Greg Rolie is a well known musician of Seattle. He is mainly known as the founding member of The Santana Blues Band, commonly known as only Santana. He was born on 17-Jun, 1947 in Seattle. Gregg Rolie is a skilled singer, keyboardist and organist. Rolie joined hands with Carlos Santana and other musicians in 1966 to form the Santana Blues Band. Santana brought him the first picture of success, as they performed at the Woodstock Music and Art Festival and offered several hit albums. Other than Santana, he also founded bands like Journey, Abraxas Pool and The Storm. He recently formed his very own Gregg Rolie Band.
Musician Greg Rolie was introduced to the famous guitarist Carlos Santana at a jam session in San Francisco. Henceforth they came together to form the world famous band Santana. Very soon Gregg and Carlos performed brilliantly at the Woodstock festival in 1969. This show made them internationally acclaimed music band. Rolie played a significant role in the first four Santana releases. He played a full time role as a writer, keyboardist, producer and also lead vocalist. Santana's best known song - 1970's Black Magic Woman was by Greg Rolie. With the release of the next album Caravanserai in 1972, Rolie realized that the band was entering the commercial music territory. Rolie being a passionate musician hardly derived any satisfaction from the commercial shows. He decided to resign from Santana.
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Rolie intended to leave the music industry and he opened a restaurant in Seattle. But a new offer for another band revitalized his love for music. The new band was named Journey. He again served as a performer, mixing man, writer and producer of Journey . Very soon Journey became one of the most popular rock bands of the early 80s. The first three Journey releases mainly comprised instrumental compositions with Rolie's intermittent vocal interludes. Great offers for radio-friendly material from Journey, inevitably brought about hit songs and musical compositions in 1978. After the joining of another popular singer Steve Perry, the fourth Journey release – Infinity became a large hit with the audience. However Rolie worked in this band for a couple of years and once again left the band, when it was at the peak of glory.
During the end of 1980s, Greg Rolie again contributed partially to Santana's recordings and also released some solo albums. In 1990 he formed the famous band - The Storm. Two of his Journey band mates joined him in The Storm. Next he formed Abraxas Pool band after six years of Storm. 5 of the Santana members played with him in Abraxas Pool. He also played in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the other members of Santana in 1998. The association of Greg Rolie and Santana Blues Band is still active other than his entertaining solo performances. The biography of Greg Rolie is often an inspiring story for the upcoming singers who wish to perform beyond the boundaries of conventional music.
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