Carlos Santana Caricature

Circa 1998, is a Mexican and American musician who first became famous in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s with his band, Santana, which pioneered a fusion of rock and Latin American music.
The band’s sound featured his melodic, blues-based guitar lines set against Latin and African rhythms featuring percussion instruments such as timbales and congas not generally heard in rock music.
Carlos never really sings in his bands, but just plays guitar and long solos.
Santana was born in Autlán de Navarro, Jalisco, Mexico. He learned to play the violin at age five and the guitar at age eight under the tutelage of his father, a mariachi musician.
Carlos was heavily influenced by Ritchie Valens at a time when there were very few Mexicans in American rock and pop music.
At the Woodstock Music Festival, Santana were one of the surprises of the event; their set was legendary and later the exposure of their eleven-minute instrumental “Soul Sacrifice”.
Their first album, Santana, was released in August 1969 and became a huge hit, reaching #4 on the U.S. album charts, with the catchy single “Evil Ways” reaching number nine on the Billboard Hot 100.
Santana became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1965.