Carlos Santana Net Worth
| Net Worth | $ 120,000,000 |
|---|---|
| Real name | Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán |
| Source of Wealth | Music |
| Profession | Guitarist, Songwriter, Musician |
| Spouse/Partner | Cindy Blackman |
| Date of Birth | Jul 20, 1947 |
| Zodiac | Cancer |
| Age | 75 |
| Gender | Male |
| Height | 177 cm / 5 ft 9 inch |
| Nationality | American, Mexican |
| Siblings | Jorge Santana |
Biography
Carlos Santana is an American guitarist of Mexican descent, who’s gotten multiple Grammy and Latin Grammy Awards for his musical work.
Santana has collaborated with some of the most famous artists of his genre, including Los Lonely Boys, Maná, Lenny Kravitz, and numerous others.
Carlos Santana has been active since the late ‘60s until today, and his accumulated net worth is estimated at $120 million as of 2022.
Early life
Carlos Santana was born in Autlán de Navarro, located in Jalisco, Mexico, to parents José Santana and Josefina Barragan de Santana. Carlos learned how to play the violin when he was just five years old. His father, José, was a part of a mariachi band, and as a musician, he tutored both Carlos and his younger brother, Jorge.
As it would turn out, both children preferred playing the guitar instead of the violin. By the time Carlos turned eight, he had already learned to play the guitar and the violin.
Before Santana entered his teenage years, his family moved from Autlán to Tijuana, right on the border with the United States. Not long after, his family managed to move to America, specifically to San Francisco, California.
Unfortunately, this period was extremely traumatizing for Carlos because he was a victim of sexual abuse from the age of 10 to 12 by an American man who helped him and his family to move across the border.
He finished high school at Mission High School in 1965. Even though he was accepted at California State University and Humboldt State University, Santana decided not to go to college, and pursue his musical career instead.
In 1966, Santana created his first band - Santana Blues Band, and stated that at that time, he was heavily influenced by electric blues, including artists like B. B. King, Javier Bátiz, John Lee Hooker, and Gábor Szabó.[1]
Career
During the ‘60s, Santana had several gigs with local bands and, after creating his own band. Since he moved to San Francisco, he had front-row seats to observe the rapidly growing hippie movement, which had a massive impact on the S.F. area.
Reportedly, at this time, Santana was working as a dishwasher at a restaurant, struggling to gather enough money to buy an electric guitar. At last, in ‘66, he and several other musicians were chosen to create a band and perform at the “Fillmore Auditorium.”
As a result, Santana and several other street musicians: David Brown (bass guitar), Marcus Malone (percussion), and Gregg Rolie (lead vocalist), formed a band called Santana Blues Band. The band played a mix of Latin rock, jazz, blues, and salsa, including African rhythms.
Towards the end of 1968, the band got signed to Columbia Records, but shortened the band’s name to ‘Santana.’ In January 1968, the band got their first shot at recording a studio album; however, some of the band members changed. The drummer Bob Livingston was replaced by Mike Shrieve, while the percussionist Marcus Malone was arrested on involuntary manslaughter charges, and replaced by Michael Carabello and José Chepito Areas.
In the summer of 1969, Santana and his band got added to the list of performers for the well-known Woodstock ‘69. Reportedly, their music promoter, Bill Graham, pulled some strings to add the band to perform briefly on the second day of the festival. The festival had over 400,000 attendees, which was helpful for the band to establish an audience without even having a single album released.
That same month, the band released their first album - “Santana,” which was an immediate hit and reached the No. 4 on the Billboard 200 list.
The following year, the band quickly rose to fame and was almost constantly in the public eye. In the meantime, some of the band members had disagreements regarding what they wanted to pursue as a genre, and how they would develop their sound. Some band members were leaning towards hard rock, while Carlos wanted to develop a jazzy, celestial rhythm.
In 1970, the Santana band released their second studio album - “Abraxas.” This album was an immediate hit as well, and it contained two of their most famous songs - “Oye Como Va,” and “Black Magic Woman.”
The album reached the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart and stayed there for six consecutive weeks. The album lingered on the charts for 88 weeks and received a 4x platinum by 1986.
In 1971, the band received a new member - Neal Schon, a guitarist. Soon after, they released their third studio album, “Santana III,” which reached No. 1 as well, and sold two million copies.
By 1972, Michael Carabello left the band as a result of differences between him and Carlos Santana, and David Brown had to leave the band due to substance abuse problems. Hence, Santana, Schon, Lewis, and Escovedo joined Buddy Miles at a concert in Diamond Head Crater, and released “Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles! Live” later that year, an album that would turn into a gold record.
In 1972, Santana released their fourth studio album - “Caravanserai.” This album leaned towards jazz fusion instead of what the audience was used to. As a result, numbers dropped, and Santana was torn between pursuing his new dream to establish a jazz fusion rhythm, and going back to what his already-existing audience wanted from him.
CBS was firmly against Santana shifting styles and refused to release Santana’s live performance of Caravanserai, performed in Japan. Santana decided to release the LP as an imported three-record set, which was fairly expensive, resulting in fewer sales.
In 1974, Santana collaborated with Alice Coltrane and released “Illuminations” - an abstruse ‘free’ jazz album with Eastern Indian influences.
In 1976, Santana released a new album with Greg Walker, called “Amigos.” Santana brought his audience back and was presented with fifteen golden discs in Australia, selling over 244,000.
In addition, he recorded two solo projects: “Oneness: Silver Dreams - Golden Reality” (1979) and “The Swing of Delight” (1980).
During the ‘80s and ‘90s, Santana worked on several other projects: the singles “Winning” and “Hold On” reached the top 20, followed by the release of the 1983 album “Havana Moon”, and the film score for “La Bamba.”
Awards and Recognitions
He released “Beyond Appearances” in 1985 with the Santana band, followed by “Freedom” in 1987, and the solo record “Blues for Salvador” later the same year, which got him a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
During the ‘90s, he worked on the album “Spirits Dancing in the Flesh,” followed by “Milagro,” released in 1992. In 1993, he released “Brothers,” a collaboration with his brother Jorge and nephew Carlos Hernandez.
In the following period, he reached commercial success with the release of “Smooth,” “Maria Maria,” and Michael Jackson’s “Whatever Happens.”
In 2000, Santana won eight Grammy Awards, in the categories of Album of the Year, Record of the Year - “Smooth,” and Song of the Year.
By 2003, Santana was named #15 on the Rolling Stone list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.
He has since then collaborated with major artists like Eric Clapton, Gloria Estefan, Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, CeeLo Green, Maná, and numerous others.
Personal life and controversies
Santana was known to use drugs, and many reporters claim he was using acid while performing at the Woodstock ‘69 festival.
When he started his spiritual journey in ‘72, he reportedly stopped using marijuana until 1981. However, as of today, Santana owns his own brand of cannabis - “Mirayo,” honoring the Latin heritage of the plant.[2]
Santana got married to Deborah Santana (neé King) in 1973, and they were together until 2007, splitting up after 34 years of marriage. The couple shared three children: Salvador, Stella, and Angelica.
Only three years after his divorce, Carlos Santana proposed to his new drummer - Cindy Blackman, during a concert, on stage, in Illinois. The couple remains married today, and shares a home in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Towards the end of 2021, Santana collapsed on stage while performing. This happened as a result of severe dehydration and heat, and his several other shows had been canceled.
Conclusion
The Latin fusion sound master, Carlos Santana, is an American musician and guitarist of Mexican heritage, widely famous for his music.
He lived in the wildest times of rock’n’roll and is considered one of the best guitarists of all time.
As of 2022, Carlos Santana’s net worth is estimated at $120 million.
References
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Carlos Santana (2022) Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Santana (Accessed: December 16, 2022).
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Carlos Santana (no date) Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Carlos-Santana (Accessed: December 16, 2022).
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