Gregg Rolie is another under-appreciated American musician whose singing, keyboard playing and songwriting forms the foundation on which much of the popular music of Santana and Journey is built – apropos for a guy who would have become an architect had he not met Carlos Santana in 1967.

Gregg was in college in the San Francisco area when a friend who played with him in “frat bands” heard guitarist Carlos Santana and conga player Michael Carabello at an open mike night at the Fillmore West. He told Gregg how great they sounded and decided to try and find them. Carlos was flipping burgers at Tick Tock when Rolie’s buddy caught up to him and told Carlos he knew of a great keyboard player he should meet. Santana and Rolie got together at a barn south of SF that is now the Shoreline Amphitheater.

“We were playing and making a lot of noise and there was marijuana and the cops came. So I turned and said ‘We got to get the hell out of here’ and as I turned to Carlos all I saw was his elbows and the back of his feet you know, he was twenty yards down the road already out on this field. And so I thought, what a great idea, so we ran and hid in this tomato patch and that was the beginning of the whole thing. Yea, we just laid there until the cops left and we went to pick up the van and got all our stuff.”

Santana (1969): Carlos Santana, Chepito Areas, Michael Carabello, David Brown, Gregg Rolie, Michael Shrieve

They formed the Santana Blues Band (shortened to Santana) and within two years had established an international reputation following their performance at Woodstock. Gregg Rolie is the man behind the Hammond B3, and his voice the instantly recognized sound on “Black Magic Woman” “Oye Como Va” “Evil Ways” and many other Santana hits.

There’s no telling where Gregg developed his affinity for Latin/African sounds and rhythms. Born in Seattle, WA, of Norse descent, Gregg was a rock and roller from the Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley days. Later, he was into the Beatles, Blues Project, John Mayall, and Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac. Maybe it was mom’s Sergio Mendes and Herb Alpert records that oozed into his subconscious.

When Santana began veering into jazz, Gregg left the band, and in 1973 was at home in Seattle when Neal Schon, an ex-Santana guitarist, called to see if he was interested in joining a new band called Journey. Schon and Rolie formed the group with Aynsley Dunbar, George Tickner and Ross Valory. Gregg was the lead singer and keyboard player until Steve Perry was hired as lead singer in 1977.

Journey (1973): Gregg Rolie, Ross Valory, Neal Schon, George Tickner, Aynsley Dunbar

In 1980, Gregg left Journey to start a family. Over the following ten years, he produced 2 solo albums, and performed on 2 more Santana albums in ’82 and ‘87. The solo albums are nice pieces of work that hit right in the 80s pop/electronics sweet spot. Gringo features contributions from Santana, Schon, Peter Wolf (J Geils) and Craig Chaquico (Jefferson Starship). “Fire at Night” is worth a listen and ends with an extended guitar-swapping “outro”.

Gregg formed a new band in 1991, a Journey-esque sounding group called The Storm. Their first album was successful, but their record company decided to shelve the follow up in light of pop music’s sudden shift to rap acts. It was released five years later.

In 1998, Gregg founded Abraxas Pool, Carlos-less Santana reunion band with Schon, drummer Michael Shrieve, Carabello, Chepito Areas and Alphonso Johnson. They produced one album, and it’s worth a listen for any Santana fan. That same year, Gregg was inducted into the HOF with Santana.

A solo album, Roots, followed in 1999, with the backing of what became the Gregg Rolie Band. That group would tour for over a decade before Gregg took two years off to tour with Ringo Starr’s All Star Band (2012-2014). Raindance (2009) is a fine live release from the GRB playing many of Santana’s hits.

Santana (2016): Michael Shrieve, Neal Schon, Michael Carabello, Carlos Santana, Gregg Rolie

Earlier this year, the original members of Santana re-united, and in April released Santana IV, with 16 tracks of new Santana music. Carlos Santana, Gregg Rolie, Neal Schon, Michael Carabello, and Michael Shrieve will be playing at the House of Blues in Las Vegas, NV, this Sunday night, and the show will be aired live on AXS TV at 8 pm EDT. Santana begins a world tour in London in early July, returns to California for shows in August, and takes up a residency at the House of Blues in Vegas in September.

Happy Birthday to Gregg Rolie! Architecture’s loss is our gain – but we hear he designed two of his houses and they turned out great, too.