Carlos Santana 2005

Born Carlos Augusto Alves Santana on July 20, 1947, Carlos Santana is a Mexican-American rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s pioneering a blend of rock, salsa and jazz fusion. The band’s sound featured his melodic, blues-based guitar lines set against Latin and African rhythms.

Carlos learned to play the violin at age five and the guitar at age eight.

Heavily influenced by Ritchie Valens at a time when there were very few Latinos in American rock and pop music, 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 of Fleetwood Mac, as important influences.

Carlos Santana’s distinctive guitar tone is produced by signature guitars plugged into multiple amplifiers. Santana attributes the tonal qualities of each amplifier to that of a singer producing head/nasal tones, chest tones, and belly tones. A three-way amp switcher is employed on the pedal board to enable him to switch between amps. Often the unique tones of each amplifier are blended together, complimenting each other while producing a richer tone.

In 1989, Santana appeared with John Lee Hooker on a track included on a release that was a veritable cornucopia of blues recording artists.
In 1994 Santana with his brother Jorge and his nephew Carlos Hernandez recorded and released Santana brothers which reached 191 on the Billboard 200 album chart.
And in 2007…Live In Australia…a concert recording from 1968, performed prior to his debut album was released and contains a few of his earlier interpretations of popular blues standards

In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine listed Santana at number 15 on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. He has won 10 Grammy Awards and 3 Latin Grammy Awards.[3] and has a star on the hollywood walk of Fame…overall he has been nominated for 61 different awards and has won 53 times.

Source: wikipedia