Salvador Santana

Salvador Santana was born in 1983 in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is a Latin instrumentalist whose main instrument is the keyboard. He sings and loves spoken word, but piano and keyboard have always been his mainstays. He is also notably the son of ten-time Grammy winning guitarist Carlos Santana and poet/author Deborah Santana. His maternal grandfather, Saunders King, is an icon of American blues and his paternal grandfather, Jose Santana, is a legendary violinist and mariachi bandleader.

Santana began playing piano at the age of five. He was instructed by Maria Miget. He later went on to study music at San Francisco School of the Arts High School. He took up playing percussion and found a niche with the tympani drum. He also played piano in the school’s award-winning jazz band.

In 1999, Santana collaborated with his father on the Grammy winning track “El Farol” off smash album Supernatural.

For higher education, Santana attended California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California. In 2004 he established the Salvador Santana Band. Current members of the group are Emerson Cardenas (bass), Quincy McQuary (vocals, keyboards), Woody Aplanalp (guitar), Tony Austin (drums) and José Espinoza (sax, percussion, vocals). Salvador Santana prefers a fresh musical style which incorporates elements of hip hop and jazz. His musical roots stem from the Latin rock of Carlos Santana, his grandfathers, Saunders King and Jose Santana, as well as the music of jazz artists John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Thelonious Monk, and Oscar Peterson. He loves Atmosphere, Ozomatli and many other contemporary artists.

SSB’s current self-titled CD has the hit single, Summer’s Day.

Santana has been touring the world since 2004, making his own mark as a musician. He has achieved great success amongst the quickly growing Latin music market.