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Carlos Santana: Guitarist Carlos Santana
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Carlos Augusto Alves Santana (born July 20, 1947) is a Grammy Award-winning Mexican Latin rock musician and guitarist. He became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which created a highly successful blend of salsa, rock, blues, and jazz fusion. Their sound featured his melodic, blues based guitar lines set against Latin percussion such as timbales and congas. Santana continued to work in these forms over the following decades, and experienced a sudden 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.
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Turning to producers Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, Santana returned to the studio for Inner Secrets, released in October 1978. The revamped lineup this time was Carlos, Rekow, Walker, Lear, Margen, returning members Coke Escovedo and Armando Peraza, keyboard player Chris Rhyne, and guitarist/keyboard player Chris Solberg. The album was quickly certified gold, and a revival of the Classics IV hit "Stormy" made the Top 40, but Inner Secrets peaked disappointingly below the Top 20. Once again adopting his guru name of Devadip, Carlos issued his first real solo album (Oneness/Silver Dreams - Golden Reality) in February 1979. Marathon, the tenth Santana band studio album, followed in September, produced by Keith Olsen, the band here being Carlos, Rekow, Lear, Margen, Peraza, Solberg, singer Alex Ligertwood, and keyboard player Alan Pasqua. The album equaled the success of Inner Secrets, peaking outside the Top 20 but going gold, with "You Know That I Love You" becoming a Top 40 single.
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Mexican-born American guitarist Carlos Santana is best known as the leader of the band that bears his last name, which has toured and recorded successfully since the late '60s. He has ... recorded a series of exploratory solo albums and collaborations with other musicians that expand upon his basic musical style.
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Santana shot to fame after the legendary performance at Woodstock Music and Art Festival in 1969. His surprise appearance was captured in the film 'Woodstock' which vastly increased Santana's popularity. The psychedelic second album titled 'Abraxas' (1970) reached No.1 on the album charts and went on to sell over four million copies worldwide. Three songs from that album: 'Black Magic Woman', 'Oye Como Va', and 'Samba Pa Ti' became huge international hits. Then he collaborated with poet and guru Sri Chinmoy and jazz guitarist John McLaughlin in a spiritual and musically innovative album 'Love, Devotion, Surrender' (1973). After years of touring, Santana participated in the first-ever joint US-Soviet "Rock'n Roll Summit" in 1987.
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As a consequence of Woodstock, Santana secured a deal with Columbia records; before the end of the year its self-titled debut had been release and was climbing up the charts. The record eventually peaked at the #4 position and achieved double-platinum status. Subesquent releases over the next two years, Abraxas (1970) and Santana III (1971) met with similar success. A more pronounced inclination towards jazz began with 1972's Caravanserai, but by this time Rolie was becoming dissatisfied with the direction the music was taking; shortly afterwards he resigned, taking guitarist Neal Schon with him to form stadium-rock practitioners Journey. Numerous changes in personnel had already taken place throughout the band's existence, and before long Santana had re-organized once again and returned to action.
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Born in Mexico in 1947, Santana was initially influenced by his father, a mariachi musician. His family's relocation to San Francisco marked the beginning of Santana's bluesy latin-rock explorations. Forming a band under his name, Santana gained international exposure with his breakthrough performance at the 1969 Woodstock festival. Later that same year, the guitarist launched his recording career with a self-titled album. Subsequent recordings like "Abraxas," "Santana III," and "Caravanserei" were tremendously influential.
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Guitarist Carlos Santana