Santana Essay

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Mexican-American award-winning guitarist Carlos Santana is the leader of Santana, a band whose music uniquely blends Latin-infused rock, jazz, blues, salsa and African rhythms.Mexican-American award-winning guitarist Carlos Santana is the leader of Santana, a band whose music uniquely blends Latin-infused rock, jazz, blues, salsa and African rhythms.With their highly original blend of Latin-infused rock, jazz, blues, salsa and African rhythms, the band—which quickly became known simply as Santana—gained an immediate following on the San Francisco club scene. The band's early success, capped off by a memorable performance at Woodstock in 1969, led to a recording contract with Columbia Records, then run by Clive Davis.

Their first album, Santana (1969), spurred by a Top 10 single, "Evil Ways," …show more content…

With his eight awards (the award for Song of the Year went to Thomas and Itaal Shur, who wrote "Smooth"), Santana tied Michael Jackson's 1983 record for most Grammy Awards won in a single year.

Santana followed up his award-winning album with Shaman (2002), which received additional accolades. He and Michelle Branch won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals for the top 5 song "The Game of Love." Another interesting array of collaborators appeared on Santana's next album All That I Am (2005), including Mary J. Blige, Los Lonely Boys and Steven Tyler.

Lifetime Achievement Award and Recent Albums
In 2009, Santana received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Billboard Latin Music Awards. He also debuted his own music review, Supernatural Santana: A Trip Through the Hits, at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas that same year. Santana continued to take his music on the road, playing numerous tour dates each year. In 2013, he became a recipient of the Kennedy Center

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