What Is Carlos Santana's Net Worth?
Carlos Santana is a Mexican and American musician who has a net worth of $120 million. Carlos Santana rose to fame in the late '60s and early '70s with his massively popular fusion of rock and Latin music. Heavily influenced by blues, jazz, and folk, his group Santana took northern California by storm and was initially signed by CBS Records. Just prior to the release of their first album, they performed at Woodstock. Their 1969 performance, which is now legendary, launched them into international stardom and fueled the success of their album. The single "Evil Ways" reached #9 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, and the album itself, "Santana," rose to #4 on the charts. Throughout the next few years, his band would have an ever-shifting lineup, and the sound of the group would slowly move toward jazz fusion. Even with all the changes, Carlos Santana would churn out successful tracks, including "Black Magic Woman," "Oye Come Va," "Everybody's Everything," "No One to Depend On," "She's Not There," "Stormy," "Winning," and "Hold On." He fell out of favor in the '90s but bounced back in a big way with the 1999 release of his album "Supernatural." "Supernatural" went on to spawn multiple hit songs, including the #1 tracks "Smooth" and "Maria Maria," and won nine Grammy Awards. He has continued to release popular tracks and albums since then and has conducted several successful world tours.
Early Life
Carlos Santana was born Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán on July 20, 1947, in Autlán, Jalisco, Mexico. The young Santana took an interest in music from a very early age, taking up the violin when he was just five years old and then the guitar (which would go on to become his signature instrument) at age eight. He studied under his father, who worked as a musician in a Mariachi band but eventually began to study popular American artists like Ritchie Valens – this at a time when rock music had not really hit the mainstream in Mexico. Eventually, Carlos and his family moved to San Francisco, California, and his career in music began in earnest.
Music Career
A songwriter and guitarist, Carlos Santana has won several Grammy Awards, Latin Grammy Awards, "Billboard" Music Awards, and too many other music awards to list here during his career to date. He popularized the Latin-fusion sound, which can best be described as a mixture of rock, salsa, and jazz, in the late '60s and '70s with his band, Santana. But it was in 1966 that Carlos started his first band, known as the Santana Blues Band, and Santana began to incorporate a variety of different influences into his work from a variety of different genres, including psychedelic soul acts like Sly and the Family Stone and Jimi Hendrix, British rock bands like the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, jazz artists like Miles Davis and John Coltrane, and Latin artists like Tito Puente and Mongo Santamaría. All these disparate influences mixed into what would eventually produce the sound of Santana, which, with its new shortened name, released its debut album in 1969 with Columbia Records. After a few personnel changes that geared the band towards more of a hard rock sound, Santana was booked at the now legendary Woodstock Festival, which along with various recordings of the fest – including the award-winning documentary known simply as "Woodstock" – contributed greatly to the band's early popularity, and continue to be enjoyed by fans of 60s music today.
The following year, Santana released what would be the band's breakthrough album, "Abraxas," and altogether, the band has released a staggering 25 studio albums from 1969 to 2019, over and above Santana's work as a solo artist.
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Those solo albums include seven studio albums, but Carlos has opted to release the bulk of his recordings with his eponymous band. Having continued to work in his own unique wheelhouse combining rock, jazz, and psychedelia over the following decades, he experienced a major resurgence of popularity and critical acclaim in the late 1990s, when his 1999 album "Supernatural" was an enormous success, selling more than 15 million albums in the US alone and 30 million worldwide. That album was #1 in ten countries and won eight Grammys, including Album of the Year. However, the biggest hit from the album was "Smooth," a collaboration with another completely different band – rock group Matchbox 20. "Smooth" was a smash hit and continues to receive copious airplay today.
Since the success of "Smooth," Santana has grown comfortably into the role of an elder statesman of rock music, consistently being cited on lists of the greatest guitarists of all time. In 2009, he appeared on that season's finale of "American Idol" alongside other legendary groups like KISS and Queen. In 2014, he released his first-ever album in his native Spanish language, entitled "Corazon."
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Other Endeavors
Santana has focused largely on music throughout his career, but he has been involved in at least one business pursuit: a chain of Mexican restaurants opened with Chef Roberto Santibañez with a handful of locations throughout the southwest and southeast of the US. It's called "Maria Maria," after one of his most famous songs. In 2014, he also made his debut as a published other, releasing his memoirs under the title "The Universal Tone: Bringing My Story to Light."
Personal Life
A naturalized American citizen since 1965, Carlos spent most of his life married to Deborah Santana. She filed for divorce on October 19, 2007, after 34 years of marriage, citing "irreconcilable differences." They had three children together, Salvador (who is also a professional musician), Stella, and Angelica.
In December 2010, he married Cindy Blackman, the drummer for Lenny Kravitz.
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Carlos Santana Quote About Money
"I'm laughing because I know the secret of life. And the secret of life is that I have validated my existence. I know that I am worth more than my house, my bank account, or any physical thing."
Real Estate
Carlos Santana has demonstrated a preference for recently constructed homes over the last several years. In 2013, he reportedly spent $6 million on an elaborate home in a modern style in Las Vegas, mere blocks away from another four-bedroom house he'd purchased in 2010 for $3.5 million, later listing it for sale around the time that he purchased the latter home. The house boasted cutting-edge technology for climate control, security, and comfort, as well as a home movie theater and game room, among numerous other amenities. The house is located in an extremely upscale Las Vegas community located on Bear's Best Golf Club, and it was reported back in 2013 that the $6 million he spent on the home represented the most paid for any residence per square foot over the previous several years, and also the fifth highest home purchase in Vegas at that time.
He's also been linked to a two-building compound located in San Rafael, California, just a 20-minute drive from his old adopted San Francisco hometown.
Over in Hawaii, Carlos owns several impressive properties.
In March 2012, he listed a home in Maui not far from the Ritz Kapalua for $7.5 million. He appears to have eventually accepted $4.7 million. Here's a video tour:
In May 2019, Carlos paid $2.7 million for a lush home on the island of Kauai. A year later he paid $8 million for another home on Kauai.
In June 2021, Carlos paid $20.5 million for A THIRD home on Kauai. Around the time of this purchase, he put the $8 million Kauai home on the market for $13 million – $3 million more than he paid a year earlier. In March 2022, Carlos sold this second Kauai home for $11.9 million.
