- published: 29 Feb 2016
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Rafael Moreira is a Brazilian-American guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist / vocalist on the hit CBS television shows Rock Star: INXS and Rock Star: Supernova, and most recently on MTV'S Rock the Cradle. He has also appeared as lead guitarist / supporting vocalist live on world tours and television, as well as on CD & DVD releases, with world renowned and groundbreaking artists such as Paul Stanley (KISS), Steven Tyler (Aerosmith), Dave Navarro and Stephen Perkins (Jane's Addiction), Tommy Lee (Motley Crue) and Natasha Bedingfield. Rafael has also performed as the lead guitarist for Grammy-winning artists Pink, Christina Aguilera, Don Felder (The Eagles) Marc Anthony, Colbie Caillat and Mýa.
In addition to these performances, Rafael's televised / feature appearances include American Idol (for "Rock Week" 2009), The American Music Awards, both the U.S. and European MTV Video Music Awards, BBC Top of the Pops, BBC Live Sessions, Saturday Night Live, Oprah, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The David Letterman Show, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Good Morning America, Live with Regis and Kelly, The Ellen DeGeneres Show and a number of other major shows throughout Europe, Asia and Australia, including The Essence Awards, The ALMA Awards, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, VH-1's MTV/VH-1 Fashion Awards, Men Strike Back, Storytellers, and Divas Awards.
Carlos Augusto Alves Santana (born July 20, 1947) is a Mexican and American rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, Latin music 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.
Santana was born in Autlán de Navarro, Jalisco, Mexico. 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 In La Colonia Libertad, 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. Carlos was accepted into the California State University, Northridge and Humboldt State University, but turned down both of the offers. Javier Bátiz, a famous guitarist from Tijuana, was 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.