a line of shoes.
And, while marrying your bandmates hasn’t always gone well for other groups, Carlos and wife Cindy Blackman are doing just fine. Cindy is the band’s drummer, so naturally Carlos proposed on-stage to her, back in 2010.
Portions of this profile were attributed to Wikipedia.org’s Santana entry.
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