Carlos Santana
fainting spell on stage
Carlos Santana passed out on stage on Tuesday.
© imago/YAY Images
Star guitarist Carlos Santana passed out on stage during a performance on Tuesday. His rep gives a health update.
Star guitarist Carlos Santana, 74, passed out Tuesday night during a performance on stage at the Pine Knob Music Theater in Clarkston, Michigan. Meanwhile, a spokesman for the legendary musician and told People magazinethat Santana “was overcome with overheating and dehydration” during the concert, adding, “Carlos was taken to the McLaren Clarkston ER for observation and is doing well.”
Eyewitnesses describe the incident
Billboard reporter Gary Graff tweeted live from the concert, writing that Santana “just collapsed on stage” and is “being treated as I type.” The guitarist was carried off the stage on a stretcher 20 minutes later before being taken to a hospital, Graff said.
A photo, which was recorded by Lori Pinson and shared by Roop Raj, both from “FOX2” in Detroit, shows medical personnel surrounding Santana on stage. Philip Lewis from The Huffington Post posted a video on Twitterwhich shows Santana being carried out while the concert-goers cheer him on.
As announced by the NBC broadcaster “WDIV” in Detroit, medical personnel were on stage with Santana at 10 p.m. local time. Although the audience was asked to leave the event around 10:30 p.m., many in the audience stayed in shock, as ex-Detroit Free Press reporter Jo-Ann Barnas said tweeted. A concert-goer told The Detroit News that Santana was playing his song “Joy” when he collapsed. “He was walking, playing and suddenly collapsed.”
Another concert cancelled
Santana performed alongside the legendary artists of the band Earth, Wind and Fire as part of his “Miraculous Supernatural Tour”. The concert series serves to promote his latest studio album “Blessings and Miracles”, which was released last year.
The incident now also affects the next concert. Santana’s manager Michael Vrionis told People that a show originally scheduled for Wednesday at the Pavilion at Star Lake in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania has been postponed.
“Unplanned Heart Surgery” in December
Carlos Santana has been struggling with health issues for some time. Last December, he had “unplanned heart surgery” that forced him to cancel a number of his Las Vegas shows. The Grammy Award winner spoke about the situation in a video message on Twitter back then and explained to his fans that he had to undergo an operation after problems in his chest.
“There have been rumors here and there about this and that, so I’m reaching out to clarify,” Santana said in the video at the time. “I had an incident last Saturday where I asked my wife Cindy to take me to the hospital because I had this thing in my chest.”
He continued: “When we got there we realized that I had to take care of it. So I’m going to take a little time off to regenerate, rest and restore my health so that when I play for you guys, I can play the way I’m used to and give you 150 percent.”
According to “Variety” Santana performed on each of his rescheduled January dates before touring beginning in March.