Carlos Santana

Carlos Santana is a Mexican and American guitarist who founded the rock band Santana and helped pioneer a fusion of rock and Latin American jazz. Born in Autlán de Navarro, Mexico, he learned violin at five and guitar at eight from his father, a mariachi musician, and started the Santana Blues Band in San Francisco in 1966. Signed by Columbia Records, the group broke through at the Woodstock festival in 1969, and its debut album reached number four on the Billboard chart. Abraxas followed in 1970 with Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen and Oye Como Va, spending six weeks at number one. He composed the score for La Bamba and won a Grammy for Blues for Salvador. Supernatural (1999) brought eight Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, and he has 10 Grammys and three Latin Grammys and entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.