From album
Supernatural
Santana · 1999 · Track 7
Details
TonalidadAm
Compás4/4
Tempo96 BPM
Duración3:57
CompositorCarlos Santana / Jerry Duplessis / Karl Perazzo / Raul Rekow / Wyclef Jean
ÁlbumSupernatural
Año1999
ISRCUSAR10000024
Credits
Music Carlos Santana, Jerry Duplessis, Karl Perazzo, Raul Rekow, Wyclef Jean
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The story behind
The song Maria Maria, born from the collaboration between Carlos Santana and a team of songwriters that included Jerry Duplessis and Karl Perazzo, became a highlight of the album Supernatural. This album, released in 1999, marked a resurgence for the band, with Carlos Santana seeking a sound closer to pop and radio, working hand-in-hand with the president of Arista Records, Clive Davis. The result was a resounding commercial success worldwide, reaching number one in eleven countries and generating renewed interest in Santana's music. Maria Maria itself, with its 4:22 duration, stood out by topping the Billboard Hot 100 chart for ten weeks starting April 8, 2000, and also won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 2000.
The path to Maria Maria's success was not an isolated event. The album Supernatural, released in 1999, was Santana's eighteenth studio work and emerged after the band found itself without a record label in the mid-nineties. It was then that Carlos Santana initiated conversations with Clive Davis, who had previously worked with the group at Columbia Records in 1969. Together, Santana and Davis, along with A&R Pete Ganbarg, focused on creating material that would resonate on the radio and attract a wider audience, incorporating collaborations with contemporary artists such as Rob Thomas, Eric Clapton, and Lauryn Hill. The song has also resonated in later years, with a Portuguese version by the group Molejo and being sampled in 2017 by DJ Khaled in his track Wild Thoughts, alongside Rihanna and Bryson Tiller.
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