Marcos Santana was born in July 27 of 1977.  He developed his taste for the arts and black culture, influenced by his family through arts, mainly music. His mother, Mrs. Eudete Santana organizes the cultural Group, Afro Ataoj in Bahia, in honour of the ancient King of Nigeria. His older sister is a professional dancer and actress and his brother is also a percussionist.

Marcos started learning percussion from the streets of Salvador from the age of 8 years old and progressed quickly, performing in his first professional show, Samba Livre when he was just 12. His love for samba-style traditional music of Bahia continued and throughout his teens and twenties, he performed and toured Brazil with different groups of international acclaim - Olodum, Ilê and Timbalada, which is where he met his mentor and teacher Carlinhos Brown. Carlinhos ignited his passion for the timbal and with his revolutionary rhythms and style, trained Marcos for four years in the art of timbal and subsequently, this has become Marcosí instrument of choice.

Most recently, he invested his energy creating his own group Tribo Tinhare, developing an artistic work with musical performances in samba-reggae rhythms with weekly shows in Morro de Sao Paulo, a tropical island on the Dende Coast, known as an important international tourist hotspot in Bahia. In June 2006, he travelled to London for holidays and met the Group Afro Ere; directed by Sam Alexander, and was invited to play with the group. Afterwards he was invited to work as Musical Director of the group. He recorded a CD Tribo Ereí with the band.

After completing the project with Tribo Ere, Marcos has decided to start his new work which is currently in its development phase in the UK.  Now Marcos is living in London and diffusing rhythms on timbal, Afro Culture and Musica Popular Brasileira.