Ultimate Santana: in Stores On October 16, 2007

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For the first time, the entire 20th and 21st century scope of Santana is presented together on one volume - from the Woodstock era rock and blues band that single-handedly brought West Coast Latin rhythms into the progressive-FM stream in the 1970s, up through their mega-platinum Grammy Award-winning years as Rock And Roll Hall of Fame inductees in 1998, and Arista recording artists beginning in 1999. Ultimate Santana, a career-spanning celebration of an artist and their music, is highlighted by three previously unreleased tracks - separate collaborations with Chad Kroeger of Nickelback, Tina Turner, and a new track in the works - and will arrive in stores October 16th on Arista. The first single and newly recorded track "Into The Night" with Chad Kroeger goes for adds at all formats August 20th and video debut news will be announced soon.

ULTIMATE SANTANA marks the first anthology to include touchstone tracks from the band's earliest hitmaking years on Columbia Records alongside the groundbreaking collaborations that highlighted their three consecutive blockbuster Arista albums: Supernatural (1999), Shaman (2002), and All That I Am (2005). All three albums were produced by Carlos Santana and Clive Davis - a welcome reunion for the executive who first signed Santana to Columbia Records and oversaw their formative years on the path to international superstardom starting in 1969.

Three decades later, Supernatural became - and remains - an unsurpassed industry phenom, 15-times RIAA platinum in the U.S. alone, the No 6 best-selling album in Soundscan history, with nearly double that number of sales worldwide. The album spent 102 weeks on the Billboard chart including 12 weeks at No 1 - no album since then has logged more than 8 weeks at the top. The album's success was fueled by the smash single "Smooth" (co-written by and featuring Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty) which spent 12 weeks at No 1 on the hot 100, Santana's first No 1 single; and "Maria Maria" (featuring Product G&B), 10 weeks at No 1 pop, and 3 weeks at No 1 R&B.

Most significantly, Supernatural generated an all-time record-breaking nine GRAMMY awards for a single album project, including Album Of the Year and Best Rock Album, as well as Record Of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Collaboration, all for "Smooth", plus Best Pop Performance by a Duo/Group for "Maria Maria", and Best Rock Performance by a Duo/Group for "Put Your Lights On" (featuring Everlast). There were also premiere Latin GRAMMY Awards (the show's first year) for Record Of The Year and Best Rock Performance by a Duo/Group for "Corazon Espinado" (featuring Mana). ALL four of these hits are included on ULTIMATE SANTANA.

Supernatural was a hard act to follow - but 2002's Shaman gave Santana a second consecutive No 1 multi-platinum album. The lead single track was "The Game of Love" featuring Michelle Branch - which is also heard here in a previously unreleased version featuring Tina Turner. The album also included "Why Don't You and I", a track with Chad Kroeger, who joins Carlos on the new sure-to-be smash hit single "Into The Night."

The third in this series of collaborative albums was 2005's All That I Am, which entered the Billboard 200 albums chart at No 2. From that album, ULTIMATE SANTANA highlights the anthemic rock performance "Just Feel Better" (featuring Steven Tyler of Aerosmith).

The ultimate triumph of ULTIMATE SANTANA, is how phenomenal the earliest recordings on Columbiasound next to their most recent post-millennial work. From Santana's self-titled debut album - released on Tuesday, August 19, 1969, following their historic Saturday afternoon performance at the Woodstock Music & Art Fair - comes their first Top 10 single, "Evil Ways." From their second album, 1970's Abraxas, come two songs that appeared back-to-back on the LP and are inextricably linked forever, Tito Puente's "Oye Como Va" and Fleetwood Mac's "Black Magic Woman", plus a third original Santana staple, "Samba Pa Ti."

1971's appropriately titled Santana III is sampled with two singles that extended their run of Top 40 hits, "Everybody's Everything" and "No One To Depend On." Finally, ULTIMATE SANTANA jumps ahead five years to "Europa" from Amigos, the 1976 album that introduced new lead singer Greg Walker, who stayed in the band for more than a decade.

2007 represents 40 years since the original Santana Blues Band played its first shows at Bill Graham's Fillmore West in San Francisco. Today, Santana is virtually unique among all the first generation Bay Area bands as the only one to have sustained its success on the charts and on the road as a sold-out stadium attraction. Their track record boasts 20 RIAA gold, platinum and multi-platinum albums (including their first 14 consecutive certifications) and lifetime sales of more than 90 million albums worldwide. ULTIMATE SANTANA pays homage to the full spectrum of Carlos Santana's longevity, creativity, and soulful musical conscience.

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