i’m at an odds of with myself on whether santana should be classed as band (which i know it technically is) or as a solo artist. because you can hardly class santana as a band when it is carlos santana collaborating with different people each album and to be honest everybody buys a santana album for santana himslef, thats why most tracks have a different vocalist

There are quite a few similar instances.

Whitesnake: They have always been classed as a band, but it in reality it is David Coverdale, picking and choosing, numerous and various musicians to work with him, to create the music he wants to create.

Sade: most think of her as a solo artist, but it's actually a band.

Alice Cooper: was actually just the name of the band, not of lead singer Vincent Furnier.

I also remember, when I was young, people perceived that Blondie was Debbie Harrys pseudonym, not a band name.

I see Santana like the Whitesnake example. They are so inextricable linked, that they are essentially the same thing.

Yeah I actually used to think that with Blondie. I’m embarrassed to admit that it wasn’t until One Direction covered “One Way or Another” that I actually discovered it was a band and not just one woman. Side not: “Call Me” is by far their best song

With Sade I knew it was a band, but I still class her as solo artist because 99% of people I’ve ever met thought it was just Sade herself, and even they knew it was a band, they couldn’t name a single other member

I actually didn’t know that about Whitesnake, I’m not really that familiar with them apart from “is this love” and “here i go again”. I’d argue that Santana has more of a case for being classed as a solo artist because his name is the band.

That’s another issue, the whole paul mccartney and wings, bob marley and the wailers, prince and the revolution / new power generation.

Yes, but I'm not sure, if name, is the best way to determine.

Take Coverdale, his name is on nearly every original Whitesnake song, bar maybe 1 or 2, Santana (the group) were far more diverse in their writing credits, with Carlos sometimes not even having one. From this perspective, it looks far more like Santana was a group, in the sense of being a group and Whitesnake, was a vehicle for Coverdale. .