Benny Rietveld plays bass for Santana. He was born in Utrecht, the Netherlands, and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. He lived in San Francisco for 15 years and now resides in New York City.

He took piano lessons at the age of six and started learning guitar, bass and drums at the age of 12. He then started playing in rock and dance bands. In high school, he learned how to play other percussion instruments and the saxophone. He studied music composition at the University of Hawaii.

He’s played bass with many of the greats including Carlos Santana, Miles Davis, Lauryn Hill, Bill Mays, Booker T. Jones, and many others. He also has several composing and arranging credits with many of the same people he played bass with.

He has a total of 9 GRAMMY awards and 3 Latin GRAMMY awards and has been featured in several movies, music videos, and TV shows.