Riding His Spirit to the Top

Carlos Santana, a rock star mystic who says the hand of angels can be heard in his clarion guitar riffs, completed a magical career comeback at the 42nd annual Grammy Awards on Wednesday when he won a record-tying eight trophies.

The resounding victory included wins for best album for “Supernatural” and best record for “Smooth.” The wins equaled Michael Jackson’s eight Grammys in 1983 and come just three years after the 52-year-old Woodstock veteran found himself largely written off by the music industry.

The guitarist has cited the intervention of three individuals for his comeback--his wife, Deborah; Arista Records chief Clive Davis; and an angel named Metatron, the last a divine visitor who inspires Santana’s music during meditation.

“Music is the vehicle for the magic of healing, and the music of ‘Supernatural’ was a sign in this time to bring unity and harmony,” Santana said at Staples Center when he accepted the night’s final award for best album. “God bless you.”

Santana, who hails from humble beginnings, also told the backstage press that his success should inspire people grappling with poverty or other challenges.

“This is for all the people who don’t have running water or electricity,” said Santana, a native of Mexico. “If I could do it, you could do it.”

Music from “Supernatural” also won a ninth statue when songwriters Itaal Shur and Rob Thomas took the honors in the category of song of the year for the hit “Smooth,” which featured Matchbox 20 singer Thomas on vocals and Santana on guitar. “I want to thank Santana,” Shur said, “for taking this song to the moon.”

The Santana magic rubbed off on Thomas, who grabbed the second-most Grammys of the night with three victories for “Smooth,” which finished 1999 as the most-played song of the year on the nation’s radio stations.

English singer Sting scored the night’s biggest upset when his disc “Brand New Day” finished ahead of the Backstreet Boys and Ricky Martin in the best pop album category. Sting also won the award for male pop vocal performance, marking the eighth and ninth Grammys of his solo career.

The wins by elder statesmen such as Santana and the 48-year-old Sting left a wave of youth-pop artists forced to be satisfied with nominations and the major victories they scored at the nation’s cash registers. The Backstreet Boys, ‘N Sync, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera--who accounted for four of the top-selling 12 albums in 1999, including the top two--came into Grammy night with a dozen nominations, but only Aguilera took home a trophy.

The 19-year-old Aguilera won best new artist and said in her acceptance speech that she was surprised to get the nod ahead of other nominees such as Spears and soul singer Macy Gray because she had only one single, the smash “Genie in a Bottle,” released during the eligibility period.

Double-Grammy winners included Atlanta R&B; trio TLC (best R&B; album, best R&B; group performance), Shania Twain (best country song, best female country vocal) and the Dixie Chicks (country album, country group performance).

Another two-time winner was Eminem, who exploded on the rap scene under the tutelage of producer Dr. Dre. The first solo white rapper to earn both major commercial success and peer credibility within his genre won for best rap album and rap solo performance for his “The Slim Shady LP,” a disc that was criticized heavily in some quarters for its flippantly violent imagery.

The other major rap Grammy went to material with distinctly different themes as “You Got Me,” an emotional dialogue between long-distance lovers performed by the Roots featuring Erykah Badu, took honors in the rap group performance category.

Clearly, though, the night belonged to Santana, who grew up in the remote Mexican town of Autlan de Navarro as the son of a mariachi musician. His family emigrated to San Francisco in the 1960s, and the young Santana played guitar on Haight-Ashbury sidewalks for coins.

Santana’s career, catapulted by his performance at Woodstock in 1969, seemingly reached its zenith in the 1970s with hits such as “Evil Ways,” “Black Magic Woman” and “Oye Como Va”--classic rock tracks that would later propel him into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

By the late ‘90s, though, the guitar hero’s best days appeared behind him.

That changed when Davis, founder and president of Arista Records, signed Santana to his label and teamed him with a gallery of younger stars, including Dave Matthews, Wyclef Jean, Everlast and last year’s big Grammy winner, Lauryn Hill.

“Supernatural” also sits atop the nation’s album charts this week--the eighth time it has hit No. 1 since its June release--and has sold more than 6 million copies. Davis echoed the musician’s message of hope.

“You are an inspiration to every young musician throughout the globe. . . . They don’t know how long a career can last . . . how long it can soar,” Davis said on stage, where he joined Santana to accept the best album award.

Santana thanked his industry patron for showing “conviction, tenacity and belief.” The Santana success story has been the highlight of a bittersweet year for Davis, who has been engaged in a firefight with his corporate bosses to retain his post as the head of Arista, where he has guided the careers of artists such as Barry Manilow, Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston.

Santana had only one previous Grammy win in his 31-year recording career, a 1988 award for best instrumental performance.

Santana was not the only Woodstock guitar hero to win Wednesday night. Thirty years after his death, Jimi Hendrix won his first Grammy when the film “Bands of Gypsys: Live at Fillmore East” won for best long-form music video. The Grammy trophies in that category went to the director, Bob Smeaton, co-producers Neil Aspinall and Chips Chipperfield, along with the late rock star.

The eligibility period for the awards was Oct. 1, 1998, through Sept. 30, 1999.

The show made its debut this year at Staples Center, the 4-month-old downtown arena that was designed in part with an eye toward becoming the West Coast home for the gala.

Meanwhile, Wednesday’s rain wasn’t the only thing buffeting the Grammys. Annual criticism regarding nominees continued this year, and assorted controversies are dogging the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences’ leadership, from investigations into its charitable activities to industry grumbling about its bullying style. Still, the gala reaches a global audience and is unquestionably the night of the year for the music industry.