Santana is a flexible number of musicians accompanying Carlos Santana since the late 1960s. Just like Santana himself, the band is known for helping make Latin rock famous in the rest of the world. "Smooth" is a collaboration between Santana and Rob Thomas, the latter of the rock group Matchbox Twenty. The song was written by Rob Thomas and Itaal Shur and sung by Rob Thomas. Originally conceived by Shur as a song called "Room 17", the lyrics were stripped off and the track was given to Thomas. Thomas re-wrote the lyrics and melody and re-titled it "Smooth". Thomas's original thought was to have George Michael sing the song. Thomas recorded the song as a demo to play for Santana. After hearing the song being sung by Thomas, Santana decided to have Thomas record the final version. Matt Serletic produced the record and it was released from Carlos Santana's album Supernatural and became a massive hit in 1999, entering the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 on August 10, 1999, and spending twelve weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 beginning October 12, 1999. It was the first chart-topping song in Santana's long-running career (his previous biggest.