Carlos Santana

Multi-platinum world music icon Carlos Santana will bring his impressive roster of crossover hits to Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on April 30.

Carlos Santana has been reinventing and reshaping the popular music landscape and culture for close to four decades. His signature sound-fusing rock, jazz, blues, soul, Latin idioms, multi-cultural genres and more-is as unique as it is instantly identifiable. Born in Autlan de Navarro, Mexico-where there's now a street and public square in his name--to the son of a virtuoso Mariachi violinist, Santana followed in his father's musical footsteps, taking up the violin at the age of five. It was when his family moved to Tijuana several years later, however, that Santana began his lifelong relationship with the instrument that would make him a musical icon--the guitar. Early on he emulated his heroes--John Lee Hooker, T. Bone Walker, and B.B. King-who he heard on powerful American radio stations when their signals crossed the border.

In 1961, Santana made the crossing himself, moving from his native Mexico to San Francisco. A few years later, he formed the Santana Blues Band there, and the cool, soulful riffs and rhythms of his Latin-blues based sound found an audience eager for his innovative musical ideas. Santana and company emerged as giants of the era-defining Bay Area music scene of the late '60s, and their fame grew far beyond its parameters while their artistry remained true to its free-flying spirit. Massive success quickly followed. By the end of the decade, Santana had played to packed houses on a cross-country tour, performed on the venerable Ed Sullivan Show, and made an indelible global mark with his legendary, crowd-detonating performance at the original Woodstock festival in 1969. He has not slowed down since.


As a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Santana has sold more than 90 million records, and performed to over 100 million people, globally. He has won ten Grammy Awards, including a record tying nine for a single project for his 36th album, the blockbuster 1999 disc Supernatural. Now exceeding 25 million in sales, Supernatural's citations included Album of the Year and Record of the Year for the smash single "Smooth." Santana has also won three Latin GRAMMY Awards, and in 2004, he received the Latin Recording Academy's prestigious "Person of the Year" honor. His most recent releases are 2005's All That I Am and 2007's Carlos Santana and Wayne Shorter Live at the 1988 Montreux Jazz Festival. Photo by: Johnny Louis/jlnphotography.com