Alex
Ligertwood
Alexander John Ligertwood was a Scottish singer, guitarist and drummer whose soulful, four-octave voice carried Santana through one of its most commercially successful eras. Born on 18 December 1946...
Alex remembered.
Alexander John Ligertwood was a Scottish singer, guitarist and drummer whose soulful, four-octave voice carried Santana through one of its most commercially successful eras. Born on 18 December 1946 in the working-class Drumchapel district of Glasgow, he grew up in a musical family without formal training — singing in school choirs, playing piano around the family home, and learning percussion in his local Boys' Brigade pipe band. He picked up the guitar during the 1950s skiffle boom, and by the mid-1960s was already gigging with Glasgow groups like The Meridians and The Kwintones before joining the seven-piece soul band The Senate.
His earliest musical loves — Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, Curtis Mayfield — never left him. They shaped a vocal style that was unmistakably Scottish in spirit but unmistakably American in soul: gritty, emotive, and deeply felt. By the early 1970s he had moved to London, briefly joining the Jeff Beck Group in 1970, and in 1972 forming the short-lived French-Scottish band Troc with drummer André Ceccarelli and bassist Jannick Top. From 1972 to 1977 he was a key voice in Brian Auger's Oblivion Express, contributing to four albums including Second Wind, Live at the Whisky, Reinforcements and Happiness Heartaches.
In 1979 Carlos Santana invited him to join Santana, and Ligertwood became — across five separate stints between 1979 and 1994 — one of the most identifiable voices the band ever had. He sang lead on Marathon (1979), Zebop! (1981), Shango (1982), Milagro (1992) and Sacred Fire: Live in South America (1993), and his vocals defined Santana hits such as "Winning," "Hold On," "You Know That I Love You" and "All I Ever Wanted." He also earned co-writing credits on "Brightest Star," "E Papa Re," "Make Somebody Happy," "Somewhere in Heaven" and "The Nile." On stage he performed with Santana at the 1982 US Festival and at Live Aid in 1985.
Carlos Santana later wrote that Ligertwood "had a great R&B voice" and "became the voice of Santana on many of our albums and on most of our tours in the '80s and into the '90s." Of his performance of "Somewhere in Heaven" on the Milagro album, Santana said simply: "He can make you feel God in his singing… You believe him."
Beyond Santana, Ligertwood was a true rock-and-roll journeyman. He sang lead on The Dregs' "Crank It Up" (1982), Jeff Lorber's "Double Bad" (1984), and was a member of Go Ahead alongside Grateful Dead's Bill Kreutzmann and Brent Mydland from 1986 to 1988. He toured with World Classic Rockers, recorded with the Average White Band and David Sancious, and lent his voice to projects ranging from El Chicano to Herman Rarebell.
In 2019 he released a solo album, Outside the Box, on Creatchy Records, produced by David Garfield — a record that included a reflective, mature reinterpretation of his own Santana hit "Winning." He continued performing almost to the very end. His final concert took place at Bogart's Entertainment Center in Apple Valley, Minnesota, on 10 April 2026, just three weeks before his death.
Alex Ligertwood died peacefully in his sleep at his longtime Santa Monica home on 30 April 2026, with his dog Bobo by his side. He was 79. He is survived by his wife of twenty-five years, Shawn Brogan, and his daughter Merci. "He touched so many with his extraordinary voice," Brogan wrote. "He was all heart and soul. His favourite thing in life was to make music, sing, and to share his gift with us. He did it his way, on his terms, till the end."
From the Boys' Brigade pipe band of post-war Drumchapel to the world's biggest stages alongside Carlos Santana, Alex Ligertwood lived a life shaped entirely by music — and gave that music back to the world for sixty years.
A life in moments.
Born in Drumchapel, Glasgow
Alexander John Ligertwood was born in the working-class Drumchapel district of Glasgow into a musical family. His father was an amateur drummer who taught himself piano, and the home filled regularly with family sing-alongs that gave young Alex his earliest exposure to performance.
Joined The Senate, his first major soul band
After playing in skiffle groups The Meridians and The Kwintones, Ligertwood joined The Senate — a seven-piece Scottish soul band that toured Europe through the late 1960s. It was his first sustained taste of professional life on the road, and the group became the foundation of his rhythm-and-blues vocabulary.
Joined the Jeff Beck Group
A breakthrough moment for the young Scotsman — Ligertwood was invited to sing with the legendary Jeff Beck Group. The stint was short, only a matter of months, but it placed him firmly inside the British rock circuit and signalled the beginning of his life as a journeyman vocalist for some of the era's most respected musicians.
Formed the band Troc in Paris
In Paris, Ligertwood co-founded the short-lived but adventurous jazz-rock band Troc, alongside French drummer André Ceccarelli, bassist Jannick Top, pianist Henri Giordano and guitarist Jacky Giraudo. Though the band lasted only briefly, it introduced him to the Continental jazz-fusion scene and to musicians he would collaborate with for decades to come.
Joined Brian Auger's Oblivion Express
Ligertwood became a long-serving voice in Brian Auger's Oblivion Express, contributing to four albums across five years — Second Wind (1972), Live at the Whisky (1974), Reinforcements (1975) and Happiness Heartaches (1977). The collaboration cemented his reputation as a serious soul-jazz vocalist with one of the most flexible voices in the genre.
Joined Santana and recorded "Marathon"
Carlos Santana, who had first heard him sing with David Sancious's band, invited Ligertwood to join Santana. He sang lead on the 1979 album Marathon — the first of five separate stints with the band that would span fifteen years and define the most commercially successful era of Santana's catalogue.
"Winning" hits the charts on Santana's Zebop!
Ligertwood sang lead on Santana's chart hit "Winning" from the album Zebop! — one of the songs that returned the band to mainstream radio and one that he would re-record nearly four decades later on his own solo album. Zebop! also produced "The Sensitive Kind" and "Searchin'," and became one of Santana's biggest commercial successes of the 1980s.
Performed with Santana at the US Festival
Alex performed with Santana at the inaugural US Festival in San Bernardino, California — one of the largest music festivals of the era, organised by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. Sharing a bill with the Police, Fleetwood Mac and the Grateful Dead, the appearance marked one of the highest-profile stages of his career.
Sang at Live Aid in Philadelphia
Ligertwood joined Santana on stage at the Philadelphia leg of Live Aid — Bob Geldof's global benefit concert watched by an estimated 1.9 billion people across more than 150 countries. Standing in front of one of the largest television audiences in history, he sang to the world.
"Somewhere in Heaven" on Santana's Milagro
On Santana's Milagro album, Ligertwood delivered what many consider the most spiritually charged vocal performance of his career — "Somewhere in Heaven," a song he co-wrote. Carlos Santana later wrote of this performance: "He can make you feel God in his singing… You believe him."
Performing at Hamburg's Hafengeburtstag
Now in his late sixties, Ligertwood performed at the NDR stage at Hamburg's Hafengeburtstag — Germany's largest port festival, drawing more than a million visitors each year. The appearance was a reminder that his stage presence and his voice remained as commanding as they had been thirty years earlier.
Released solo album "Outside the Box"
Ligertwood released his solo album "Outside the Box" on Creatchy Records, produced by his longtime collaborator David Garfield. The record was a reflective summing-up of his musical life — including a mature, slowed-down reinterpretation of his own Santana hit "Winning," now sung with the perspective of a man looking back on the song he had made famous nearly forty years before.
Final concert in Apple Valley, Minnesota
Just three weeks before his death, Ligertwood took the stage one last time at Bogart's Entertainment Center in Apple Valley, Minnesota. He was 79. As his wife Shawn later said, "He did it his way, on his terms, till the end."
Passed away in Santa Monica, age 79
Alex Ligertwood died peacefully in his sleep at his longtime Santa Monica home, with his dog Bobo by his side. He was 79. He is survived by his wife of twenty-five years, Shawn Brogan, and his daughter Merci. "Soar and sing with the angels, my love," Shawn wrote in her tribute.
The people they loved,
and the people who loved them.
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Photographs
kept by the family.
For the record.
- Born
- December 18, 1946 · Glasgow, Scotland
- Died
- April 30, 2026 · Santa Monica, California
- Age at passing
- 79