David Brown (February 15, 1947 – September 4, 2000) was an American musician. He was the bass player for the band Santana from 1967 until 1971, then again from 1974 until 1976. Brown played in Santana at

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

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), sometimes 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 ...

as a member of Santana.

Early life

Brown was born to an African-American family in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on February 15, 1947. 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 (born March 15, 1943), better known by his stage name Sly Stone, is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer who is most famous for his role as frontman for Sly and the Family Stone, playing a critical role in the ...

as his neighbor. He sang, 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, during which he ba ...

was his second cousin. Brown formed a

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre 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, Chica ...

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

the Four Tops ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

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 Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In m ...

, and he earned a second-degree black belt in

karate (; ; Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fuj ...

. He enjoyed riding his

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

motorcycle, and participated in

Hells Angels The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is a worldwide outlaw motorcycle club whose members typically ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles. In the United States and Canada, the Hells Angels are incorporated as the Hells Angels Motorcycle Corporati ...

rides in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area G ...

Santana

Brown was discovered in San Francisco by Santana's manager, Stan Marcum, who invited him to join the band in late 1966 or 1967. Brown was not the first bass player but he 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 who rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Santana, which pioneered a fusion of Rock and roll and Latin American jazz. Its sound feature ...

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 Maury Dean is an American musician, author and professor at Suffolk County Community College, whose book "The Rock Revolution" is in the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame and the Smithsonian. Music Dean taught a "History of Rock N' Roll" course as well ...

praised Brown's bass playing on the band's hit single "

Black Magic Woman "Black Magic Woman" is a song written by British musician Peter Green, which first appeared as a single for his band Fleetwood Mac in 1968. Subsequently, the song appeared on the 1969 Fleetwood Mac compilation albums '' English Rose'' (US) and ...

", writing, "David Brown cushions the low rhythms on a Jazz-riff bass; he circles the beat like

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, 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, phrasing, timing, in ...

, 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 on September 4, 2000, of liver and kidney failure.

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