Santana Tickets : Santana Exemplified Latin Rock Over A Career Spanning Forty Years

Santana is a rock band based around guitarist Carlos Santana and founded in the late 1960s. It first came to public attention after their performing the song "Soul Sacrifice" 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 frequent, 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.

The discography of the rock band Santana formed by the Mexican-American rock guitarist Carlos Santana consists of twenty-one studio albums, seven live albums, thirty-two singles and twenty-one compilation albums.Santana formed in 1967 in San Francisco and was originally known as the Carlos Santana Blues Band. The first members were Carlos Santana (lead guitar), Tom Fraser, Mike Carabello (percussion), Rod Harper (drums), David Brown (bass guitar) and Gregg Rolie (organ). Its breakthrough began two years later, playing in the Woodstock Festival.

Santana signed with Columbia and released their self-titled debut album Santana. This album reached fourth place on the Billboard charts and earned 2 Platinum status in the American national certification. Next, Santana released Abraxas, on September 1970, which topped the Billboard charts and earned 5 Platinum. Santana released another twelve albums in the 1970s, each earning RIAA certifications.

Santana continued to have success in the 1980s. Its quietest period was from 1984 through 1994, with no certified albums. The band then signed with Arista and released the extremely successful Supernatural, which reached number one in several countries and earned 15 Platinum. This album sold nearly 27 million copies worldwide. Their most recent album is the 2010 release, Guitar Heaven, on which the band covered songs from well-known artists.

Over a career spanning forty years, Santana exemplified Latin rock, while diversifying into other genres. Santana had sold over 100 million records as of 2010,[3] along with ten Grammy Awards and three Latin Grammy Awards. Four albums reached number one in the Billboard charts (Abraxas, Santana III, Supernatural, Shaman) along with two number one singles (Smooth, Maria Maria).

Santana went on tour to promote the album and started work on their next album, Abraxas. Work started on the album in mid-April 1970 and was done in early-May 1970. The album was released in September 1970 and would peak at number 1 on the US Billboard 200 and the Australian Kent Road Report. The album also featured the hit single Black Magic Woman, which peaked at number 4 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

From January to July 1971, Santana would work on another album. The album was called Santana III. Released in September 1971, the album would be another number 1 on the US Billboard 200 and would become the band's peak popularity. This was the last album to feature the classic Woodstock era line-up of Santana.Before recording their fourth album Caravanserai, there had been multiple line-up changes.

Bassist David Brown left in 1971 before recording started and was replaced by Doug Rauch and Tom Rutley. Percussionist Michael Carabello left Santana and was replaced by Armando Peraza. Keyboardist/vocalist Gregg Rolie was replaced by Tom Coster on a few songs.Caravanserai was released on the 11th October 1972 and peaked at number 8 on the US Billboard 200 pop chart without a hit single.