David Brown (February 15, 1947 – September 4, 2000) was an American musician. He was the bass player for the band

Santana Santana may refer to: Transportation * Volkswagen Santana, an automobile * Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles * Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer * Sailboat designs by W. D. Schock Corp ** Santana 20 ** Santan ...

from 1967 until 1971, then again from 1974 until 1976. Brown played in Santana at

Woodstock The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...

and at Altamont in 1969 and on the band's first three studio albums before leaving after the "Closing of the Fillmore West" gig on July 4, 1971. In 1974, he rejoined for the album '' Borboletta'' and remained with the band for the follow-up '' Amigos'' before leaving again in the spring of 1976. In 1998, Brown was inducted into the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), also simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the ...

as a member of Santana.

Early life

Brown was born February 15, 1947 to an African-American family in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. His father was a Baptist preacher. The family moved to

Bayview–Hunters Point, San Francisco Bayview–Hunters Point (sometimes spelled Bay View or Bayview) is the San Francisco, California, neighborhood combining the Bayview and Hunters Point neighborhoods in the southeastern corner of the city. The decommissioned Hunters Point Naval Sh ...

, where Brown was raised with

Sly Stone Sylvester Stewart (March 15, 1943 – June 9, 2025), better known by his stage name Sly Stone, was an American musician, songwriter and record producer. He was the frontman of Sly and the Family Stone, playing a critical role in the development ...

as his neighbor. He sang and played bass in church. Rock organist

Billy Preston William Everett Preston (September 2, 1946 – June 6, 2006) was an American keyboardist, singer, and songwriter whose work encompassed R&B, rock, soul, funk, and gospel. Preston was a top session keyboardist in the 1960s, backing Little Richa ...

was his second cousin. Brown formed a

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a subgenre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, ...

group when he was 14, and played bass with touring bands such as

the Four Tops ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

when they gigged in San Francisco. Brown was athletic: he was a

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

champion in high school, he was an archer, and he earned a second-degree black belt in

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) un ...

. He enjoyed riding his

Harley-Davidson Harley-Davidson, Inc. (H-D, or simply Harley) is an American motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded in 1903, it is one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression along with i ...

motorcycle, and participated in

Hells Angels The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is an international outlaw motorcycle club founded in California whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells ...

rides in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

Santana

Brown was discovered in San Francisco by Santana's manager, Stan Marcum, who invited him to join the band in late '66 or '67. Brown was not the first bass player but was an early member of the band, and helped expand Santana's musical style in the direction of Latin jazz fusion that bandleader

Carlos Santana Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, best known as a founding member of the Rock music, rock band Santana (band), Santana. Born and raised in Mexico where he developed his musical background, he r ...

wished to go. Brown later said, "We didn't like the music too repetitious, the way Butterfield and other blues bands were playing... So we got into improvisation and we'd find the drums in there more of the time. Eventually we just sat back and decided to let them do their thing." Musicologist Maury Dean praised Brown's bass playing on the band's hit single " Black Magic Woman": "David Brown cushions the low rhythms on a jazz-riff bass; he circles the beat like

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April25, 1917June15, 1996) was an American singer, songwriter and composer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phra ...

, rather than pounce on it." After the band played larger concerts in 1970, Brown became less reliable because of his growing drug habit. He was arrested several times on drug charges and served short jail sentences. In early 1971, Santana brought bassist Doug Rauch on tour in Europe as an understudy for the increasingly erratic Brown, and by the end of the year Rauch had replaced him. After Santana, Brown played as an occasional session musician. He died September 4, 2000 of liver and kidney failure.

Discography

With Santana

Studio albums

Singles

References

1947 births 2000 deaths African-American rock musicians Santana (band) members American rock bass guitarists American male bass guitarists Columbia Records artists 20th-century American bass guitarists African-American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians Deaths from kidney failure {{bass-guitarist-stub