Carlos Santana
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A Guitarist born on July 20, 1947 in Autlán de Navarro, Mexico. His father, Jose, was an accomplished professional violinist, and Carlos learned to play the guitar at age 8. In 1955, the family moved from Autlán de Navarro to Tijuana, the border city between Mexico and California. As a teenager, Santana began performing in Tijuana strip clubs, inspired by the American rock & roll and blues music of artists like B. B. King, Ray Charles, and Little Richard. In the early 1960s, Santana moved again with his family, this time to San Francisco, where his father hoped to find work.
In San Francisco, the young guitarist got the chance to see his idols, most notably King, perform live. He was also introduced to a variety of new musical influences, including jazz and international folk music, and witnessed the growing hippie movement centered in San Francisco in the 1960s. After several years spent working as a dishwasher in a diner and playing for spare change on the streets, Santana decided to become a full-time musician; in 1966, he formed the Santana Blues Band, with fellow street musicians David Brown and Gregg Rolie (bassist and keyboard player, respectively).
With their highly original blend of Latin-infused rock, jazz, blues, salsa, and African rhythms, the band (which quickly became known simply as Santana) gained an immediate following on the San Francisco club scene. The band's early success, capped off by a memorable performance at Woodstock in 1969, led to a recording contract with Columbia Records, then run by Clive Davis. Their first album, Santana (1969), spurred by a Top 10 single, "Evil Ways," went triple platinum, selling over four million copies and remaining on the Billboard chart for over two years. Abraxas, released in 1970, went platinum, scoring two more hit singles, "Oye Como Va" and "Black Magic Woman." The band's next two albums, Santana III (1971) and Caravanserai (1972), were also critical and popular successes.
As the band's personnel changed frequently, Santana (the band) came to be associated almost exclusively with Santana himself—who soon became the only remaining member of the original trio—and his psychedelic guitar riffs. In addition to his work with his band, Santana recorded and performed with a number of other musicians, notably including the jazz drummer Buddy Miles, pianist Herbie Hancock, and guitarist John McLaughlin. Along with McLaughlin, Santana became a devoted follower of the spiritual guru Sri Chimnoy during the early 1970s. Disillusioned with the heady, drug-addled world of 1970s rock music, Santana turned to Chimnoy's teachings of meditation and to a new kind of spiritually-oriented music, marked by a popular jazz album he recorded with McLaughlin, Love, Devotion, Surrender, in 1973.
Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, Santana and his band released a string of successful albums in their unique style. Notable albums of this time period included Amigos (1976) and Zebop (1981). During the 1980s, he continued to tour and record both solo and with the band, but his popularity began to decrease with the commercial audience's dwindling interest in the jazz/rock blend. Nevertheless, Santana earned critical acclaim throughout the decade, winning his first Grammy Award, for Best Instrumental Performance, for the 1987 solo album Blues for Salvador. He toured extensively, playing in sold-out auditoriums and on tours like LiveAid (1985) and Amnesty International (1986).
Santana left Columbia in 1991 and signed with Polydor, releasing Milagro (1992) and Sacred Fire: Live in South America (1993). Though he ended his association with Sri Chimnoy in 1982, he remained intensely spiritual; this quality came through especially strongly during his live performances. In 1994, he played at the commemorative concert at Woodstock, 25 years after his band's transformative performance at the original festival. Under his own label, Guts and Grace, he released a collaborative album, Brothers, with his brother Jorge Santana and nephew Carlos Hernandez, that was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental in 1994.
Santana's phenomenal comeback on the pop charts began in 1997, when he re-signed the band with his first producer and mentor, Davis, then the president of Arista Records. Davis enlisted a roster of prominent musicians—among them Eric Clapton, Lauryn Hill, Dave Matthews, and Wyclef Jean—to perform on the legendary guitarist's 35th album, Supernatural, released in 1999. By early 2000, the album had sold 10 million copies worldwide and spawned a No. 1 hit single, "Smooth," featuring catchy pop lyrics sung by Rob Thomas and Santana's Latin-spiced, electrically-charged guitar licks. Nominated in nine categories at the Grammy Awards—including Album of the Year (Supernatural), Record of the Year, and Song of the Year (both "Smooth")—Santana won in every category. With his eight awards (the award for Song of the Year went to Thomas and Itaal Shur, who wrote "Smooth"), Santana tied Michael Jackson's 1983 record for most Grammy Awards won in a single year.
Santana followed up his award-winning album with Shaman (2002), which received many accolades. He and Michelle Branch won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals for the song "The Game of Love." Another interesting array of collaborators appeared on his next album All That I Am (2005). Santana worked with Mary J. Blige, Los Lonely Boys, Steven Tyler, and others on this album. Santana also continues to take his music on the road, playing numerous tour dates each year.
Carlos Santana lives in Marin County, California, with his wife, Deborah, whom he married in 1973, and their three children, Salvador, Stella, and Angelica.
Juventino Rosas
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José Juventino Policarpo Rosas Cadenas (25 January 1868 – 9 July 1894) was a Mexican composer, violinist, and band leader.
Rosas was born into a poor Otomi family, in Santa Cruz de Galeana, Guanajuato, now renamed Santa Cruz de Juventino Rosas. In his youth he did whatever he could related to music, from ringing church bells to playing violin on the street, making music for his living from age 7 on. He used music for his ambitions to better himself, including composing a waltz in exchange for a pair of shoes.
He moved to Mexico City and soon became a well known musician and composer. At age 12 he was playing violin in one of the city's most popular dance bands. In his early teens, he worked accompanying well known singer Angela Peralta. Although he applied twice for entrance to the National Music Conservatory and briefly studied there, he was mostly self taught.
Rosas led a large orchestra and a brass band that toured internationally.
Rosas is best known work is "Sobre las Olas" or "Over the Waves". It was first published by Rosas in 1884 when he was in New Orleans, Louisiana with the popular Mexican band at the World Cotton Centennial World's Fair. It was later republished in Mexico and Europe in 1888, and 1891; these later years are sometimes incorrectly given as the piece's first publication date. It remains popular as a classic waltz, and has also found its way into New Orleans Jazz and Tejano music. In the United States "Sobre las Olas" has a cultural association with funfairs, and trapeze artists, as it was one of the tunes available for Wurlitzer's popular line of fairground organs. The music for "Over the Waves" was used for the tune "The Loveliest Night of the Year", which was sung by Ann Blyth in MGM's film The Great Caruso. It remains popular with country and old-time fiddlers in the United States.
In 1893 he led a band at the World Columbian Exposition World's Fair in Chicago, Illinois.
Rosas died in Surgidero de Batabanó, Cuba. Fifteen years later, in 1909, his remains were brought back to Mexico.
Luis Miguel
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Luis Miguel Gallego Basteri, Luis Miguel, was born on April 19, 1970 in San Juan, Puerto Rico and is a Mexican singer of Spanish and Italian descent who is one of the most popular celebrities
in Spain and Latin America. In Mexico, he is nicknamed El Sol ("The Sun"), Luismi, Micky or Luis mi rey.
For a while, he was thought to have been born in Mexico since he grew up in the state of Veracruz. When information was leaked to the press that he had been born in Puerto Rico he then had to acquired a Mexican citizenship. Luis Miguel has won some of the most prestigious music awards such as four Grammys and three World Music Awards and has performed at venues around the world. Luis Miguel has sold over 55 million copies worldwide.
He was the son of the late Spanish singer Luisito Rey (born Luis Gallego Sanchez) and Italian-born actress Marcella Basteri. He has two younger brothers: Sergio and Alejandro. His career started early. At the age of four, he appeared in public in Costa Rica. It was during this period, and for the next years as he grew from a child into a teenager, that he was exposed by his father, then manager, to watch and analyze practically every movie, recording, and concert performance that Elvis Presley put on tape, as a learning process towards the attainment of a high degree of showmanship.
His actual recording career started in 1981, when he recorded his first album, 1+1= 2 Enamorados (1+1 = 2 people in love) with the Mexican branch of EMI. Two years later, he started touring Latin American countries including Colombia, Venezuela, Chile and Argentina. In 1985, he took part in the San Remo Music Festival, where he won his first award with his song Noi ragazzi di oggi ("We boys of today"). That same year, he also won the Antorcha de Plata (silver torch) award in the Vina del Mar Music Festival. That led to his recording of a duet with Scottish singer Sheena Easton. The song was called Me Gustas Tal Como Eres ("I like you just as you are"). He had a short acting career between 1984 and 1985. In 1984, Miguel co-starred in the film Ya nunca mas and, in 1985, in Fiebre de Amor with singer Lucero as a co-star. In 1987, he signed with WEA, which gave his career a huge push, especially with the backing of producer and composer Juan Carlos Calderon.
His relationship with his parents soured soon after, with accusations of mismanagement of his career and bad economic decisions that put his fortune in danger. He made a successful transition from child singer to adult showman extraordinaire, with the album 20 Anos in 1990, as well as after a string of sold out shows, first in Mexico, then throughout Latin America and elsewhere in the world, where he established a reputation for hard work, and for delivering some of the most extraordinary vocals to be ever heard in popular music. He is equally adept at singing rancheras, as he is with ballads, or when delivering his own kind of hard driving, rock derived music. Luis Miguel's career soared to even greater heights when he started recording boleros.
His first album of boleros was Romance, released in 1991. In 1993, he won the Best Latin Pop Album Grammy Award with Aries (Aries is his sign of the zodiac) and three years later, he got his own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His career has only gone up from there. For all his fame, Luis Miguel is mostly a loner that hates the label of "heartbreaker". He dated Stephanie Salas in the 80s and was rumored to have a daughter, Michelle Salas, for whom Luis Miguel has never publicly accepted responsibility, although in 2005 Salas recognized before the Spanish press that Luis Miguel is indeed the father of her daughter. Amongst the many women in his life are photographer Mariana Yazbek, singer Sasha Sokol, model and television presenter Sofia Vergara, tennis superstar Gabriela Sabatini, MTV VJ Daisy Fuentes, singer Mariah Carey, and TV Host Myrka Dellanos. Luis Miguel is currently dating Aracely Arambula.
Mana
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/webquestgroup2/sets/72157620872391442/detail/The seed of Maná sprouted in the 80’s in the Mexican city of Guadalajara, when a group of ambitious teenagers with a bongo started a band called Sombrero Verde. The band began by playing covers from the groups they admired (Beatles, Stones, Led Zeppelin and The Police) but eventually dared to write their own rock, which reflected their Latin roots and was written in Spanish, even before this practice became commonplace. This is how Fernando Olvera and the Calleros brothers (Ulises, Juan Diego and Abraham), along with Gustavo Orozco, fed an evolving scene in their native city and in the region. A couple of recordings with the Ariola and Fonovisa record labels show the freshness of their music, a characteristic that Maná has kept throughout their successful career.
Looking to renew their image, the band adopts the name Maná, under which they would gain international recognition. With Fher Olvera as their singer and the Calleros brothers, Juan and Ulises, on bass and guitar respectively, the line up was completed with the addition of a young and talented drummer, Alex González, of Cuban-Colombian origin. The name Maná was chosen because of the significance it has in the Polynesian language: “Positive Energy,” not precisely for its biblical connotations. Nonetheless, the change did seem as though it was heaven sent, as it enabled them to reach a level of professionalism they had previously been denied.
In 1986, Maná signs a record deal with Poligram and a new era begins with the release of their self-titled debut album, which becomes an important part of a musical movement called “Rock en Tu Idioma” [Rock In Your Language]. This helped open doors for music written in Spanish and proposed a novel alternative to a scene typically dominated by music in English. Despite achieving some success, this first recording as Maná did not satisfy the band. In talking with record labels, the band had to defend their sound and identity, which was too often affected by the commercial interests of the label. It was a time when the music scene was dominated by prefabricated bands that were subject to what many executives from the industry thought the audience wanted to hear. But Maná stayed true to their sound, insisting on diverse alternate venues, until finally Warner Music became interested in them.
With the 90’s came essential changes. Fher and Alex knew the risks involved in putting themselves into the hands of a producer that saw bands as products rather than as an artistic proposition, which is why they opted for a different road that they had not previously traveled: they took over the production of their albums. With this idea in mind, they recorded the album Falta Amor, but it did not succeed until a year after its release and after Maná toured the country giving more than 350 concerts. Finally, the single “Rayando el Sol” became the first successful hit for Maná and allowed them to introduce other songs to the public, such as “Perdido en un Barco,” “Estoy Agotado” and Buscándola”. These later songs quickly gained immense popularity, and awarded Maná their first Gold Record in Mexico. As if this success wasn’t enough, the group found themselves in Ecuador, in a sold-out stadium where 18,000 people sang the lyrics to songs that were still not well known in their own country.
In 1992, Maná undergoes another change in their lineup with the departure of Ulises Calleros, who has since become the band’s manager. This gave way to the arrival of two new members, keyboard player Iván González and guitarist César “Vampiro” López. With this new composition they recorded ¿Dónde Jugaran los Niños? in Los Angeles. The album that was a breakthrough in the history of the band, as well as in Rock In Español, with sales of over one million units and a total of eight singles in the charts in Spanish-speaking America. These singles were “Vivir Sin Aire,” “Cómo Te Deseo,” “Oye Mi Amor,” “Cómo Diablos,” “Te Lloré Un Río” and “Me Vale,” songs that are now classics in their repertoire. After that, they started a world tour, offering 268 concerts in more than 17 countries including the Americas, Spain and Switzerland, where they were invited to participate in the prestigious Montreaux Festival. By 1994, due to professional and artistic differences, Iván González and César López left the band.
Anxious to return to their original quartet format, Maná auditioned guitar players from different countries, until in Aguascalientes, México they finally found the talent they were looking for in the guitarist Sergio Vallín, whose amazing sensibility, technique and versatility imparted a different shine to the sound of the guitars on the bands recordings. With this new line up, Maná recorded and released the album Cuando Los Ángeles Lloran, where there is an apparent evolution in the sound and lyrics of the band.
At the end of 1998, Fher received a call from someone who claimed to be Carlos Santana. At first he thought it was a joke, but once his caller’s identity was confirmed, the band received an invitation that would have unequivocal results: collaborating on a song on the Supernatural album [of duets] that gave worldwide success to the guitarist born in Jalisco, after a period of seven years without recording any new studio albums. Maná collaborated on “Corazón Espinado”, a song written by Fher that is one of the singles of an album that has a record of nine Grammy Awards. The recording was released in 50 countries and allowed Maná to be known in European, Asian and Middle Eastern countries. Next they went on an extensive tour of Mexico and the United States called “Jalisco Power.” United on stage were two of the biggest rock artists from the land south of the border: Carlos Santana and Maná. Together they played at that year’s Grammy Awards and on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
After much insistence, Maná decided to accept MTV’s proposition and produced a record and DVD with acoustic versions of their best songs, recorded in a relaxed and intimate environment. The result was Unplugged, one of the best sellers of the video channel’s series, including those released by English speaking artists. For this Unplugged album Maná received two Grammy Awards and consolidated their position in Spain, where they sold-out Plaza las Ventas, the prestigious bullring in Madrid, many times over. They then took the band to Caracas, Venezuela, where they shared a stage and started a fruitful friendship with Rubén Blades.
The most recent recording of Maná was done at the prestigious studio The Hit Factory Miami. The album offers 13 songs that, with a full and impeccable sound, respect the essence of the group but veers into new territory. This characteristic of renewal has allowed Maná to maintain their vitality beyond current fashions and trends. Renew or die; nothing holds truer.
Selena
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Selena was born to Mexican American parents on April 16th 1971 in Lake Jackson Texas. She was the youngest child of Abraham Quintanilla Jr. and Marcella Ofelia Samora. She joined her brother Abraham (A.B.) who was eight and sister Suzette who was four. At the time of her tragic murder on March 31st 1995, Selena was known as “The Queen of Tejano”. Tejano music is a fusion of polkas, country-western and traditional Mexican folk music that is sung in Spanish. Selena and her group “Los Dinos” created a unique sound by mixing in Colombian cumbia, pop and R&B – winning them fans all over the United States, Latin America and the world.
Selena started showing an interest singing when she was three years old. At six, she was singing in both English and Spanish – although because she didn’t know how to speak Spanish at the time, she sang phonetically. When Selena was nine, her father started a musical group. Abraham had always had a strong passion for music. In the late 50’s and early 60’s, he was part of a group called “Los Dinos” which in English means “The Guys”. He adopted his old group name, for the new family group name calling the band “Selena y Los Dinos”. Selena Y Los Dino’s first performance was in 1980 at the Quintanilla family restaurant “Papa Gayos”. Soon however, the restaurant went bankrupt. Abraham packed up the family and moved to Corpus Christi. In 1984, Selena recorded her first album simply called Selena Y Los Dinos on the Freddie Label. Despite radio airplay of Ya Se Va the album did not sell well. Abraham moved the band from the Freddie Label to Cara Records before ending up on the Manny Label.
Abraham bought the rights to the Selena y Los Dinos album which was eventually released in 1995 as Mis Primeras Grabaciones (My First Recordings). It was the only non-EMI Selena album to be re-released.The second album from Selena y Los Dinos was 1985’s The New Girl In Town. This album was followed by Alpha and Muñequito De Trapo in 1986. Also in 1986, Selena was discovered by two huge names in the Tejano Music Industry: Rick Trevi founder of the Tejano Music Awards and Johnny Canales the host of one of the top Spanish television shows. In 1987 at the Tejano Music Awards, Selena won the Best Female vocalist award. An award she would win every year through to and including 1996.
In 1989, EMI President Jose Behar attended the Tejano Music Awards. He he saw Selena perform and win...when she yelled out "Whattaburgers for everyone"...the crowd went crazy! He was like "what's a Whattaburger?" But more importantly, because of her dynamic performance, he knew he'd found the star he'd been looking for. He soon signed her to EMI Latin. That same year, her first album was released on EMI Latin called simply Selena. It was the first album that listed the artist as Selena instead of Selena y Los Dinos. The song featured such notable songs as Besitos, Contigo Quiero Estar and Sukiyaki (a cover of Kyu Sakamoto's 1963 hit). The same year, she also became a spokesperson for Coca Cola.
In 1993, she won a Grammy for Best Mexican-American performance for her album Selena Live. Also in 1993, she began designing and manufacturing a clothing line. She opened two Selena Etc. boutiques; one in Corpus Christi and one in San Antonio.
In early 1995, the Quintanilla’s discovered that Selena’s fan club president and manager of her boutiques, Yolanda Saldivar, was embezzling money from the fan club. They decided to fire her. Money also started to turn up missing from the Selena Etc. account.On the morning of March 31st, 1995 Selena agreed to meet Saldivar at the Corpus Christi Days Inn. Selena was hoping to retrieve some paperwork that was necessary for tax purposes. Saldivar told Selena she had been raped the night before. So Selena drove her to the hospital where doctors found no evidence of rape. Once they got back to the motel, Selena soon realized she could not longer trust Saldivar and an argument ensued. At 11:48 am, Saldivar drew a gun from her purse and, as Selena turned to run from the room, Saldivar shot her in the back. Selena ran to the lobby and collapsed on the floor. Before she passed out she identified Saldivar as the person who shot her. Selena was rushed to the local hospital where she was pronounced dead at 1:05 pm. She was 23. She was two days away from her third wedding anniversary and 17 days shy of her 24th birthday.In October of 1995, Saldivar was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison – with no eligibility of parole for 30 years.
Selena’s death devastated the Latin community. Plus it shocked and saddened non-Latinos who had come to love her. Her funeral drew 60,000 people. Celebrities such a Gloria Estefan, Julio Iglesias and Madonna expressed their condolences to the Quintanilla family.People magazine published a commemorative issue in tribute to Selena called Selena - Her Life in Pictures. It quickly sold out. (Its popularity led to People’s decision to publish People en Español (People in Spanish).In the summer of 1995, the album Dreaming Of You was released. Dreaming Of You was a combination of Spanish songs and the four English songs that Selena hard recorded for her planned English album. It debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200. She was the first Latin artist to do so. Songs like I Could Fall In Love and Dreaming Of You were widely played on mainstream English radio.On March 27th 1997 the movie Selena was released. It was directed by Gregory Nava and starred Jennifer Lopez as Selena. It continues to be popular and has helped make a whole new generation of fans aware of who Selena was and what she accomplished in her life.
