Credit: Erik KabikRock guitarist extraordinaire Carlos Santana turns 70 today. The Mexican-born musician moved to San Francisco in the early 1960s, and went on to form one of the most influential and enduring groups to emerge from the Bay Area music scene.
Santana‘s groundbreaking sound fused Latin music and African percussion with rock, blues and jazz. The group came to global prominence after an incendiary performance at the 1969 Woodstock festival that showcased Carlos’ blistering and intense playing. The group’s self-titled debut came out that same month, featuring the classics like “Evil Ways” and the instrumental “Soul Sacrifice.” The band’s next two studio albums, Abraxas and Santana III, topped the Billboard 200 and included such hits as “Black Magic Woman,” “Oye Como Va” and “Everybody’s Everything.”
From the early 1970s through the ’90s, Santana’s lineup changed frequently, while the band’s popularity waxed and waned. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, and then experienced a huge career resurgence thanks to the 1999 album Supernatural. The record, which featured Carlos and company collaborating with various guest artists, yielded two #1 hits — “Smooth” with Matchbox Twenty‘s Rob Thomas and “Maria Maria” with Wyclef Jean and The Product G&B. The album topped the Billboard 200 for 12 nonconsecutive weeks and went on to win nine Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. It has sold more than 15 million copies in the U.S. to date.
More recently, Carlos was saluted at the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors in 2013; the group put out its first Spanish language album, Corazon, in 2014; and most of the original Santana lineup reunited to release the Santana IV album last year. And next Friday, July 28, Santana will release a collaborative album with The Isley Brothers called Power of Peace.
Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
