 Santana is an American-Latin rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1966 by Mexican-American guitarist Carlos Santana. The band first came to widespread public attention when their performance of Soul Sacrifice at Woodstock in 1969 provided a contrast to other acts on the bill. This exposure helped propel their first album, also named Santana, into a hit, followed in the next two years by the successful Abraxas and Santana 3. In the years that followed, line-up changes were common. Carlos Santana's increasing involvement with Guru Sri Chinmoy took the band into more esoteric music, though never quite losing its initial Latin influence. In 1998, Santana was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with Carlos Santana, Jose Kepito Arias, David Brown, Greg Raleigh, Mike Carabello and Michael Shrieve being honored. The band has earned nine Grammy Awards and three Latin Grammy Awards, the latter all in 2000. Carlos also won a Grammy Award as a solo artist in 1988. Santana has sold more than 90 million records worldwide, making them one of the world's best-selling groups of all time. In 2013, Santana announced a reunion of the classic line-up for a new record, Santana 4 which was released in April 2016. They are tied for having the most won Grammys in one night. History 1967-72, Formation and Peak Years Early Days The band was formed in 1966 in San Francisco as the Santana Blues Band with the help of Tom Fraser. The first established members were Carlos Santana, lead guitar, Marcus Malone, percussion, Rod Harper, drums, Gus Rodriguez, bass guitar, and Greg Raleigh, lead vocals, Hammond Organ B3. The group's first audition with this line-up was at the Avalon Ballroom in the late summer of 1967. After the audition, Chet Helms, the promoter of the event, in concert with the family dog, told the band that they would never make it in the San Francisco music scene playing Latin fusion and suggested Carlos keep his day job washing dishes at Tick Tocks Inn on 3rd Street. By the time Santana began work on its debut album Santana, Malone had already left the band as he had been convicted of manslaughter and had started serving his sentence in Marin County's San Quentin State Prison. Woodstock and Breakthrough Ahead of Woodstock, Bill Gramm was asked to help with logistics and planning. Bill agreed to lend his help only if a new band he was championing, an unknown band called Santana was added to the bill. Santana was announced as one of the performers at the Woodstock Festival. The band started recording their 1969 debut album Santana in May 1969 and finished it in a month. Santana performed at the festival. Later that month, they released their debut album, which peaked at number four on the US Billboard 200 pop chart with the single Evil Ways being a top ten single in the US. Abraxas and Santana 3 Santana went on tour to promote their debut LP and started work on their next, Abraxas. Work began in mid-April 1970 at Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco and was completed in early May 1970. The album, highlighted by a reworking of Fleetwood Mac's Black Magic Woman, written by Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green, that peaked at number four on the US Billboard Hot 100, was released in September 1970 and rose to number one on the US Billboard 200. From January to July 1971 Santana worked on Santana 3. Released in September 1971, the album also reached number one on the US Billboard 200. At the peak of the band's popularity, the album was the last to feature its classic Woodstock era lineup. Caravansari Before recording their fourth album Caravansari, there had been multiple lineup changes. Bassist David Brown left in 1971 before recording started and was replaced by Doug Rock and Tom Rutley. Percussionist Michael Carabello left Santana and was replaced with two percussionists, Armando Paraza and Mingo Lewis. Keyboardist vocalist Greg Raleigh was replaced by Tom Koster on a few songs. Caravansari debuted at number eight on the pop charts, despite not spawning a hit single. 1973-79, experimentation and consolidation 13 months after Caravansari, Santana released Welcome. Welcome was the first of four consecutive albums to achieve gold certification, as opposed to the previous four, which all at least reached platinum status. The album was certainly a wake-up call for the band, as it peaked at number 25 on the Billboard 200, the lowest of the band's career so far. The next few albums contained a more experimental style than their previous work, beginning with Borboleta, which fared arguably worse than its predecessor, despite climbing five spots on the US charts. The group's 1975 release, Amigos, was far more successful. Reaching number 10 on the US charts, and also hitting the top 10 in France, Australia, New Zealand, Austria and the Netherlands, it was a form of return to the success of their early albums. Festival, somewhat contradicted that new found success, but was a short blip before another successful album, Moonflower, released in 1977. The album was possibly the most successful since Santana III achieving 2x platinum in the US, and being the first album since 1974's Borboleta, to break the top 10 in the UK. It was characterized by a stylistic shift for the band, as it contained heavier influences from the more conventional sound of the group's early work, while still maintaining the experimental sound of their last few albums. Their next two releases, Inner Secrets and Marathon, released in 1978 and 79, respectively, were a further musical shift for the band, moving away from the Latin fused rock music that had characterized their work in the late 1960's and the majority of the 70's, to move towards a more album oriented, conventional rock sound. These albums, however, fared poorly commercially, although both achieved gold status in the US. 1980-97, commercial decline and seven-year hiatus The 1980s started relatively brightly for Santana, with 1981's platinum selling Zbop, which also reached the top 20 in several countries, and continued the more conventional rock sound. The following year, Chango was released, this album marked a steep decline in the band's commercial fortunes, although it achieved gold status. The group waited another three years to release the follow-up, the longest break for them so far. 1985's Beyond Appearances, was a commercial failure, and their first album not to achieve gold certification. Their following three releases all continued this commercial decline, with the last of these failing to break the Billboard Top 100. In the midst of this commercial pitfall, the band stopped recording material for an unprecedented seven years but continued to tour. 1998-2001, best-selling album, Grammy Awards and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1998, with the group still being on hiatus, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This proved only to be the start of better things to come for Carlos Santana and his band. Their 1999 release, Supernatural, debuted at number 19 on the Billboard 200, but the album's appeal began to snowball, and within 18 weeks it topped the US charts. The lead single released from the album, Smooth, hit the number one spot on the Hot 100, and sparked an unstoppable commercial frenzy, and by October 30 the album peaked at number one, and stayed there for 12 non-consecutive weeks. Not only was the album a hit in the US, it slowly began to spread worldwide, topping charts internationally. The second single released from the album, Maria Maria also hit the number one spot on the Hot 100. Eventually the album reached 15x platinum in the US, and sold 30 million copies worldwide. The album came 28 years after their last US number one, which was Santana 3 in 1971. According to Guinness Book of World Records, this is the longest gap between US number one albums for the same artist. Musically, the album represented a significant musical shift for the group. The album's predecessor, Malagro, contained strong hard rock influences in addition to the usual Latin rock. However, Supernatural, while still maintaining a Latin and blues rock core, showed influences from popular genres of the era, most notably alternative rock, and also pop rock and rand b. The album won nine Grammy Awards, including the award for album of the year, and also won three Latin Grammy Awards, including record of the year. Also noteworthy were the album's many collaborations, with the lead single featuring the lead vocals of popular matchbox 20-singer Rob Thomas. The second number one hit was recorded in collaboration with the product Gant B, and another popular single from the album, Put Your Lights On, featured hip-hop and alternative rock artist Everlast. Other guest artists included Eric Clapton, Eagle Eye Cherry, Lauren Hill, Dave Matthews, and Celo. 2002-12, dealing with newfound success. The follow-up to Supernatural came three years later and was highly anticipated by international media and fans alike. On October 22, 2002, Shaman was released worldwide. Although it initially sold briskly, 298,973 copies in the US in its first week, and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, the album's appeal quickly wore off and it soon slid down the charts. Despite this, it went on to sell 2x platinum in the US, and achieved platinum status in several other countries including Australia. The first single released from the album, The Game of Love, which featured vocals from Michelle Branch, debuted at number five on the Hot 100. The album's next four singles failed to chart in most countries, but the final single, Why Don't You and I, featuring the vocals of Alex Band, reached number eight on the Hot 100. Musically, the album was a return to a more conventional sound for the group, with the mainly Latin rock-based sound. With their renewed appeal worn off, another three-year wait saw the release of 2005's All That I Am. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 but fared worse internationally, and quickly lost appeal. The album, a continuation of the Latin rock-influenced sound of Shaman, achieved gold certification in the US. A five-year break from recording saw the release of another studio album, 2010's Guitar Heaven. Musically it was a drastic change for the band, with a far heavier sound at its core and strong heavy metal influences. It debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 but marked another decline for the band, failing to achieve gold status. In 2012 the group released Shape Shifter, which returned to the conventional Latin rock sound and was completely album-oriented, as no singles were released from it. It debuted at number 16 on the Billboard 200. 2013–present, Reunion of the Classic Line-Up, Chorus on and Santana 4. On February 2, 2013, Carlos Santana confirmed that he would reunite his classic line-up, most of whom played Woodstock with him in 1969. Santana stated that he is reuniting the group with the intention of recording new music. Confirmed for the reunion are Neil Sean, who was in the band in the early 1970s where he traded lead guitar work with Santana before leaving with founding Santana singer-organist Greg Raleigh in 1973 to form Journey, drummer Mike Schrieve and percussionist Mike Carabello. Santana said of Raleigh, who played with Ringo Starr's All-Star Band for the last two years, �I�m pretty sure Greg�s going to do it.� In February 2013, Raleigh told Radio.com, �It�s, the reunion, just a matter of putting it together and going and doing it. I would do it. I think it�s a great idea. People would love it. It could be great.� In the meantime, Santana released on May 6, 2014 a new studio album entitled Corazon and on September 9, 2014, Corazon Live from Mexico, Live It to Believe It, a new live album, on CD, DVD and Blu-ray, of their show in December 14, 2013 in Guadalajara, Mexico. On April 15, 2016, Santana released Santana for the wildly anticipated studio album that reunites the early 1970s classic lineup of Carlos Santana, guitar, vocals, Greg Raleigh, keyboards, lead vocals, Neil Sean, guitar, vocals, Michael Carabello, percussion, and Michael Schrieve, drums. The album marks the first time in 45 years since 1971�s multi-platinum classic Santana 3 that the quintet has recorded together. The origins for the reunion go back several years, when Sean suggested that he and Carlos Santana record together. Santana liked the idea but went one better, proposing that they recruit Raleigh, Schrieve and Carabello for what would be called Santana 4. After initial writing sessions and rehearsals took place in 2013, the group recorded throughout 2014 and 2015, amassing 16 new tracks that combined all their signature elements Afro-Latin rhythms, soaring vocals, electrifying blues psychedelic guitar solos, and irrepressible jubilant percussion work. About the Santana 4 team, Santana stated, �It was magical, we didn�t have to try to force the vibe it was immense. From there, we then needed to come up with a balance of songs and jams that people would immediately identify as Santana.� Santana 4 features 16 all-new tracks written and produced by the band. Joining the core Santana 4 band in the studio are current Santana members Carl Parazzo, Percussion, and Benny Rietwald, bass, with vocalist Ronald Isley guesting on two cuts. The first single from Santana 4 entitled �Anywhere You Want to Go!� was released on February 5, 2016. On October 21, 2016, Santana released Santana 4, live at the House of Blues Las Vegas on Eagle Rock Entertainment, a new, 151 minutes, live album, on DVD Blue Ray 2 CD, of their concert on March 21, 2016 at the House of Blues, Las Vegas, Nevada.