Santana

Santana is a Mexican rock band based around guitarist Carlos Santana and founded in the late 1960s. It first came to public attention after their performance at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, when their latin rock provided a contrast to other acts on the bill. This initial exposure made their first, eponymous album a hit at the time, followed in the next two years by successful follow-ups Abraxas and Santana III.

Over the next few years, lineup changes were common and although retaining a basis of latin rock, Carlos Santana's increasing involvement with guru Sri Chinmoy took the band further into more esoteric music, which continued for many years, although never quite losing the initial latin influence.

In 1998, the group was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, with Carlos Santana, Jose Chepito Areas, David Brown, Mike Carabello, Gregg Rolie and Michael Shrieve being honored.

Santana has achieved a total of eight Grammy Awards and three Latin Grammy Awards which were all awarded in 2000. Carlos also won two Grammy Awards as a solo artist in 1989 and 2003.

Overview

Early Days

The band was formed in 1967 in San Francisco as the Carlos Santana Blues Band with the help of Tom Fraser. The first established members were Carlos Santana (lead guitar), Tom Fraser (lead vocals & rhythm guitar), Mike Carabello (percussion), Rod Harper (drums), David Brown (bass guitar) and Gregg Rolie (Hammond Organ B3). The group's first audition with this line up was at the Avalon Ball Room in the late summer of 1967. After the audition, Chet Helms the promotor, in concert with The Family Dog, told the band that they would never make it in the San Francisco Music Scene playing Latin fusion and suggested Carlos keep his day job washing dishes at Tick Tock's Drive-In on 3rd St.

Previous band members

Vocals	Keyboards	Guitar
*Leon Thomas: 1973 Leon Patillo: 1973-1975 Evan Thur: 1974-75 Greg Walker: 1975-76, 1976–79, 1983–85 Luther Rabb: 1976 Joel Badie: 1976 Alex Ligertwood: 1979-83, 1984–85, 1987, 1989–91, 1992–94 Buddy Miles: 1986, 1987 Tony Lindsay: 1991, 1995–present Vorriece Cooper: 1993 Curtis Salgado: 1995 Ifrab Musflyleng: 1995 Victor Lasic: 2010–Present Various guest singers: 1999–present	*Gregg Rolie: 1967-71 Tom Coster: 1972-78, 83, 86 Richard Kermode: 1972-73 Leon Patillo: 1973-1979 Chris Rhyne: 1978-79 Alan Pasqua: 1979-80 Richard Baker: 1980-82 Chester D. Thompson: 1985-2009 David Sancious: 1984 Sterling Crew: 1986 Lawrence Rogers: 1994-1998 Freddie Ravel: present	*Tom Fraser: 1967-68 Neal Schon: 1971-72 John McLaughlin: 1973 Doug Rodrigues: 1972-1973 Chris Solberg: 1978-80 Alex Ligertwood: 1979-83, 1984–85, 1987, 1989–91, 1992–94 Jorge Santana: 1993 - 1996 Alec Evans: 1997 - 1999 Tommy Anthony: 2005–present
Bass Guitar	Drums	Percussion
*Gus Rodriguez: 1967 David Brown: 1967-71, 1974–76 Tom Rutley: 1971-72 Doug Rauch: 1972-73 Byron Miller: 1976 Pablo Telez: 1976-77 David Margen: 1977-82 Keith Jones: 1983-84, 1989 Alphonso Johnson: 1985-89, 1992 Benny Rietveld: 1990-92, 1997- Myron Dove: 1992-1996 Chris DiNoia: 1997-1999 Chris Schwegler: 2006–present	*Danny Aptos: 1967 Rod Harper: 1967-68 Bob Livingston: 1968-69 Michael Shrieve: 1969-74, 1988 Buddy Miles: 1972 Leon 'Ndugu' Chancler: 1974-76, 1988 Gaylord Birch: 1976, 1991 Graham Lear: 1976-84 Chester C. Thompson: 1984 Oscar Cozens: 1985-87 Walfredo Reyes: 1989-91, 1992–93 Billy Johnson: 1991, 1994-96, 2000–2001 Rodney Holmes: 1993-94, 1997–2000 Tommie Bradford: 1994 Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez: 1997 Ricky Wellman: 1997 Dennis Chambers: 2004–present	*Mike Carabello (Congas): 1966-67, 1969–71 Marcus Malone (Congas): 1967-69 José "Chepito" Areas (Timbales): 1969-77, 1988–89 Rico Reyes (Timbales): 1971, 1972 Victor Pantoja (Timbales): 1971 Coke Escovedo (Timbales): 1971-72 Pete Escovedo (Timbales): 1971, 1977–79 James "Mingo" Lewis (Congas): 1972 Armando Peraza (Congas, Bongos): 1972-75, 1977–90 Raul Rekow (Congas, Percussion): 1976–present Francisco Aguabella (Congas): 1969-71 Orestes Vilató (Timbales): 1980-87 Karl Perazzo (Timbales): 1991–present
Other Instruments
*Jules Broussard: saxophone 1974-75 Miles Davis: trumpet 1976 Alex Jackaman: trumpet 1993 Oran Coltrane: saxophone 1992 Russell Tubbs: flute 1978