Alex Ligertwood, the Scottish-born vocalist whose soaring voice anchored Santana through five separate stints across two decades and electrified Live Aid before a global audience in 1985, has died at his Santa Monica home. He was 79.
Ligertwood died Friday, May 1, 2026, according to Fox News Digital, which confirmed the death. His wife and agent, Shawn Brogan, announced the news Saturday evening in a Facebook post. A cause of death was not disclosed. The Brogan Agency confirmed the news the following day, noting that the singer had performed his final concert just two weeks earlier.
“It’s with great sadness and heartache to announce the passing of my sweet dear Alex Ligertwood, my husband of 25 years, we knew each other for 36 years,” Brogan wrote. “Alex passed peacefully in his sleep with his doggy Bobo by his side yesterday.”
She asked fans to keep her and the family — including daughters Merci and Kali, and son Brandon — in their prayers.
A Voice Forged in Glasgow
Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Ligertwood built his reputation on a voice critics and bandmates alike described as a force of nature — soulful, technically fearless and capable of carrying both arena rock and intricate jazz-rock fusion. Long before he became synonymous with Santana, he was a working musician in the most demanding company in the business.
In the early 1970s he sang alongside guitar legend Jeff Beck as part of the Jeff Beck Group. He later joined keyboardist Brian Auger — who had performed alongside Rod Stewart and Jimi Hendrix — in Oblivion Express, sharpening the jazz-rock edge that would define his style. Ligertwood also appeared on records with the French group Troc in the early 1970s, the American rock band the Dregs in the 1980s, and Go Ahead, a Grateful Dead spinoff project, in the mid-to-late 1980s.
It was Santana, though, that turned him into a household name for rock fans. Between 1979 and 1994, Ligertwood served as the band’s lead vocalist on five separate occasions, becoming the most enduring frontman of Carlos Santana’s post-Woodstock era.
The Santana Years
His voice powered some of the band’s most recognizable tracks of the period, including “You Know That I Love You,” “Winning,” “All I Ever Wanted” and “Hold On.” He co-wrote material as well, with credits on songs such as “Somewhere in Heaven” and “Make Somebody Happy.”
Ligertwood appeared on a string of Santana albums that spanned the band’s commercial peak and its more exploratory live era — 1979’s “Marathon,” 1981’s “Zebop!,” 1982’s “Shango” and 1993’s “Sacred Fire: Live in South America.” On the latter, he shared the stage with Carlos Santana’s brother Jorge, delivering performances fans have long cited as a snapshot of the band at full throttle.
His most visible moment came on July 13, 1985, when he fronted Santana at Live Aid, the global benefit concert watched by an estimated 1.9 billion people.
Working Until the End
Ligertwood never really stopped touring. In recent years he traveled with guitarist Brandon Paul as part of Icons of Classic Rock, a touring group that drew on his decades of catalog and stagecraft. According to his daughter Merci, the singer continued doing shows up until the very end — the way he wanted.
“My dad loved many things,” Merci said. “At the forefront were his family & friends, music, and Scotland. He continued doing shows up until the very end, just the way he wanted.”
Paul, in a statement, called his longtime collaborator “a world-class professional” and described his vocals as “a force of nature — soulful, from the heart, and legendary every single night.” He added that having “a vocalist who worked with icons like Carlos Santana and Jeff Beck compliment my guitar playing is something I will carry with me forever.”
Tributes Pour In
Brogan’s announcement, posted alongside photographs of the musician, drew an immediate response from fans and fellow players who described Ligertwood as warm, generous and devoted to his craft. “Alex was loved by so many,” she wrote. “If you knew him, you loved him. He touched so many with his extraordinary voice. He was all heart and soul.”
She closed her tribute with a simple line: “I will always love you, my sweet Alex.”
Representatives for Santana had not publicly responded as of Monday, May 4. Ligertwood is survived by his wife, his three children, and a catalog of recordings — from Marathon to Sacred Fire — that captured a singer who, according to those closest to him, lived inside the songs he sang rather than simply performing them.
