Mexican Guitar Legend Carlos Santana to Receive Kennedy Center Honors

Mexican-born guitar virtuoso Carlos Santana is known for infusing a unique soulfulness into his distinctive brand of music.

The legendary guitar player will be acknowledged for his exceptional contributions to the music world with a Kennedy Center Honors this December. According to Rolling Stone, the guitarist will be receiving the honor along with iconic singer/songwriter Billy Joel, jazz legend Herbie Hancock, opera star Martina Arroyo and veteran actress Shirley MacLaine. 

Santana will be honored for four decades of groundbreaking guitar playing. He is famous for his unique blend of "Afro-Latin-blues-rock," according to Santana's website. 

Santana, who hails from Autlán de Navarro, Jalisco, Mexico, moved with his family to Tijuana and then to San Francisco in the mid 1960s. As a teenager, Santana became enthralled with the burgeoning Bay Area music scene, which was producing "hippie" music acts such as the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane. Santana eventually caught the eye of other musicians while playing at venues such as the Fillmore West.

Santana then formed a band with David Brown and Gregg Rolie, called the Santana Blues Band, which was eventually shortened to 'Santana.'

The group gained worldwide recognition when they performed at the Woodstock festival in 1969, the same year in which the band's eponymous album was released. (Santana was signed to Columbia Records.) Their first album contained their first Top Ten hit, "Evil Ways." It was followed by two Billboard #1 albums, "Abraxas" and "Santana III."

Carlos Santana's style evolved over the years, never ceasing to reach new heights of innovation. After artistic differences and drug issues, the original Santana band parted ways, and Carlos formed a new band, still called Santana, in 1973. Santana delved into a very creative, spiritual period, in which he followed the guru Sri Chinmoy and experimented with different kinds of jazz. 

Santana embarked on a solo career in the late '70s, releasing the solo albums "Oneness: Silver Dreams-Golden Reality" in 1979 and "The Swing of Delight" in 1980, which featured a collaboration with fellow Kennedy Center honoree Herbie Hancock. 

Now 66, Santana has sold more than 100 million records and won 10 Grammy Awards, including an astounding nine Grammys for his 1999 comeback album, "Supernatural," which included the smash hit "Smooth." 

According to his website, the band Santana was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Carlos was awarded with the Billboard Latin Music Awards' 2009 Lifetime Achievement Honor, and the Billboard Century Award in 1996. He has also been cited by Rolling Stone as #15 on the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time." Rolling Stone said of Santana: "Santana's crystalline tone and clean arcing sustain make him the rare instrumentalist who can be identified in just one note." 

Santana is also a philanthropist who places a strong emphasis on humanitarian work. Santana established the Milagro Foundation in 1998, which has granted more than $5 million to non-profit programs that serve underprivileged children and youth in the arts, health and education. Milagro means "miracle" in Spanish.  

Santana has also successfully delved into another artistic arena: fashion and product design. Santana founded River of Colors (ROC) in 1997 to put out a brand of products that have a uniquely Santana flavor. ROC includes shoes, handbags, headwear, sparkling wine and specialized musical instruments, including electric guitars. 

Santana, along with Arroyo, are both receiving Kennedy Center Honors after the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts criticized the Kennedy Center for the lack of Latinos among the past 180 honorees. The complaint helped change the selection process to include public nominations, as well as a greater number of artists and officials to help choose the recipients, Rolling Stone reported. 

Santana gave a statement after receiving news of his impending honor. "I guess people understand that Santana is not just a Mexican guitar player - I bring a collective-consciousness awareness agenda with me," said Santana, according to Rolling Stone. 

"I grew up with the generation of Woodstock and Bob Marley, 'One Love,' and 'Imagine,' John Lennon. I am one of them, and we don't do what we do to be commercial or to be popular or to be cute. It's not entertainment or show business for us. For us, it's a calling."