Zion (also transliterated Sion, Tzion or Tsion) is a place name often used as a synonym for Jerusalem. The word is first found in Samuel II, 5:7 dating to c.630-540 BCE. It commonly referred to a specific mountain near Jerusalem (''Mount Zion''), on which stood a Jebusite fortress of the same name that was conquered by David and was named the City of David. The term ''Tzion'' came to designate the area of Jerusalem where the fortress stood, and later became a metonym for Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, the city of Jerusalem and generally, the World to Come.

In Kabbalah the more esoteric reference is made to Tzion being the spiritual point from which reality emerges, located in the Holy of Holies of the First, Second and Third Temple.

Etymology

The etymology of the word ''Zion'' (''ṣiyôn'') is uncertain. Mentioned in the Bible in the Book of Samuel (2:5-7) as the name of the Jebusite fortress conquered by King David, its origin likely predates the Israelites. If Semitic, it may be derived from the Hebrew root ''''ṣiyyôn'' ("castle") or the Arabic root ''ṣiyya'' ("dry land") or the Arabic ''šanā'' ("protect" or "citadel"). It might also be related to the Arabic root ''ṣahî'' ("ascend to the top") or ''ṣuhhay'' ("tower" or "the top of the mountain"). A non-Semitic relationship to the Hurrian word ''šeya'' ("river" or "brook") has also been suggested.

Orthography

The form ''Tzion'' (; Tiberian vocalization: ''Ṣiyyôn'') appears 108 times in the ''Tanakh'' (Hebrew Bible), and once as ''HaTzion''. It is spelled with a Tzadi and not Zayin. The commonly used form is an adopted mis-transliteration in English based on German orthography, where z is always pronounced [t͡s] (e.g. "zog" [t͡soːk]), hence "''Tsion''" in German literature. A tz would only be used if the preceding vowel is short, and hence use of ''Zion'' in 19th century German Biblical criticism. This orthography was adopted because in German the correct transliteration can only be rendered from the one instance of ''HaTzion'' in Kings II 23:17, where the ''a'' vowel is followed by a double consonant tz.

Biblical usage

Some examples from the book of Psalms, which have been frequently recited and memorized by Jews for centuries, state:

"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Tzion." (Psalms 137:1)

"For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us ''required of us'' mirth, ''saying'', Sing us ''one'' of the songs of Tzion. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget ''her cunning''. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Raze ''it'', raze ''it'', even to the foundation thereof; O daughter of Babylon, that art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that repayeth thee as thou hast served us." (Psalms 137:3-8, italics for words not in the original Hebrew)

"The Lord doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcast of Israel. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Tzion." (Psalms 147:2,12)

=== The Daughter of Tzion === Mentioned 26 times in the Tanakh, some consider the small hill in Jerusalem (whether Mount Moriah, the Temple Mount, or another hill) to be what is meant by the Biblical phrase "Daughter of Tzion" — with the location of the actual tall mountain (as described in the Psalms) remaining mysterious. Another cryptic verse, , seems to refer to this hill, but is also ambiguous, depending on the punctuation. In Hebrew it reads ''"Mi attah Har-haGadol lifnei Zerubbabel l'mishor..."''; the plain text has no punctuation, but the Masoretic Text puts a pause following ''Har-haGadol'', to mean "Who are you, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel, [you will become just] a plain..." However, if the pause is placed following ''Zerubbabel'', it would mean instead "What are you, "great mountain" before Zerubbabel? [You are just] a plain..." Since this hill is where Zerubbabel built the Second Temple, it appears to be a reference to the "Daughter of Zion" (the hill), as distinct from Tzion (the mountain).

However, "Daughter of Zion", and a variety of other names like "Daughter of Jerusalem", might also be interpreted as referring to Jerusalem and the Jewish people personified, instead of a geographical feature.

In the New Testament the Daughter of Zion is the bride of Christ, also known as the Church, according to Paul. In this sense the lower hill with the temple mount is of course the Daughter of Zion as a geographical or 'earthly' manifestation of spiritual reality, as well as the lively and alive place of the human congregation.

Arab and Islamic tradition

''Sayhun'' (, ''Ṣahyūn'' or ''Ṣihyūn'') is the word for Zion in Arabic and Syriac. Drawing on biblical tradition, it is one of the names accorded to Jerusalem in Arabic and Islamic tradition. A valley called ''Wâdi Sahyûn'' (''wadi'' being the Arabic for "valley") seemingly preserves the name and is located approximately one and three-quarter miles from the Old City of Jerusalem's Jaffa Gate.

The Kaaba in Mecca was also called ''Sahyun'' or Zion by Muhammed, the prophet of Islam. Islamic scholarship sees many passages of the Bible that refer to the desert or eschatological Zion as references to the holy site of Mecca. For example, the reference to the "precious cornerstone" of the new Jerusalem in the Book of Isaiah 28:16 is identified in Islamic scholarship as the cornerstone of the Kaaba. This interpretation is said by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyah (1292-1350) to have come from the People of the Book, though earlier Christian scholarship identifies the cornerstone with Jesus, the son of God.

Zionism

The term "Zionism" coined by Austrian Nathan Birnbaum, was derived from the German rendering of Tzion in his journal ''Selbstemanzipation'' (Self Emancipation) in 1890. Zionism as a political movement started in 1897 and supported a 'national home', and later a state, for the Jewish people in Palestine. The Zionist movement declared the re-establishment of its State of Israel in 1948, following the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine. Since then and with varying ideologies and dogma, Zionists have focused on developing and protecting this state.

While Zionism is based in part upon Torah mitzvot linking the Jewish people to the Biblical land of Israel, the modern movement is largely secular. Indeed, until 1967 the Tzion of the Tanakh (the Old City of Jerusalem) was not even within the boundaries of Israel (although Mount Zion itself, was).

In 2005, Ralph Uwazuruike from Nigeria pushed for the creation of the already disputed state of Biafra for the Igbo people. He approached the Israeli government to support this movement on the basis that Israel is the long lost home of the Igbos.

Anti-slavery symbolism

The Jewish longing for Zion, starting with the deportation and enslavement of Jews during the Babylonian captivity, was adopted as a metaphor by Christian Black slaves in the United States, and after the Civil War by blacks who were still oppressed. Thus, Zion symbolizes a longing by wandering peoples for a safe homeland. This could be an actual place such as Ethiopia for Rastafarians or Israel for some of the Igbos in Nigeria for example. For others, it has taken on a more spiritual meaning—a safe ''spiritual'' homeland, like in heaven, or a kind of peace of mind in one's present life.

Usage by the Rastafari movement

In the Rastafari movement, "Zion" stands for a utopian place of unity, peace and freedom, as opposed to "Babylon", the oppressing and exploiting system of the western world and a place of evil.

For Rastafarians, Zion is to be found in Africa, and more specifically in Ethiopia, where the term is also in use. Some Rastas believe themselves to represent the real Children of Israel in modern times, and their goal is to repatriate to Africa, or to Zion. Rasta reggae is peppered with references to Zion; among the best-known examples are the Bob Marley songs '"Zion Train," "Iron Lion Zion", the Bunny Wailer song "Rastaman" ("The Rasta come from Zion, Rastaman a Lion!"), The Melodians song "Rivers of Babylon" (based on Psalm 137:1,3,4), the Bad Brains song "Leaving Babylon", the Damian Marley song featuring Nas; "Road to Zion," The Abyssinians' "Forward Unto Zion" and Kiddus I's "Graduation In Zion," which is featured in the 1977 cult roots rock reggae film "Rockers." Reggae groups such as Steel Pulse and Cocoa Tea also have many references to Zion in their various songs. In recent years, such references have also crossed over into pop and rock music thanks to artists like O.A.R. "To Zion Goes I", " Sublime, Lauryn Hill, Boney M. (Rivers of Babylon), Fluid Minds "Zion", Dreadzone with the reggae-tinged track "Zion Youth.", P.O.D. with song "Set Your Eyes to Zion (but P.O.D with a Christian viewpoint: Zion referring to the spiritual kingdom of God), Trevor Hall with song "To Zion", and Australian roots reggae outfit Vindan and The Zion Band, also Alcyon Massive (a reggae/psychedelic band in Southern Oregon) wrote a song titled "Zion" which is currently very popular.

In Mormon theology

A similar metaphoric transformation of the term "Zion" occurs in the modern Latter Day Saint movement, originating in the United States in the 1830s. In this interpretation, Zion refers to a specific location to which members of the millennial church are to be gathered together to live. A Temple is to be built unto the Lord for a sacred work to be performed and for the Lord Jesus Christ to reign when he returns at the Second Coming. Until the gathering of Israel (Gentile and Jew who have accepted Jesus as their savior), when the second coming of Jesus Christ.

The Latter Day Saints also believe Zion to be their stakes and wards where they gather weekly to renew vows and covenants made to God the Father and to the Son of God.

In popular culture

Zion is referenced in several media and entertainment groups. For example in music there are song titles such as To Zion, a song by Lauryn Hill, Road to Zion, by Damian Marley, Iron Lion Zion by Bob Marley, or the Zion (David Bowie song). In film, Zion is a fictional human-controlled underground city in The Matrix (franchise). In literature, Zion is a space station in the 1984 cyberpunk novel ''Neuromancer''

In February 2011 the Iranian government issued a formal complaint, saying that Britain's 2012 Olympics logo spelled the word "Zion". They threatened to boycott the event if the "offensive" logo was not replaced.

Mount Zion today

Today, Mount Zion refers to a hill south of the Old City's Armenian Quarter, not to the Temple Mount. This apparent misidentification dates from the Middle Ages, when Christian pilgrims mistook the relatively large, flat summit (the highest point in ancient Jerusalem) for the original site of the Jewish Temple. The Dormition Church (right) is located upon the hill currently called Mount Zion.

See also

Book of Micah

New Jerusalem

References

Ludlow, D. H. (Ed.). (1992) Vol 4. ''Encyclopedia of Mormonism''. New York: Macmillian Publishing Company.

McConkie, B.R. (1966).''Mormon Doctrine''. (2nd ed). Utah: Bookcraft.

(Online) Available http://www.lds.org.

Steven Zarlengo: ''Daughter of Zion: Jerusalem's Past, Present, and Future''. (Dallas: Joseph Publishing, 2007).

Further reading

Batto, Bernard F.; Roberts, Kathryn L. (2004). ''David and Zion: Biblical Studies in Honor of J.J.M. Roberts'' Eisenbrauns, USA. ISBN 1575060922.

Category:Jerusalem Category:Geography of Jerusalem Category:Zionism Category:Rastafari movement

ar:صهيون bg:Цион cs:Sijón cy:Seion da:Zion de:Zion es:Sion eo:Ciono fa:صهیون fr:Sion (Bible) id:Zion he:ציון ht:Zion lt:Sionas (Jeruzalė) nl:Zion ja:シオン no:Sion pl:Syjon pt:Sião ro:Sion ru:Сион fi:Siion sv:Sion tl:Sion zh:錫安

name	Carlos Santana
background	solo_singer
birth name	Carlos Augusto Alves Santana
alias	Devadip Carlos Santana
born	July 20, 1947Autlán de Navarro, JaliscoMexico
instrument	Vocals, guitar, percussion, violin
genre	Latin rock, chicano rock, Rock, blues rock, funk, jazz fusion, tejano music, salsa, pop, free jazz
occupation	Musician, songwriter
years active	1966–present
label	Arista, Polydor, Columbia, Polygram, CBS
associated acts	Santana, Los Lonely Boys, John McLaughlin
notable instruments	PRS Santana II Yamaha SG2000 DevadipYamaha SG175 Gibson SG
Website	Santana.com }}

Carlos Augusto Alves Santana (born July 20, 1947) is a Mexican rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion. The band's sound featured his melodic, blues-based guitar lines set against Latin and African rhythms featuring percussion instruments such as timbales and congas not generally heard in rock music. Santana continued to work in these forms over the following decades. He experienced a resurgence of popularity and critical acclaim in the late 1990s. In 2003, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine listed Santana at number 15 on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. He has won 10 Grammy Awards and 3 Latin Grammy Awards.

Biography

Early life

Santana was born in Autlán de Navarro, Jalisco, Mexico. His father was a mariachi violinist, and Carlos learned to play the violin at age five and the guitar at age eight. His younger brother, Jorge Santana, would also become a professional guitarist. Young Carlos was heavily influenced by Ritchie Valens at a time when there were very few Latinos in American rock and pop music. The family moved from Autlán de Navarro to Tijuana, the city on Mexico's border with California, and then San Francisco. Carlos stayed in Tijuana but joined his family in San Francisco later and graduated from James Lick Middle School and Mission High School there. He graduated from Mission High in 1965. Javier Bátiz, a famous guitarist from Tijuana, said to have been Carlos's guitar teacher who taught him to play a different style of guitar soloing. After learning Javier Batiz's techniques, Santana would make them his own as well.

Early career

In San Francisco, he got the chance to see his idols, most notably B.B. King, perform live. He was also introduced to a variety of new musical influences, including jazz and 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 busking for spare change, Santana decided to become a full-time musician. In 1966, he gained prominence by a series of accidental events all happening on the same day. Santana was a frequent spectator at Bill Graham's Fillmore West. During a Sunday matinee show, Paul Butterfield was slated to perform there but was unable to do so as a result of being intoxicated. Bill Graham assembled an impromptu band of musicians he knew primarily through his connections with the Grateful Dead, Butterfield's own band and Jefferson Airplane, but he had not yet picked all of the guitarists at the time. Santana's manager, Stan Marcum, immediately suggested to Graham that Santana join the impromptu band and Graham assented. During the jam session, Santana's guitar playing and solo gained the notice of both the audience and Graham. During the same year, Santana 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 adapted their frontman's name, Santana) gained an immediate following on the San Francisco club circuit. 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.

''Santana''

Santana was signed by CBS Records and went into the studio to record their second album. They were not satisfied with the release and decided changes needed to be made. This resulted in the dismissal of Bob Livingston. Santana replaced him with Mike Shrieve, who had a strong background in both jazz and rock. Marcus Malone was forced to quit the band due to personal problems, and the band re-enlisted Michael Carabello. Carabello brought with him percussionist Jose Chepito Areas, who was already well-known in his country, Nicaragua, and, with his skills and professional experience, was a major contributor to the band.

Bill Graham had been a fan of the band from it's inception, arranged for the band to appear at the Woodstock Music and Art Festival before they had even completed their debut album was even released. They were one of the surprises of the festival; their set was legendary and, later, the exposure of their eleven-minute instrumental "Soul Sacrifice" in the ''Woodstock'' film and soundtrack albums vastly increased Santana's popularity. Graham also gave the band some key advice to record the Willie Bobo song "Evil Ways", as he felt it would get them radio airplay. His first eponymous album, ''Santana'', became a huge hit, reaching number four on the U.S. album charts, and the catchy single "Evil Ways" reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 1969, Santana's performance at the Woodstock festival introduced the band to an international audience and garnered critical acclaim, although the band's sudden success put pressure on the group, highlighting the different musical directions in which Rolie and Santana were starting to go. Rolie, along with some of the other band members, wanted to emphasize a basic hard rock sound which had been a key component in establishing the band from the start. Santana, however, was increasingly interested in moving beyond his love of blues and rock and wanted more jazzy, ethereal elements in the music, which were influenced by his fascination with Miles Davis and John Coltrane, as well as his growing interest in spirituality. At the same time, Chepito Areas was stricken with a near-fatal brain hemorrhage, and Santana hoped to continue by finding a temporary replacement (first Willie Bobo, then Coke Escovedo), while others in the band, especially Michael Carabello, felt it was wrong to perform publicly without Areas. Cliques formed, and the band started to disintegrate.

Teenage San Francisco Bay Area guitar prodigy Neal Schon was asked to join the band in 1971, in time to complete the third album, ''Santana III''. The band now boasted a powerful dual-lead-guitar act that gave the album a tougher sound. The sound of the band was also helped by the return of a recuperated Chepito Areas and the assistance of Coke Escovedo in the percussion section. Enhancing the band's sound further was the support of popular Bay Area group Tower of Power's horn section, Luis Gasca of Malo, and other session musicians which added to both percussion and vocals, injecting more energy to the proceedings. ''Santana III'' was another success, reaching number one on the album charts, selling two million copies, and yielding the hits "Everybody's Everything" and "No One to Depend On".

But tension in the band continued. Along with musical differences, drug use became a problem, and Santana was deeply worried it was affecting the band's performance. Coke Escovedo encouraged Santana to take more control of the band's musical direction, much to the dismay of some of the others who thought that the band and its sound was a collective effort. Also, financial irregularities were exposed while under the management of Stan Marcum, whom Bill Graham criticized as being incompetent. Growing resentments between Santana and Michael Carabello over lifestyle issues resulted in his departure on bad terms. James Mingo Lewis was hired at the last minute as a replacement at a concert in New York City. David Brown later left due to substance abuse problems. A South American tour was cut short in Lima, Peru, due to student protests against U.S. governmental policies and unruly fans. The madness of the tour convinced Santana that changes needed to be made in the band and in his life.

In January 1972, Santana, Neal Schon and Coke Escovedo joined former Band of Gypsys drummer Buddy Miles for a concert at Hawaii's Diamond Head Crater, which was recorded for the album, Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles! Live!. The performance was erratic and uneven, but the album managed to achieve gold-record status on the weight of Santana's popularity.

''Caravanserai''

In early 1972, Santana and the remaining members of the band started working on their fourth album, ''Caravanserai''. During the studio sessions, Santana and Michael Shrieve brought in other musicians: percussionists James Mingo Lewis and Latin-Jazz veteran, Armando Peraza replacing Michael Carabello, and bassists Tom Rutley and Doug Rauch replacing David Brown. Also assisting on keyboards were Wendy Haas and Tom Coster. With the unsettling influx of new players in the studio, Gregg Rolie and Neal Schon decided that it was time to leave after the completion of the album, even though both contributed to the session. Rolie returned home to Seattle, and after some time later became a founding member of Journey (which Schon would later join as well).

When ''Caravanserai'' did emerge in 1972, it marked a strong change in musical direction towards jazz fusion. The album received critical praise, but CBS executive Clive Davis warned Santana and the band that it would sabotage the band's position as a "Top 40" act. Nevertheless, over the years, the album would achieve platinum status. The difficulties Santana and the band went through during this period were chronicled in Ben Fong-Torres' ''Rolling Stone'' 1972 cover story "The Resurrection of Carlos Santana".

Santana met Deborah King, whom he later married in 1973. She is the daughter of the late blues singer and guitarist Saunders King. They have three children: Salvador, Stella and Angelica. Together with wife Deborah, Santana founded a not-for-profit organization, the Milagro Foundation, which provides financial aid for educational, medical, and other needs.

Shifting styles and spirituality in the 1970s

In 1972, Santana became a huge fan of the pioneering fusion band The Mahavishnu Orchestra and its guitarist John McLaughlin. Aware of Santana's interest in meditation, McLaughlin introduced Santana and Deborah to his guru, Sri Chinmoy. Chinmoy accepted them as disciples in 1973. Santana was given the name Devadip, meaning "The lamp, light and eye of God." Santana and McLaughlin recorded an album together, ''Love, Devotion, Surrender'' with members of Santana and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, along with percussionist Don Alias and organist Larry Young, who both had made appearances on Miles Davis' classic ''Bitches Brew'' in 1969.

In 1973, Santana, having obtained legal rights to the band's name, Santana, formed a new version of the band, Santana, with Armando Peraza and Chepito Areas on percussion, Doug Rauch on bass, Michael Shrieve on drums, and Tom Coster and Richard Kermode on keyboards. Santana was later able to recruit jazz vocalist Leon Thomas for a tour of Japan, which was recorded for the live, sprawling, high-energy fusion album ''Lotus''. CBS records would not allow its release unless the material was condensed. Santana did not agree to those terms, and the album was available in the U.S. only as an expensive, imported, three-record set. The group later went into the studio and recorded ''Welcome'', which further reflected Santana's interests in jazz fusion and his increasing commitment to the spiritual life of Sri Chinmoy.

A collaboration with John Coltrane's widow, Alice Coltrane, ''Illuminations'', followed. The album delved into avant-garde esoteric free jazz, Eastern Indian and classical influences with other ex-Miles Davis sidemen Jack DeJohnette and Dave Holland. Soon after, Santana replaced his band members again. This time Kermode, Thomas and Rauch departed from the group and were replaced by vocalist Leon Patillo (later a successful Contemporary Christian artist) and returning bassist David Brown. He also recruited soprano saxophonist, Jules Broussard to the lineup. The band recorded one studio album ''Borboletta'', which was released in 1974. Drummer Leon "Ndugu" Chancler later joined the band as a replacement for Michael Shrieve, who left to pursue a solo career.

By this time, the Bill Graham's management company had assumed the affairs of the group. Graham was critical of Santana's direction into jazz and felt he needed to concentrate on getting Santana back into the charts with the edgy, street-wise ethnic sound that had made them famous. Santana himself was seeing that the group's direction was alienating many fans. Although the albums and performances were given good reviews by critics in jazz and jazz fusion circles, sales had plummeted.

Santana along with Tom Coster, producer David Rubinson, and Chandler formed yet another version of Santana, adding vocalist Greg Walker. The 1976 album ''Amigos'', which featured the songs "Dance, Sister, Dance" and "Let It Shine", had a strong funk and Latin sound. The album also received considerable airplay on FM album-oriented rock stations with the instrumental "Europa (Earth's Cry Heaven's Smile)" and re-introduced Santana back into the charts. In 1976, ''Rolling Stone'' ran a second cover story on Santana entitled "Santana Comes Home".

The albums conceived through the late 1970s followed the same formula, although with several lineup changes. Among the personnel who came and left the band was percussionist Raul Rekow, who joined in early 1977 and remains to this day. Most-notable of the band's commercial efforts of this era was a version of the 1960s Zombies hit, "She's Not There", on the 1977 album ''Moonflower''.

The relative success of the band's albums in this era allowed Santana to pursue a solo career funded by CBS. First, ''Oneness: Silver Dreams - Golden Reality'', in 1979 and ''The Swing of Delight'' in 1980, which featured some of his musical heroes: Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and Tony Williams from Miles Davis' legendary 1960s quintet.

The pressures and temptations of being a high-profile rock musician and requisites of the spiritual lifestyle which guru Sri Chinmoy and his followers demanded, were great sources of conflict to Santana's lifestyle and marriage. He was becoming increasingly disillusioned with what he thought was Chinmoy's unreasonable rules imposed on his life, in particular, his refusal to allow Santana and Deborah to start a family. He felt too that his fame was being used to increase the guru's visibility. Santana and Deborah eventually ended their relationship with Chinmoy in 1982.

The 1980s

More radio-pleasing singles followed from Santana and the band. "Winning" in 1981 and "Hold On" (a remake of Canadian artist Ian Thomas' song) in 1982 both reached the top twenty. After his break with Sri Chinmoy, Santana went into the studio to record another solo album with Keith Olson and legendary R&B; producer Jerry Wexler. The 1983 album revisited Santana's early musical experiences in Tijuana with Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love" and the title cut, Chuck Berry's "Havana Moon". The album's guests included Booker T. Jones, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Willie Nelson and even Santana's father's mariachi orchestra. Santana again paid tribute to his early rock roots by doing the film score to ''La Bamba'', which was based on the tragically short life of rock and roll legend Ritchie Valens and starred Lou Diamond Philips.

Although the band had concentrated on trying to produce albums with commercial appeal during the 1980s, changing tastes in popular culture began to reflect in the band's sagging record sales of their latest effort ''Beyond Appearances''. In 1985, Bill Graham had to once again pull strings for Santana to convince principal Live Aid concert organizer Bob Geldof to allow the band to appear at the festival. The group's high-energy performance proved they were still a top concert draw the world over despite their poor performance on the charts. Santana regained a great deal of respect in both jazz and rock circles, with Prince and guitarist Kirk Hammett of Metallica citing him as an influence.

The band Santana returned in 1986 with a new album ''Freedom''. Buddy Miles, who was trying to revive his music career after spending much of the late 1970s and early 1980s incarcerated for drug charges, returned for lead vocals. His onstage presence provided a dose of charisma to the show; but, once again, the sales of the album fell below expectations. Growing weary of trying to appease record company executives with formulaic hit records, Santana took great pleasure in jamming and making guest appearances with notables such as the jazz fusion group Weather Report, jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, Blues legend John Lee Hooker, Frank Franklin, Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid, and West African singer Salif Keita. He and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead later recorded and performed with Nigerian drummer Babatunde Olatunji, who conceived one of Santana's famous 1960s drum jams, "Jingo". In 1988, Santana organized a reunion with past members from the Santana band for a series of concert dates. CBS records released a 20-year retrospective of the band's accomplishments with ''Viva Santana!''.

That same year Santana formed an all-instrumental group featuring jazz legend Wayne Shorter on tenor and soprano saxophone. The group also included Patrice Rushen on keyboards, Alphonso Johnson on bass, Armando Peraza and Chepito Areas on percussion, and Leon "Ndugu" Chancler on drums. They toured briefly and received much acclaim from the music press, who compared the effort with the era of ''Caravanserai''. Santana released another solo record, ''Blues for Salvador'', which won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.

In 1990, Santana left Columbia Records after twenty-two years and signed with Polygram. The following year, he made a guest appearance on Ottmar Liebert's album ''Solo Para Ti'', on the songs "Reaching out 2 U" and on a cover of his own song, "Samba Pa Ti". In 1992, Santana hired jam band Phish as his opening act.

Return to commercial success

Santana's record sales in the 1990s were very low. Toward the end of the decade, he was without a contract. However, Arista Records' Clive Davis, who had worked with Santana at Columbia Records, signed him and encouraged him to record a star-studded album with mostly younger artists. The result was 1999's ''Supernatural'', which included collaborations with Everlast, Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty, Eric Clapton, Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, Cee-Lo, Maná, Dave Matthews, K. C. Porter, J. B. Eckl, and others.

However, the lead single was what grabbed the attention of both fans and the music industry. "Smooth", a dynamic cha-cha stop-start number co-written and sung by Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty, was laced throughout with Santana's guitar fills and runs. The track's energy was immediately apparent on radio, and it was played on a wide variety of station formats. "Smooth" spent twelve weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming in the process the last #1 single of the 1990s. The music video, set on a hot barrio street, was also very popular. ''Supernatural'' reached number one on the US album charts and the follow-up single, "Maria Maria", featuring the R&B; duo The Product G&B;, also hit number one, spending ten weeks there in the spring of 2000. ''Supernatural'' eventually sold over 15 million copies in the United States, making it Santana's biggest sales success by far.

Carlos Santana, alongside the classic Santana lineup of their first two albums, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. He performed "Black Magic Woman" with the writer of the song, Fleetwood Mac's founder Peter Green. Green was inducted the same night.

In 2000 ''Supernatural'' won nine Grammy Awards (eight for Santana personally), including Album of the Year, Record of the Year for "Smooth", and Song of the Year for Thomas and Itaal Shur. Santana's acceptance speeches described his feelings about music's place in one's spiritual existence. Later that year at the Latin Grammy Awards he won three awards including Record of the Year. In 2001, Santana's guitar skills were featured in Michael Jackson's song "Whatever Happens", from the album ''Invincible''.

In 2002, Santana released ''Shaman'', revisiting the ''Supernatural'' format of guest artists including P.O.D. and Seal. Although the album was not the runaway success its predecessor had been, it produced two radio-friendly hits. "The Game of Love" featuring Michelle Branch, rose to number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent many weeks at the top of the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, and "Why Don't You & I" written by and featuring Chad Kroeger from the group Nickelback (the original and a remix with Alex Band from the group The Calling were combined towards chart performance) which reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100. "The Game of Love" went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

In early August 2003, Santana was named fifteenth on ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's "List of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

On April 21, 2005, Santana was honored as a BMI Icon at the 12th annual BMI Latin Awards. Santana was the first songwriter designated a BMI Icon at the company's Latin Awards. The honor is given to a creator who has been "a unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers."

In 2005, Herbie Hancock approached Santana to collaborate on an album again using the ''Supernatural'' formula. ''Possibilities'' was released on August 30, 2005, featuring Carlos Santana and Angélique Kidjo on "Safiatou". Also, in 2005, fellow Latin star Shakira invited Santana to play the soft rock guitar ballad "Illegal" on her second English-language studio album Oral Fixation Vol. 2.

Santana's 2005 album ''All That I Am'' consists primarily of collaborations with other artists; the first single, the peppy "I'm Feeling You", was again with Michelle Branch and The Wreckers. Other musicians joining the mix this time included Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Kirk Hammett from Metallica, hip-hop/reggae star Sean Paul and R&B; singer Joss Stone. In April and May 2006, Santana toured Europe, where he promoted his son Salvador Santana's band as his opening act.

In 2007, Santana appeared, along with Sheila E. and José Feliciano, on Gloria Estefan's album ''90 Millas,'' on the single "No Llores". He also teamed again with Chad Kroeger for the hit single "Into the Night".

In 2008, Santana started working with his long-time friend, Marcelo Vieira, on his solo album ''Marcelo Vieira's Acoustic Sounds'', which is due to be released at the end of the year. It features tracks such as "For Flavia" and "Across the Grave", the latter featuring heavy melodic riffs by Santana.

Carlos Santana performed at the 2009 American Idol Finale with the top 13 finalists, which starred many acts such as KISS, Queen and Rod Stewart. On July 8, 2009, Carlos Santana appeared at the Athens Olympic Stadium in Athens with his 10-member all-star band as part of his "Supernatural Santana – A Trip through the Hits" European tour. On July 10, 2009, he also appeared at Philip II Stadium in Skopje. With 2.5 hours concert and 20 000 people, Santana appeared for the first time in that region. "Supernatural Santana – A Trip through the Hits" is currently playing at The Hard Rock hotel in Las Vegas, where it will play through 2011.

Santana is featured as a playable character in the music video game Guitar Hero 5. A live recording of his song "No One To Depend On" is included in game, which was released on September 1, 2009.

Carlos recently opened a chain of upscale Mexican restaurants called "Maria Maria". It is a combined effort with Chef Roberto Santibañez. They are located in Tempe, Arizona, Mill Valley (now closed), Walnut Creek and Danville, California, Austin, Texas, and Boca Raton, Florida.

Influences

Around the age of 8, Santana "fell under the influence" of blues performers like B.B. King and John Lee Hooker. He also credits Jimi Hendrix, Mike Bloomfield and Peter Green as important influences; he considered Bloomfield a direct mentor, writing of a key meeting with Bloomfield in San Francisco in the foreword he wrote to a biography of Bloomfield, ''Michael Bloomfield: If You Love These Blues-An Oral History'' in 2000.

Equipment

Guitars and effects

Santana played a red Gibson SG Special with P-90 pickups at the Woodstock festival. From 1976 until 1982, his main guitar was a Yamaha SG 175B and sometimes a white Gibson SG Custom with 3 open coil pick-ups. In 1982 he started to use a custom made PRS guitar, which became his main instrument around 1988. Santana currently uses a Santana II model guitar using PRS Santana III pickups with nickel covers and a tremolo, with .009-.042 gauge D'Addario strings. Santana's guitar necks and fretboards are constructed out of a single solid piece of Brazilian Rosewood; this helps create the smooth, singing, glass-like tone for which he is known.

Santana also uses a classical guitar, the Alvarez Yairi CY127CE with Alvarez tension nylon strings.

Santana does not use many effects pedals. His PRS guitar is connected to a Mu-Tron wah wah pedal (or, more recently, a Dunlop 535Q wah) and a T-Rex Replica delay pedal. then through a customized Jim Dunlop amp switcher which in turn is connected to the different amps or cabinets.

Previous setups include an Ibanez Tube Screamer right after the guitar. He is also to have been known to use an Electro Harmonix Big Muff distortion for his famous sustain. In the song "Stand Up" from the album ''Marathon'', Santana uses a Heil talk box in the guitar solo.

Amplifiers

Carlos Santana's distinctive lead guitar tone is produced by PRS Santana signature guitars plugged into a multi-amp setup. The rig consists of a Mesa Boogie Mark I, Dumble Overdrive Reverb and more recently a Bludotone amplifier. Carlos often blends the sounds from each amp in various combinations to achieve a more complex tone. He also literally put the Boogie in Mesa Boogie: "Santana exclaimed to Smith, 'Shit, man. That little thing really Boogies! It was this statement that brought the Boogie name to fruition.'"

Specifically, Santana combines a Mesa/Boogie Mark I head running through a Boogie cabinet with Altec 417-8H (or recently JBL E120s) speakers, and a Dumble Overdrive Reverb and/or a Dumble Overdrive Special running through a Brown or Marshall 4x12 cabinet with Celestion G12M "Greenback" speakers, depending on the desired sound. Shure KSM-32 microphones are used to pick up the sound, going to the PA. Additionally, a Fender Cyber-Twin Amp is mostly used at home.

Personal life

Carlos Santana became a naturalized American citizen in 1965.

On October 19, 2007, his wife of 34 years, Deborah, filed for divorce citing "irreconcilable differences".

Carlos Santana became engaged to Cindy Blackman, after proposing to her during a concert of the Universal Tone Tour at Tinley Park in Chicago, Illinois on July 9, 2010. The two were married in December 2010.

Discography

Year	Album details	Peak chart positions										[[Music recording sales certification
		!width="30"	!width="30"	AUT	!width="30"	!width="30"	!width="30"	!width="30"	!width="30"	!width="30"	!width="30"
		* Released: July 20, 1973	* Label: Columbia Records	* Format: LP, CD	14	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	7	style="text-align:left;"
	style="text-align:left;"	* Released: October 1974	* Label: Columbia Records	* Format: LP, CD	79	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	40
	style="text-align:left;"	* Released: 1979	* Label: Columbia Records	* Format: LP, CD	—	—	—	12	—	43	—	—	—	55

Awards and nominations

|- | style="text-align:center;"| 1973 | "Caravanserai" | Best Pop Instrumental Performance - With Vocal Coloring | |- | style="text-align:center;"| 1988 | "Blues for Salvador" | Best Rock Instrumental Performance (Orchestra, Group Or Soloist) | |- | style="text-align:center;"| 1993 | "Gypsy/Grajonca" | Best Rock Instrumental Performance | |- | style="text-align:center;"| 1996 | "Every Now And Then" | Best Rock Instrumental Performance | |- | style="text-align:center;" rowspan="9"| 2000 | rowspan="2"|"Smooth" | Record of the Year | |- | Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals | |- | rowspan="2"|''Supernatural'' | Album of the Year | |- | Best Rock Album | |- | "Maria Maria" | Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal | |- | "El Farol" | Best Pop Instrumental Performance | |- | "The Calling" | Best Rock Instrumental Performance | |- | "Put Your Lights On" | Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group | |- | "Love Of My Life" | Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals | |- | style="text-align:center;"| 2002 | "The Game of Love" | Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals | |}

References

Sources

''Soul Sacrifice; The Carlos Santana Story'' Simon Leng 2000

''Space Between The Stars'' Deborah Santana 2004

''Rolling Stone'' "The Resurrection of Carlos Santana" Ben Fong Torres 1972

''New Musical Express'' "Spirit of Santana" Chris Charlesworth November 1973

''Guitar Player'' Magazine 1978

''Rolling Stone'' "The Epic Life of Carlos Santana" 2000

''Santana I'' – Sony Legacy Edition: liner notes

''Abraxas'' – Sony Legacy Edition: liner notes

''Santana III'' – Sony Legacy edition: liner notes

''Viva Santana'' – CBS CD release 1988; liner notes

''Power, Passion and Beauty – The Story of the Legendary Mahavishnu Orchestra'' Walter Kolosky 2006

''Best of Carlos Santana'' – Wolf Marshall 1996; introduction and interview

Further reading

Chipley Slavicek, Louise. ''Carlos Santana'', Chelsea House Publications or Facts on File, 2006, 119 p., ISBN 0-7910-8844-8

Leng, Simon. ''Soul Sacrifice: The Santana Story'', Firefly-S.A.F. Publishing, 2000, 224 p., ISBN 0-946719-29-2. Republ. as ''Santana'', Catedra, 2002, ISBN 84-376-1947-5

McCarthy, Jim; Ron Sansoe, Ron, foreword by Carlos Santana. ''Voices of Latin Rock: The People and Events That Created This Sound'', Omnibus Press, 2004 and Hal Leonard Publishing, 2005, 316 p., ISBN 0-634-08061-X

Miller, Hal; Santana Debbie; Faulkner, John (ed.), w/ a foreword by Bill Graham. ''Santana: A Retrospective of the Santana Band's Twenty Years in Music'', San Francisco Mission Cultural Center, 1987 or 1988, 50p., no ISBN. Includes a 4-p genealogical tree w/ the members's name for every Santana band from 1966.

Molenda, Michael (ed.). ''Guitar Player Presents Carlos Santana'', Backbeat Books, 2010, 124 p., ISBN 978-0-87930-976-3

Remstein, Henna. ''Carlos Santana (Latinos in the Limelight)'', Chelsea House Publications, 2001, 64 p., ISBN 0-7910-6473-5

Shapiro, Marc. ''Carlos Santana: Back on Top'', St-Martin's Press, 2000 and 2002, 288 p., ISBN 0-312-28852-2

Sumsion, Michael. ''Maximum Santana: The Unauthorized Biography of Santana'', Chrome Dreams, 2003, ISBN 1-84240-107-6. A CD-audio biog

Weinstein, Norman. ''Carlos Santana: A Biography'', Greenwood Press, 2009, 152 p., ISBN 978-0313354205

Woog, Adam. ''Carlos Santana: Legendary Guitarist'', Lucent Books, 2006, 104 p., ISBN 1-59018-972-8

External links

Official website

Milagro Foundation

Information about Carlos Santana

Concerts online at Wolfgang's Vault

Category:1947 births Category:Living people Category:American Christians Category:American musicians of Mexican descent Category:American rock guitarists Category:Arista Records artists Category:Blues rock musicians Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Latin Grammy Award winners Category:Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year Honorees Category:Lead guitarists Category:Mexican Christians Category:Mexican emigrants to the United States Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:People from Autlán, Jalisco Category:People from Tijuana Category:Musicians from the San Francisco Bay Area Category:Santana (band) members Category:World music musicians Category:World Music Awards winners Category:Chicano rock musicians

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honorific-prefix	The Honourable
name	Bob Marley
alt	Black and white picture of a man with long dreadlocks playing the guitar on stage.
background	solo_singer
birth name	Robert Nesta Marley
alias	Tuff Gong
birth date	February 06, 1945
birth place	Nine Mile, Saint Ann, Jamaica
death date	May 11, 1981
death place	Miami, Florida, U.S.
instrument	Vocals, guitar, piano, saxophone, harmonica, percussion
genre	Reggae, ska, rocksteady
occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician
years active	1962–1981
label	Studio One, Upsetter, Tuff Gong
associated acts	Bob Marley & The Wailers, Wailers Band, The Upsetters, I Threes
website
notable instruments	Gibson Les Paul Special }}

Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers (1963–1981). Marley remains the most widely known and revered performer of reggae music, and is credited with helping spread both Jamaican music and the Rastafari movement to a worldwide audience.

Marley's music was heavily influenced by the social issues of his homeland, and he is considered to have given voice to the specific political and cultural nexus of Jamaica. His best-known hits include "I Shot the Sheriff", "No Woman, No Cry", "Could You Be Loved", "Stir It Up", "Jamming", "Redemption Song", "One Love" and, "Three Little Birds", as well as the posthumous releases "Buffalo Soldier" and "Iron Lion Zion". The compilation album ''Legend'' (1984), released three years after his death, is reggae's best-selling album, going ten times Platinum which is also one Diamond in the U.S., and selling 25 million copies worldwide.

Early life and career

Bob Marley was born in the village of Nine Mile in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica as Nesta Robert Marley. A Jamaican passport official would later swap his first and middle names. His father, Norval Sinclair Marley, was a white Jamaican of mixed and English descent whose family came from Essex, England. Norval was a captain in the Royal Marines, as well as a plantation overseer, when he married Cedella Booker, an Afro-Jamaican then 18 years old. Norval provided financial support for his wife and child, but seldom saw them, as he was often away on trips. In 1955, when Marley was 10 years old, his father died of a heart attack at age 70. Marley faced questions about his own racial identity throughout his life. He once reflected:

I don't have prejudice against meself. My father was a white and my mother was black. Them call me half-caste or whatever. Me don't dip on nobody's side. Me don't dip on the black man's side nor the white man's side. Me dip on God's side, the one who create me and cause me to come from black and white.

Although Marley recognised his mixed ancestry, throughout his life and because of his beliefs, he self-identified as a black African, following the ideas of Pan-African leaders. Marley stated that his two biggest influences were the African-centered Marcus Garvey and Haile Selassie. A central theme in Bob Marley's message was the repatriation of black people to Zion, which in his view was Ethiopia, or more generally, Africa. In songs such as "Black Survivor", "Babylon System", and "Blackman Redemption", Marley sings about the struggles of blacks and Africans against oppression from the West or "Babylon".

Marley became friends with Neville "Bunny" Livingston (later known as Bunny Wailer), with whom he started to play music. He left school at the age of 14 to make music with Joe Higgs, a local singer and devout Rastafari. At a jam session with Higgs and Livingston, Marley met Peter McIntosh (later known as Peter Tosh), who had similar musical ambitions. In 1962, Marley recorded his first two singles, "Judge Not" and "One Cup of Coffee", with local music producer Leslie Kong. These songs, released on the Beverley's label under the pseudonym of Bobby Martell, attracted little attention. The songs were later re-released on the box set ''Songs of Freedom'', a posthumous collection of Marley's work.

Bob Marley & the Wailers

1963–1974

In 1963, Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, and Cherry Smith formed a ska and rocksteady group, calling themselves "The Teenagers". They later changed their name to "The Wailing Rudeboys", then to "The Wailing Wailers", at which point they were discovered by record producer Coxsone Dodd, and finally to "The Wailers". By 1966, Braithwaite, Kelso, and Smith had left The Wailers, leaving the core trio of Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, and Peter Tosh.

In 1966, Marley married Rita Anderson, and moved near his mother's residence in Wilmington, Delaware in the United States for a short time, during which he worked as a DuPont lab assistant and on the assembly line at a Chrysler plant, under the alias Donald Marley.

Though raised in the Catholic tradition, Marley became captivated by Rastafarian beliefs in the 1960s, when away from his mother's influence. Formally converted to Rastafari after returning to Jamaica, Marley began to wear his trademark dreadlocks (''see the ''religion section'' for more on Marley's religious views''). After a conflict with Dodd, Marley and his band teamed up with Lee "Scratch" Perry and his studio band, The Upsetters. Although the alliance lasted less than a year, they recorded what many consider The Wailers' finest work. Marley and Perry split after a dispute regarding the assignment of recording rights, but they would remain friends and work together again.

Between 1968 and 1972, Bob and Rita Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer re-cut some old tracks with JAD Records in Kingston and London in an attempt to commercialise The Wailers' sound. Bunny later asserted that these songs "should never be released on an album ... they were just demos for record companies to listen to". Also in 1968, Bob and Rita visited the Bronx to see Johnny Nash's songwriter Jimmy Norman. A three-day jam session with Norman and others, including Norman's co-writer Al Pyfrom, resulted in a 24-minute tape of Marley performing several of his own and Norman-Pyfrom's compositions. This tape is, according to Reggae archivist Roger Steffens, rare in that it was influenced by pop rather than reggae, as part of an effort to break Marley into the American charts. According to an article in ''The New York Times'', Marley experimented on the tape with different sounds, adopting a doo-wop style on "Stay With Me" and "the slow love song style of 1960's artists" on "Splish for My Splash". An artist yet to establish himself outside his native Jamaica, Marley lived in Ridgmount Gardens, Bloomsbury, London during 1972.

In 1972, the Wailers entered into an ill-fated deal with CBS Records and embarked on a tour with American soul singer Johnny Nash. Broke, the Wailers became stranded in London. Marley turned up at Island Records founder and producer Chris Blackwell's London office, and asked him to advance the cost of a new single. Since Jimmy Cliff, Island's top reggae star, had recently left the label, Blackwell was primed for a replacement. In Marley, Blackwell recognized the elements needed to snare the rock audience: "I was dealing with rock music, which was really rebel music. I felt that would really be the way to break Jamaican music. But you needed someone who could be that image. When Bob walked in he really was that image." Blackwell told Marley he wanted The Wailers to record a complete album (essentially unheard of at the time). When Marley told him it would take between £3,000 and £4,000, Blackwell trusted him with the greater sum. Despite their "rude boy" reputation, the Wailers returned to Kingston and honored the deal, delivering the album ''Catch A Fire''.

Primarily recorded on eight-track at Harry J's in Kingston, ''Catch A Fire'' marked the first time a reggae band had access to a state-of-the-art studio and were accorded the same care as their rock'n'roll peers. Blackwell desired to create "more of a drifting, hypnotic-type feel than a reggae rhythm", and restructured Marley's mixes and arrangements. Marley travelled to London to supervise Blackwell's overdubbing of the album, which included tempering the mix from the bass-heavy sound of Jamaican music, and omitting two tracks.

The Wailers' first major label album, ''Catch a Fire'' was released worldwide in April 1973, packaged like a rock record with a unique Zippo lighter lift-top. Initially selling 14,000 units, it didn't make Marley a star, but received a positive critical reception. It was followed later that year by ''Burnin''', which included the standout songs "Get Up, Stand Up", and "I Shot the Sheriff", which appealed to the ear of Eric Clapton. He recorded a cover of the track in 1974 which became a huge American hit, raising Marley's international profile. Many Jamaicans were not keen on the new "improved" reggae sound on ''Catch A Fire'', but the Trenchtown style of ''Burnin''' found fans across both reggae and rock audiences.

During this period, Blackwell gifted his Kingston residence and company headquarters at 56 Hope Road (then known as Island House) to Marley. Housing Tuff Gong Studios, the property became not only Marley's office, but also his home.

The Wailers were scheduled to open 17 shows for the number one black act in the States, Sly and the Family Stone. After 4 shows, the band was fired because they were more popular than the acts they were opening for. The Wailers broke up in 1974 with each of the three main members pursuing solo careers. The reason for the breakup is shrouded in conjecture; some believe that there were disagreements amongst Bunny, Peter, and Bob concerning performances, while others claim that Bunny and Peter simply preferred solo work.

1974–1981

Despite the break-up, Marley continued recording as "Bob Marley & The Wailers". His new backing band included brothers Carlton and Aston "Family Man" Barrett on drums and bass respectively, Junior Marvin and Al Anderson on lead guitar, Tyrone Downie and Earl "Wya" Lindo on keyboards, and Alvin "Seeco" Patterson on percussion. The "I Threes", consisting of Judy Mowatt, Marcia Griffiths, and Marley's wife, Rita, provided backing vocals. In 1975, Marley had his international breakthrough with his first hit outside Jamaica, "No Woman, No Cry", from the ''Natty Dread'' album. This was followed by his breakthrough album in the United States, ''Rastaman Vibration'' (1976), which spent four weeks on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. On 3 December 1976, two days before "Smile Jamaica", a free concert organised by the Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley in an attempt to ease tension between two warring political groups, Marley, his wife, and manager Don Taylor were wounded in an assault by unknown gunmen inside Marley's home. Taylor and Marley's wife sustained serious injuries, but later made full recoveries. Bob Marley received minor wounds in the chest and arm. The shooting was thought to have been politically motivated, as many felt the concert was really a support rally for Manley. Nonetheless, the concert proceeded, and an injured Marley performed as scheduled, two days after the attempt. When asked why, Marley responded, "The people who are trying to make this world worse aren’t taking a day off. How can I?" The members of the group Zap Pow, which had no radical religious or political beliefs, played as Bob Marley's backup band before a festival crowd of 80,000 while members of The Wailers were still missing or in hiding.

Marley left Jamaica at the end of 1976, and after a month-long "recovery and writing" sojourn at the site of Chris Blackwell's Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas, arrived in England, where he spent two years in self-imposed exile. Whilst there he recorded the albums ''Exodus'' and ''Kaya''. ''Exodus'' stayed on the British album charts for 56 consecutive weeks. It included four UK hit singles: "Exodus", "Waiting in Vain", "Jamming", and "One Love" (a rendition of Curtis Mayfield's hit, "People Get Ready"). During his time in London, he was arrested and received a conviction for possession of a small quantity of cannabis. In 1978, Marley returned to Jamaica and performed at another political concert, the One Love Peace Concert, again in an effort to calm warring parties. Near the end of the performance, by Marley's request, Michael Manley (leader of then-ruling People's National Party) and his political rival Edward Seaga (leader of the opposing Jamaica Labour Party), joined each other on stage and shook hands.

Under the name Bob Marley and the Wailers eleven albums were released, four live albums and seven studio albums. The releases included ''Babylon by Bus'', a double live album with thirteen tracks, were released in 1978 and received critical acclaim. This album, and specifically the final track "Jamming" with the audience in a frenzy, captured the intensity of Marley's live performances.

''Survival'', a defiant and politically charged album, was released in 1979. Tracks such as "Zimbabwe", "Africa Unite", "Wake Up and Live", and "Survival" reflected Marley's support for the struggles of Africans. His appearance at the Amandla Festival in Boston in July 1979 showed his strong opposition to South African apartheid, which he already had shown in his song "War" in 1976. In early 1980, he was invited to perform at the 17 April celebration of Zimbabwe's Independence Day. ''Uprising'' (1980) was Bob Marley's final studio album, and is one of his most religious productions; it includes "Redemption Song" and "Forever Loving Jah". ''Confrontation'', released posthumously in 1983, contained unreleased material recorded during Marley's lifetime, including the hit "Buffalo Soldier" and new mixes of singles previously only available in Jamaica.

Personal life

Religion

Bob Marley was a member of the Rastafari movement, whose culture was a key element in the development of reggae. Bob Marley became an ardent proponent of Rastafari, taking their music out of the socially deprived areas of Jamaica and onto the international music scene. He once gave the following response, which was typical, to a question put to him during a recorded interview:

Interviewer: "Can you tell the people what it means being a Rastafarian?"

Bob: "I would say to the people, Be still, and know that His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia is the Almighty. Now, the Bible seh so, Babylon newspaper seh so, and I and I the children seh so. Yunno? So I don't see how much more reveal our people want. Wha' dem want? a white God, well God come black. True true." Observant of the Rastafari practice Ital, a diet that shuns meat, Marley was a vegetarian. According to his biographers, he affiliated with the Twelve Tribes Mansion. He was in the denomination known as "Tribe of Joseph", because he was born in February (each of the twelve sects being composed of members born in a different month). He signified this in his album liner notes, quoting the portion from ''Genesis'' that includes Jacob's blessing to his son Joseph. Marley was baptised by the Archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Kingston, Jamaica, on 4 November 1980.

Family

Bob Marley had a number of children: three with his wife Rita, two adopted from Rita's previous relationships, and several others with different women. The Bob Marley official website acknowledges eleven children.

Those listed on the official site are: # Sharon, born 23 November 1964, to Rita in previous relationship # Cedella born 23 August 1967, to Rita # David "Ziggy", born 17 October 1968, to Rita # Stephen, born 20 April 1972, to Rita # Robert "Robbie", born 16 May 1972, to Pat Williams # Rohan, born 19 May 1972, to Janet Hunt # Karen, born 1973 to Janet Bowen # Stephanie, born 17 August 1974; according to Cedella Booker she was the daughter of Rita and a man called Ital with whom Rita had an affair; nonetheless she was acknowledged as Bob's daughter # Julian, born 4 June 1975, to Lucy Pounder # Ky-Mani, born 26 February 1976, to Anita Belnavis # Damian, born 21 July 1978, to Cindy Breakspeare

Makeda was born on 30 May 1981, to Yvette Crichton, after Marley's death. Meredith Dixon's book lists her as Marley's child, but she is not listed as such on the Bob Marley official website.

Various websites, for example, also list Imani Carole, born 22 May 1963 to Cheryl Murray; but she does not appear on the official Bob Marley website.

Final years and death

In July 1977, Marley was found to have a type of malignant melanoma under the nail of one of his toes. Contrary to urban legend, this lesion was not primarily caused by an injury during a football match in that year, but was instead a symptom of the already existing cancer. Marley turned down doctors' advice to have his toe amputated, citing his religious beliefs. Despite his illness, he continued touring and was in the process of scheduling a world tour in 1980. The intention was for Inner Circle to be his opening act on the tour but after their lead singer Jacob Miller died in Jamaica in March 1980 after returning from a scouting mission in Brazil this was no longer mentioned.

The album ''Uprising'' was released in May 1980 (produced by Chris Blackwell), on which "Redemption Song" is particularly considered to be about Marley coming to terms with his mortality. The band completed a major tour of Europe, where they played their biggest concert, to a hundred thousand people in Milan. After the tour Marley went to America, where he performed two shows at Madison Square Garden as part of the Uprising Tour.

The final concert of Bob Marley's career was held September 23, 1980 at the Stanley Theater (now called The Benedum Center For The Performing Arts) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The audio recording of that concert is now available on CD, vinyl, and digital music services.

Shortly after, Marley's health deteriorated and he became very ill; the cancer had spread throughout his body. The rest of the tour was cancelled and Marley sought treatment at the Bavarian clinic of Josef Issels, where he received a controversial type of cancer therapy (Issels treatment) partly based on avoidance of certain foods, drinks, and other substances. After fighting the cancer without success for eight months, Marley boarded a plane for his home in Jamaica.

While flying home from Germany to Jamaica, Marley's vital functions worsened. After landing in Miami, Florida, he was taken to the hospital for immediate medical attention. He died at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami (now University of Miami Hospital) on the morning of May 11, 1981, at the age of 36. The spread of melanoma to his lungs and brain caused his death. His final words to his son Ziggy were "Money can't buy life". Marley received a state funeral in Jamaica on 21 May 1981, which combined elements of Ethiopian Orthodoxy and Rastafari tradition. He was buried in a chapel near his birthplace with his red Gibson Les Paul (some accounts say it was a Fender Stratocaster).

On 21 May 1981, Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga delivered the final funeral eulogy to Marley, declaring:

Legacy

In 1999 ''Time'' magazine chose Bob Marley & The Wailers' ''Exodus'' as the greatest album of the 20th century. In 2001, he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and a feature-length documentary about his life, ''Rebel Music'', won various awards at the Grammys. With contributions from Rita, The Wailers, and Marley's lovers and children, it also tells much of the story in his own words. A statue was inaugurated, next to the national stadium on Arthur Wint Drive in Kingston to commemorate him. In 2006, the State of New York renamed a portion of Church Avenue from Remsen Avenue to East 98th Street in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn "Bob Marley Boulevard". In 2008, a statue of Marley was inaugurated in Banatski Sokolac, Serbia.

Internationally, Marley’s message also continues to reverberate amongst various indigenous communities. For instance, the Aboriginal people of Australia continue to burn a sacred flame to honor his memory in Sydney’s Victoria Park, while members of the Native American Hopi and Havasupai tribe revere his work. There are also many tributes to Bob Marley throughout India, including restaurants, hotels, and cultural festivals.

Marley has also evolved into a global symbol, which has been endlessly merchandised through a variety of mediums. In light of this, author Dave Thompson in his book ''Reggae and Caribbean Music'', laments what he perceives to be the commercialized pacification of Marley's more militant edge, stating:

Film adaptation(s)

In February 2008, director Martin Scorsese announced his intention to produce a documentary movie on Marley. The film was set to be released on 6 February 2010, on what would have been Marley's 65th birthday. Recently, however, Scorsese dropped out due to scheduling problems. He is being replaced by Jonathan Demme.

In March 2008, The Weinstein Company announced its plans to produce a biopic of Bob Marley, based on the book ''No Woman No Cry: My Life With Bob Marley'' by Rita Marley. Rudy Langlais will produce the script by Lizzie Borden and Rita Marley will be executive producer.

Discography

''The Wailing Wailers'' (1965)

''The Best of The Wailers'' (1970)

''Soul Rebels'' (1970)

''Soul Revolution'' (1971)

''Catch a Fire'' (1973)

''Burnin''' (1973)

''Natty Dread'' (1974)

''Rastaman Vibration'' (1976)

''Exodus'' (1977)

''Kaya'' (1978)

''Survival'' (1979)

''Uprising'' (1980)

''Confrontation'' (1983)

Awards and honors

1976: Band of the Year (''Rolling Stone'').

June 1978: Awarded the Peace Medal of the Third World from the United Nations.

February 1981: Awarded Jamaica's third highest honour, the Jamaican Order of Merit.

March 1994: Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

1999: Album of the Century for ''Exodus'' by ''Time Magazine''.

February 2001: A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

February 2001: Awarded Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

2004: ''Rolling Stone'' ranked him No.11 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

"One Love" named song of the millennium by BBC.

Voted as one of the greatest lyricists of all time by a BBC poll. 2006: A blue plaque was unveiled at his first UK residence in Ridgmount Gardens, London, dedicated to him by Nubian Jak community trust and supported by Her Majesty's Foreign Office. 2010: "Catch a Fire" inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame (Reggae Album).

References

Further reading

Farley, Christopher (2007). ''Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley'', Amistad Press ISBN 0060539925

Goldman, Vivien (2006). ''The Book of Exodus: The Making and Meaning of Bob Marley and the Wailers' Album of the Century'', Aurum Press ISBN 1845132106

Marley, Rita; Jones, Hettie (2004) ''No Woman No Cry: My Life with Bob Marley'' Hyperion Books ISBN 0786887559

Masouri, John (2007) ''Wailing Blues: The Story of Bob Marley's "Wailers"'' Wise Publications ISBN 1846096898

White, Timothy (2006). ''Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley'' Owl Books ISBN 0805080864

External links

The Bob Marley Foundation

Online Home of the Marleys

Bob Marley at ''Rolling Stone''

Marley Elected one of the Greatest Songwriters BBC News, 23 May 2001

Showcase: Bob Marley by James Estrin, ''The New York Times'', 18 May 2009

Interview with Heather Marley in Bob Marley Magazine

Extensive discography

Category:1945 births Category:1981 deaths Category:Anti-apartheid activists Category:Attempted assassination survivors Category:Cancer deaths in Florida Category:Cannabis culture Category:Converts to Christianity Category:Converts to the Rastafari movement Category:Deaths from skin cancer Category:English-language singers Category:Ethiopian Orthodox Christians Category:Former Roman Catholics Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Jamaican expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:Jamaican expatriates in the United States Category:Jamaican male singers Category:Jamaican people of English descent Category:Jamaican Rastafarians Category:Jamaican reggae singers Category:Jamaican songwriters Category:Jamaican vegetarians B Category:Pan-Africanism Category:Performers of Rastafarian music Category:People from Saint Ann Parish Category:People from Wilmington, Delaware Category:Resonator guitarists Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Shooting survivors Category:The Wailers members

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name	Too $hort
background	solo_singer
birth name	Todd Anthony Shaw
alias	$hort Dawg, Short Dizzle
born	April 28, 1966Los Angeles, California, U.S.
origin	East Oakland, Oakland, California, U.S.
genre	Hip hop, dirty rap, R&B;, alternative rap
occupation	Rapper, songwriter, actor, producer, Youth UpRising mentor
years active	1980-present
label	Jive, Up All Nite, Porter House
associated acts	Ant Banks, MC Breed, Rappin' 4-Tay, Lil' Jon, E-40, Travis Porter, Git Fresh, Snow, George Clinton, Wiz Khalifa, Cee Lo Green, 2pac
website	}}

Todd Anthony Shaw (born April 28, 1966), better known by the stage name Too $hort, is an American rapper, producer, and actor who started his career at the age of fourteen in East Oakland, Oakland, California.

Career

In the early 1980s, Shaw produced custom songs (called "special requests") for people with his high school friend, Freddy B. In 1985, Too Short had his first release, ''Don't Stop Rappin''' which, along with the following three releases, featured raw, simple drum beats from a LinnDrum drum machine. In the early 1990s his beats came from mostly a TR-808 and from mid-to-late 2000s, a TR-909 was used. In 2005, Too Short and Freddie B. formed the label Dangerous Music to regionally distribute his music. Dangerous Music became Short Records, and then Up All Nite Records. With his 1989 release, ''Life Is...Too Short'', he began used replayed established funk riffs (rather than samples) with his beats.

Subsequent work was primarily collaborative, including work with Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., and Scarface. One of his noticeable collaborations during this period was on the track "The World Is Filled..." on the classic Notorious B.I.G. album Life After Death; he comes in on the third verse after Diddy and Biggie. Being featured on the album introduced him to a wider audience as well, due to his typical style contrasting greatly with the Mafioso theme of the album. He also appeared on TWDY's hit single "Player's Holiday" from their 1999 debut album ''Derty Werk'' as well as the Priority Records compilation ''Nuthin but a Gangsta Party''. After these appearances, he began working on his eleventh album, ''Can't Stay Away''. The album included guest appearances by 8Ball & MJG, Jay-Z, Jermaine Dupri, Sean Combs, E-40, Daz Dillinger, Lil' Jon, Soopafly, Scarface and B-Legit. Too Short relocated to Atlanta in 1994, but he did not begin working with a more diverse variety of Southern artists until 2000, when he collaborated with Lil Jon. With the 1999 release of ''Can't Stay Away'', Too Short fully came out of retirement and released a number of new albums within the next few years, most of them taking on a crunk or Dirty South type sound, as he had become involved in the Southern rap scene. However, he didn't totally give up on his trademark funk grooves or sexually explicit style. New albums released 2000-2003 were ''You Nasty'' (2000), ''Chase the Cat'' (2001), ''What's My Favorite Word?'' (2002), and ''Married to the Game'' (2003). These albums all charted fairly well, as they all were in the top 71 of the Billboard Hot 200, but they didn't do quite as well as Too Short's earlier 1990s releases as none of them reached the top 10.

In 2004, his earlier 1990 single "The Ghetto" appeared on popular videogame ''Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'', playing on West Coast hip hop radio station Radio Los Santos and the children's television program, ''Sabrina: The Animated Series'', is an 1999 American animated television series based on Archie Comics character, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. Given that this was an incredibly popular game at the time, the featuring was acclaimed as a success for Too $hort, both in publicity and in the fame generated by the song.

For his next album, 2006's ''Blow the Whistle'', Too Short now took advantage of the new hyphy rap music that was emerging out of his original home base in Oakland. This saw somewhat of a resurgence for Too Short as it peaked at #14 on the Billboard 200, much better than each of his previous three releases. However, his subsequent releases, such as 2007's ''Get Off the Stage'', have not been as successful. On October 7, 2008 Too Short was honored by VH1 at the fifth annual "Hip-Hop Honors" along with Cypress Hill, De La Soul, Slick Rick and Naughty By Nature.

In 2009, Too Short recorded for Daz Dillinger, Lil' Jon, Soopafly, Scarface and B-Legit. and continues to tour to this day. In 2011, the rapper was featured on Wiz Khalifa's song "On My Level". He featured in Snoop Dogg's 2011 album, Doggumentary in the song Take U Home.

Up All Nite Records

Too Short runs his own record label—Up All Nite Records. Artists on the label include The Pack, Dolla Will, Boo Ski, Eyob Fantay and Li'l J & Boi Payton, FX. In addition to creating Up All Nite Records, Too Short has been a mentor at Youth UpRising, a group serving at-risk youths for several years.

Too Short in film

Too Short played the role of Lew-Loc in the film ''Menace II Society''.

Too Short has also worked in the adult film industry, with the 2003 film Get In Where You Fit In.

Too Short was an interviewee in ''American Pimp.''

In 2005 Too Short starred in and performed the music for ''America's Sexiest Girls''.

Too Short has also appeared in an episode of ''The Game''.

Too Short made a cameo appearance in Jay-z's video for the hit single Big Pimpin'.

Discography

; Studio albums

1983: ''Don't Stop Rappin'''

1985: ''Players''

1986: ''Raw, Uncut, and X-Rated''

1987: ''Born to Mack''

1989: ''Life Is... Too Short''

1990: ''Short Dog's in the House''

1992: ''Shorty The Pimp''

1993: ''Get in Where You Fit In''

1995: ''Cocktails''

1996: ''Gettin' It''

1999: ''Can't Stay Away''

2000: ''You Nasty''

2001: ''Chase the Cat''

2002: ''What's My Favorite Word?''

2003: ''Married to the Game''

2006: ''Blow the Whistle''

2007: ''Get off the Stage''

2010: ''Still Blowin'''

2010: ''Respect the Pimpin'''

2012: ''Untitled'' January 24th

; EPs

2010: ''Respect the Pimpin'''

; Collaboration albums 2011: ''The History Channel'' with E-40 (Summer 2011)

References

Mixtapes: Pimpin' Inc.

External links

Too Short site by record label Jive Records (requires Flash)

Too Short interview

Too Short interview with GSlaps.com

Category:1984 births Category:Living people Category:African American rappers Category:Jive Records artists Category:People from Oakland, California Category:Rappers from the San Francisco Bay Area

da:Too $hort de:Too Short es:Too $hort fr:Too $hort ko:투 숏 hr:Too Short it:Too $hort pl:Too $hort pt:Too Short fi:Too Short sv:Too Short

Name	Zion & Lennox
Background	group_or_band
Origin	Carolina, Puerto Rico
Birth name	Felix Ortiz (Zion)Gabriel Pizarro (Lennox)
Birth date	August 5, 1981 (Zion) December 10 (Lennox)
Alias	La Z y la L Los Verdaderos
Genre	Reggaeton
Years active	2000–2006 2008–present
Label	Pina Records
Current members	Felix Ortiz Gabriel Pizarro }}

Zion & Lennox are a reggaeton duo from Carolina, Puerto Rico. As of 2010, Zion & Lennox released their 3rd studio album titled ''Los Verdaderos'' under Pina Records.

Career

They have been in the music business for a long time, but had failed to get any recognition for the majority of those years. They had minor hits such as "Baila Conmigo" for the 2003 compilation album "Desafío" and "Me Pones Tensión" for the album ''The Noise: La Biografía''. These hits, along with others in the near future and increased radio play gave them more recognition. This gave them the chance to appear in major Reggaeton albums such as Luny Tunes' Mas Flow'' (2003) and Mas Flow 2'' (2005), ''Blin Blin vol.1'' (2003-4), ''Contra la Corriente'' (2004), and ''Cazadores, Primera Búsqueda'' (2005).

In May 2004, they released their first solo album, ''Motivando a la Yal''. With hits such as "Doncella", "Bandida", and "Yo Voy" (featuring Daddy Yankee), the album reached gold certification. With the reggaeton genre becoming a worldwide phenomenon, Zion and Lennox's popularity increased. ''Motivando a la Yal: Special Edition'' was released a year later. The special edition had new songs along with remixed songs of the previous edition, such as "Don't Stop", "Bachatéalo", a remix to the song "Bandida", and a hip-hop remix of "Yo Voy" with Miri Ben-Ari, Fatman Scoop, and Pitbull entitled "Jump & Spread Out (DJ Precise and Cheeky Starr Version)".

Both Zion and Lennox are very active with solo songs. Zion has been more notable with songs like "Yo Voy a Llegar" for Reggaeton producer DJ Nelson's compilation album ''Flow la Discoteka'', "Alócate" released on Luny Tunes's album ''Mas Flow 2.5'', and "Con Ella Me Quedare" released in the fifth installment of the Alex Gargolas series, entitled ''Gargolas: The Next Generation''. He also has turned up a new hit, "Que Pasara", for DJ Nelson's ''Flow la Discoteka 2''. Zion has released a solo album entitled ''The Perfect Melody'' on June 5, 2007, with appearances by artists such as Akon and Play-n-Skillz. "The Way She Moves" is the lead single from the album and features Akon. Lennox has been working on songs on his own album, but has also been very active in bringing new artist to his label "Toma Enterprise". The label is set to release an album named ''Los Mero Meros''.

Zion y Lennox's music is much different than mainstream reggaeton. What truly distinguishes them from other artists is that they typically sing about love and relationships, similar to RKM y Ken-Y(in 1970s R&B; fashion) and refrain from the typical obscene sex, drugs and violence lyrics heard in a lot of other reggaeton and hip hop songs.

After three years of building their fan base and positive reputation with guest spots and compilation records, Zion & Lennox released their first full-length record, ''Motivando a la Yal''. The record featured the work of renowned producers Luny Tunes, Noriega, Nely "El Arma Secreta", and Eliel, some of the most visible the style had to offer. Thanks to the record's success as it hit the charts with force, Zion & Lennox toured all over the Americas, performing before large and appreciative audiences. Soon industry demand and personal pressure caused Zion & Lennox to go in different directions. Boldly boasting to be one of the greatest singers ever to hail not only from Puerto Rico but all of Latin America, Ortiz started his own record label, Baby Records, for whom he is the flagship act and CEO. Lennox continues to make guest appearances and collaborate with important genre artists. It came after a lengthy discussion in a New York hotel in which they parted amicably. Recently, as of February 8, 2008, Zion y Lennox are on a "reunited" tour. They also set the reggaeton world on notice slating a November 2008 release of their latest effort which has yet to be publicly titled. Zion participated in a beach festival named "Back to School", on August 9, 2008. In early 2010, they joined and signed a contract with Pina Records.

Personal life

Zion & Lennox are Afro-Puerto Ricans who grew up together in the town ''Carolina'', Puerto Rico enjoying similar musical tastes, such as hip hop, dance hall, and rap. Lennox is the younger brother of Mackie of the reggaeton duo, Yaga & Mackie.

Zion's Singles

"Yo Voy A Llegar" (Flow la Discoteka) (2004)

"Sólo Una Noche" (El Que Habla Con Las Manos) (2005)

"Con Ella Me Quedaré" (Gargolas: The Next Generation) (2006)

"Sigue Ahí" (Ft. Memphis Bleek & De La Ghetto) (Los Rompe Discotekas) (2006)

"No Falla" (Ft. Cuban Link)

"Hello" (Mas Flow: Los Benjamins) (2006)

"Alócate" (Mas Flow 2.5) (2006)

"Dos Jueyes" (ft. Domingo Quiñones) (Los Cocorocos) (2006)

"Que Pasará" (Flow la Discoteka 2) (2007)

"Veo" (Don Omar Presenta: El Pentágono) (2007)

"Fantasma" (The Perfect Melody) (2007)

"Zun Da Da" (The Perfect Melody) (2007)

"The Way She Moves" (Ft. Akon) (The Perfect Melody) (2007)

"Amor de Pobre" (Ft. Eddie Dee) (The Perfect Melody) (2007)

"Money" (The Perfect Melody) (2007)

"Periódico de Ayer" (The Perfect Melody)(2007)

"Ábre La Puerta" (The Perfect Melody) (2007)

"Vamonos Al Club" (Ft. Tego Calderón) (2007)

"Independiente" (Los Bravos) (2007)

"Pa'l Piso" (Ft. Element Black) (2008)

"Sabanas Mojadas" (2008)

"Fantasía" (2008)

"Entre Cuatro Paredes" (Los Sikarios) (2008)

"Showtime" (Ft. Angel & Khriz) (2008)

"Fuera del Planeta" (Remix) (Ft. Eloy, Jowell & Randy) (2008)

"Seré Yo" (2008)

"Sabanas Mojadas" (Remix) (Ft. Jowell) (2008)

"Tenerla Es Sonar" (2008)

"Se Fue" (Ft. MJ) (Mi Sentimiento) (2008)

"Tease Me" (Flow Factory) (2009)

Zion & Lennox Singles

"Hay Algo En Ti" (Mas Flow) (2003)

"No Pierdas Tiempo" (Chosen Few El Documental) (2004)

"Cuanto Tengo Que Esperar" (MVP 2: The Grand Slam) (2005)

"No Me Compares" (Flow la Discoteka) (2004)

"No Dejes Que Se Muera" (La Mision 4: The Take Over) (2004)

"Me Pones En Tensión" (The Noise: La Biografía) (2003)

"Don't Stop" (Motivando A La Yal: Special Edition) (2005)

"Me Arrepiento" (Los Bandoleros) (2005)

"Es Mejor Olvidarlo" (Feat. Baby Ranks) (Mas Flow 2) (2005)

"Aquí Estoy Yo" (El Bando Korrupto 2) (2004)

"Quiero Tocarte" (The Score) (2003)

"No Tengas Miedo" (Feat. Noriega) (Contra la Corriente) (2004)

"Ella Me Mintio" (Feat. Ro-K & Gammy) (Malas Mañas) (2004)

"Te Hago El Amor" (Gargolas 4: The Return) (2003)

"Ibas Caminando" (Los Cazadores: La Primera Busqueda) (2005)

"Aguántate" (Feat. Johnny Prez) / (The Prezident) (2005)

"Baila Conmigo" (Desafío) (2003)

"Baila Pa' Mí" (MVP) (2003)

"Tu Movimiento Me Excita" (Los Mozalbetes) (2003)

"Esa Nena" (Ground Zero) (2003)

"Me Dirijo A Ella" (Buddha's Family 2) (2005)

"Tu Cuerpo Deseo" (El Desorden) (2003)

"La Noche Es Larga" (Abusando del Genero) (2006)

"Una Cita" (Echo Presenta: Invasión) (2007)

"Latinas" (Feat. Elephant Man) (Caribbean Connection) (2008)

"Seré Yo" (Remix) (Pasado, Presente & Futuro (Past, Present, And Future) (album)|Pasado, Presente & Futuro)(2008)

"Boom Boom" (Pasado, Presente & Futuro (Past, Present, And Future) (album)|Pasado, Presente & Futuro) (2008)

"Invisible" (Feat. Erre XI) (Luny Tunes Presents: Erre XI) (2008)

"Ten Paciencia" (Remix) (Feat. Thalía) (2008)

"Siempre Esta Dios" (Feat. Yari) (2008)

"Sentir" (Feat. Guelo Star) (Pasado, Presente & Futuro (Past, Present, And Future) (album)|Pasado, Presente & Futuro) (2008)

"Tu Me Confundes" (Feat. Charlie Cruz) (Pasado, Presente & Futuro (Past, Present, And Future) (album)|Pasado, Presente & Futuro) (2008)

"Boom Boom" (Remix) (Feat. Alexis & Fido) (Pasado, Presente & Futuro (Past, Present, And Future) (album)|Pasado, Presente & Futuro) (2009)

"De Inmediato" (Pa' La Calle Mixtape) (2009)

"Vamos En Serio" (Feat. Yaga & Mackie) (Pasado, Presente & Futuro (Past, Present, And Future) (album)|Pasado, Presente & Futuro) (2009)

"Tiemblo (Remix)" (Feat. Baby Rasta & Gringo) (Unreleased) (2009)

"Ahora Es Que Es" (Pa' La Calle Mixtape) (2009)

"Dime Baby" (Feat. Fusion Mobb) (The Gold Pen) (2009)

"Con Una Sonrisa" (Feat. O.G Black & Guayo "El Bandido") (La Hora Cero)(2009)

"Ella Me Motiva" (Feat. Arcangel) (Pa' La Calle Mixtape) (2009)

"Mi Cama Huele A Ti" (Feat. Tito "El Bambino") (El Patrón)(2009)

"Mi Cama Huele A Ti" (Salsa version) (Feat. Charlie Cruz)

"Amor Genuino" (Pa' La Calle Mixtape) (2009)

"Colora'" (Feat. J-King & Maximan) (Pa' La Calle Mixtape) (2009)

"Angeles & Demonios" (Feat. Syko "El Terror") (Pa' La Calle Mixtape) (2009)

"Fuiste Tu" (Pa' La Calle Mixtape) (2009)

"Me Atrae" (Pa' La Calle MIxtape) (2009)

"Se Le Voy A Dar" (Pa' La Calle Mixtape) (2009)

"Hagamos El Amor Part. 2" (Pa' La Calle Mixtape) (2009)

"Daña Party" (Pa' La Calle Mixtape) (2009)

"Mujeriego" (Pa' La Calle Mixtape) (2009)

"Tengo Que Decir" (Golpe De Estado) (2009)

"Amor Genuino" (Feat. De La Ghetto) (2009)

"Si Te Gusta" (Feat. Onyx "Creacion Divina") (2010)

"La Española" (The Diamond) (2010)

"Como Curar" (Los Verdaderos) (2010)

"Momentos" (Los Verdaderos) (2010)

"Hoy Lo Siento" (Feat. Tony Dize) (Los Verdaderos) (2010)

"Tu Ta' Buena" (Feat. Vakero) (2011)

Lennox's Singles

"Somos Los Mero Meros" (Ft. Guelo Star) (Los Mero Meros) (2007)

"Sola y Triste"(Ft. Jonny) (Unreleased) (2007)

"Hace Tiempo" (Motivando a la Yal) (2004)

"Un Amor Así" (Ft. Newton) (Da' Music: Reloaded) (2005)

"Tanto Dolor" (Ft. Noriega) (Sin Control) (2006)

"Te Recordaré" (Ft. Norrys) (Los Bandoleros Reloaded) (2006)

"Hablando Claro" (Ft. Arcangel) (2007)

"Ahy Na Mas" (Los Mero Meros) (2007)

"Lo Importante Es" (K-Libre) (2007)

"Esto No Para" (Línea de Fuego) (2008)

"Bailaremos" (La Evolucion) (2008)

"Solos Tu y Yo" (Ft. Ricky Quiñones) (Unreleased) (2008)

" Diferente" (Ft. Los Insuperables) (2009)

"Eres Mia Hoy (Ft.Kartier)

Discography

''Motivando a la Yal'' (2004)

''Motivando a la Yal: Special Edition'' (2005)

''Live Torre Sabana'' (2006)

''We Are Gods Of Reggaeton'' (2007)

''The Returns (The MixTape)'' (2007)

''Flow Factory'' (2007)

''Pa La Calle (Mixtape)'' (2009)

''Los Verdaderos'' (2010)

''Los Verdaderos (Deluxe Edition)'' (2011)

Zion

''The Perfect Melody'' (2007)

''Live El Choliseo (Welcome To My World)'' (2007)

Lennox

''Los Mero Meros'' (2007) (compilation album)

References

Category:Puerto Rican reggaeton artists Category:Puerto Rican singers Category:Puerto Rican people of African descent Category:Reggaeton duos Zion & Lennox Category:Reggaeton musicians

de:Zion y Lennox es:Zion y Lennox fr:Zion y Lennox nl:Zion & Lennox