Jose Chepito Areas was born.
David Brown was born.
Gregg Rolie was born.
Carlos Santana was born.
Mike Carabello was born.
Michael Shrieve was born.
The Santana Blues Band forms in San Francisco.
Having worked their way up from the street, the Santana Blues Band performs at San Francisco’s storied Avalon Ballroom. They soon become regulars at the Fillmore West, and Bill Graham himself manages the band.
Muddy Waters performs at the Sky River Rock Festival and Lighter-Than-Air Fair in Sultan, Washington. Some of the other artists include Santana, the Grateful Dead and the Youndbloods.
Santana appears before a crowd of 400,000 at Woodstock. One of the festival’s most indelible moments, their extended performance of the instrumental “Soul Sacrifice” appears in the ‘Woodstock’ film.
Hot on the heels of Woodstock, their self-titled first album—containing the favorites “Evil Ways,” “Jingo,” "Persuasion” and “Soul Sacrifice"—enters the album chart, where it remains for the next two years.
‘Abraxas’, Santana’s second album, tops the album chart for the first of six weeks. Although it is a favorite of FM rock stations, it also yields a pair of AM hits in “Black Magic Woman” (#4) and “Oye Como Va” (#13).
‘Santana III’, hits #1 for the first of five weeks. “Everybody’s Everything” reaches #12 on the singles chart a month later.
Caravanserai finds Santana headed in a jazzy new direction with a somewhat altered lineup. Despite its anti-commercial daring, the album reaches #8, attesting to Santana’s unassailable popularity.
A remake of the Zombies’ “She’s Not There,” taken from the double album ‘Moonflower’, is Santana’s first Top Forty single in five years.
Santana hits the Top Forty with “Hold On” and won’t repeat the feat until 1999.
Carlos Santana’s solo album, ‘Havana Moon’, is released.
Santana celebrates its 20th anniversary with a concert in San Francisco at which all 17 past and present members perform.
Carlos Santana wins a Grammy for Best Instrumental Rock Performance for his album Blues for Salvador.
Santana performs for a crowd of 350,000 at a memorial concert in San Francisco for Bill Graham, the legendary promoter and manager who’d recently died in a helicopter crash.
On the 25th anniversary of the original Woodstock Festival, Santana performs at Woodstock II.
‘Dance of the Rainbow Serpent’, a three-CD Santana anthology, is released on Columbia’s Legacy label.
Carlos Santana is honored with the Century Award for lifetime achievement at the fifth annual Billboard Music Awards.
Santana is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the thirteenth annual induction dinner. John Popper, of Blues Traveler, is their presenter.
‘Supernatural’, Santana’s first album for Arista Records, is released. It goes on to sell more than 21 million copies worldwide—13 million in the U.S. alone. Though released at midyear, ‘Supernatural’ is 1999’s sixth best-selling album.
“Smooth,” with lyrics and vocals by Matchbox 20’s Rob Thomas, becomes Santana’s first #1 single. It holds down the top spot for 12 consecutive weeks and is the longest running #1 single of 1999.
Carlos Santana sweeps the 42nd Grammy Awards, winning in nine categories.
“Maria Maria,” another single from Santana’s ‘Supernatural’, hits #1 for the first of ten straight weeks.
David Brown of Santana dies due to liver and kidney failure.
