Best known as the younger brother of their guitarist and singer Carlos Santana, he was a successful musician in his own right, releasing such solo albums as It's All About Love and the eponymous Jorge Santana and performing with a Latin rock group called Malo.
During the early 1970s, while living in San Francisco, he founded Malo with Arcelio Garcia and several other musicians. The group is best known for its 1972 hit "Suavecito."
He performed on a unique, green-colored Fender Stratocaster guitar.
He and his their brother were born in Autlán de Navarro, Jalisco, Mexico, and were raised in Tijuana, Mexico and, later, San Francisco, California.
An early 1990s tour with his brother Carlos Santana resulted in an album titled Sacred Fire: Live in South America.