Carlos Santana began playing music at the early age of 5, learning from his father, Jose, an accomplished mariachi violinist. Today, Santana’s record breaking sales of more than fifty million albums, make his small beginnings in the border town of Tijuana, Mexico seem almost surreal. For more than thirty years, Santana has been creating music for every decade and generation. Santana, the band, has sold more than 30 million concert tickets to fans in every region in the world and recently in 1998; Carlos Santana was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after winning 9 Grammy’s for the album Supernatural, the 36th album of his career.

Santana has been credited with inventing “World Music” with their mixture of Latin, Cuban and pan-Caribbean sounds and instruments. After exploding onstage at the infamous Woodstock Festival in 1969, Santana has been an under riding influence in all forms of music, from classical guitar to rhythm and blues. Unlike most bands that performed at Woodstock, Santana is still around performing music today with record breaking sales for their album Supernatural and having the longest number one single on the Billboard charts for 1999 with “Smooth.” Outlasting countless musical trends is one of the key reasons Santana’s fans have stayed so loyal through the years. Their concert tours sell out immediately; making Santana concert tickets a prized possession.

At this point in Santana’s career there is nothing that they could do wrong. If they decide to retire, fans have more than 30 albums to choose from for their Santana fix, if they decide to tour, it would be an instant sell-out and if they want to continue to collaborate with the likes of Eric Clapton, Rob Thomas (Matchbox 20), Dave Matthews, Eagle Eye Cherry, Everlast and Lauryn Hill, among others. These powerhouse collaborations are one of the reasons Santana has carved a niche in modern music that will be virtually impossible to replace by any newcomer, which is probably the primary reason Carlos Santana and his group are still at the top of their game.