Carlos Manuel Santana

Rock guitarist Carlos Santana was born in Mexico in 1947 and rose to prominence in the 1960s as the front man of his band Santana. Santana's extraordinary guitar playing coupled with a polished songwriting style and first class musicianship projected the band into international superstardom with songs like 'Black Magic Woman' and 'Samba Pa Ti' etching his influence upon aspiring young guitarists around the globe. His soaring, melodic guitar solos set to a backdrop of African and Latin based rhythms give Santana's songs a unique and distinctive sound which makes them instantly recognisable. Although Santana's heyday was in the late 1960s and '70s he enjoyed a resurgence in popularity following the release of the critically acclaimed album 'Supernatural' in 1996 which heralded his most commercially successful period during which he garnered most of his industry awards, with his songwriting and performing being recognised by ten Grammy Awards and three Latin Grammy Awards.