2023 Rolling Stone, LLC. Jeffrey T. Porcaro, a rock musician who played drums for Sonny and Cher, Bruce Springsteen and the Grammy Award-winning group Toto, died on Wednesday in Los Angeles. "When we came through the litigation, all the s*** left over from management that screwed us and all the other negatives, we decided to turn the negative into a positive. Paul Bergen/Redferns/Getty Images. Porcaro, 38, was spraying pesticides in the garden of his home in suburban Hidden Hills on Wednesday when he collapsed, said manager Larry Fitzgerald. Toto Band Members Who Have Died. Toto (stylized as TOTO) is an American rock band formed in 1977 in Los Angeles, California. Porcaro died . This is NOT a break. Mike Porcaro of Toto photographed in 1995. [19] Steve Porcaro was never replaced and Toto decided to continue with only five members. Isolation's tour began in February 1985 and concluded three months later.[10]. I just can't do it anymore and at 50 years old I wanted to start over and give it one last try on my own."[36]. While Toto IV peaked at #4 on the Billboard album chart, won some Grammys, and went multi-platinum, the group's apparently not-so-highly-anticipated 1984 follow-up Isolation stalled at #42 (and only went gold). The new album featured three singles, "Melanie", "Cruel" and "Mad About You", a song co-written by David Paich and former Toto vocalist Joseph Williams. [13] They were directed by Bruce Gowers and produced by Paul Flattery for Jon Roseman Productions International. At one point, Richard Page of the band Mr. Mister was offered the lead singer spot, but turned it down to continue with his band. Another tour in the summer of 2011 took place with former backup singer Jenny Douglas once again joining. I stayed up all night. The current lineup features constant member Lukather . [10] Also, during this time, Steve Porcaro co-wrote and co-composed "Human Nature", which Michael Jackson recorded for his best-selling album Thriller (1982), turning the song into a smash hit. Douglas-McRae formerly served as an actress as the librarian in the band's 1982 "Africa" music video. Toto stayed a going concern, an intact, often touring band for more than 30 years, all the way until 2008, which marked the first time the band ever officially disbanded. Mike Porcaro, born May 29, 1955, was best known for his performance as Toto's bassist.He replaced the band's original bassist, David Hungate, in 1982. The band continued to hire additional touring musicians for all subsequent tours. It was understandably devastating to the band when Porcaro suddenly died at the young age of just 38 in August 1992. David Paich (keyboards, vocals) and Jeff Porcaro (drums) had played together as session musicians on several albums and decided to form a band; David Hungate (bass), Steve Lukather (guitar), Steve Porcaro (keyboards, vocals), and Bobby Kimball(vocals) were recruited before the release of the band's eponymous debut album in 1978. While Isolation did not achieve the acclaim or sales of Toto IV, it did achieve Gold status, largely on the strength of the single "Stranger in Town". Totos popularity peaked in 1982 when their singles Africa and Rosanna became massive hits all over the globe. Toto embarked upon a brief tour of North America on September 20, 2019. Critics already couldn't stand the band; Rolling Stone (via People) labeled Toto IV "about as real as a Velveeta-orange polyester leisure suit," while Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times claimed a "disheartening lack of depth or daring in the group's music." Toto IV earned six Grammy Awards, including "Record of the Year" for "Rosanna", "Album of the Year" for Toto IV and "Producer of the Year". Simon Phillips suffered from a back problem, so Gregg Bissonette had to fill in for him during the first leg of the tour in late 1995. [11] In June 2008, Lukather announced that he had left Toto, signalling the disbandment of the group. But the real reason the band got back out there is a lot more depressing: They had no choice. Toto has been a going concern for more than 40 years. On January 2, 2019, Toto kicked off their 2019 leg of the 40 Trips Around The Sun tour in Byron Bay at the Falls Festival. On January 18, 2014, former vocalist Fergie Frederiksen died after a long battle with liver cancer. All rights reserved. It turns out that Bobby Kimball's distinctive vocal stylings were a key part of Toto's sound and appeal. On October 11, 2010, Steve Lukather released his next solo album, All's Well That Ends Well. Toto wryly thanked Hilburn in one of its Grammy acceptance speeches. Toto's merging of jazz, power-pop, soul and other musical forms sold millions of records in the . After the hugely successful Toto IV, the band released eight studio albums (not counting its full-length soundtrack to David Lynch's ill-fated Dune) and four live albums, a new one arriving in stores every couple of years or so, and well into the 2000s. [26] Many of these additional musicians have also contributed to Toto's studio albums, both during their tenures and as guest contributors. The abnormal success of the album's lead single "Goodbye Elenore" in Japan proved to be the band's breakthrough there, and Japan has become a permanent staple of their touring schedule since. Groups of this nature include Hootie and the Blowfish, Nickelback, and, conveniently for this article, Toto. When we put our minds to do the record, we said that we had to make as good a record as we possibly could with all the tools and all the talent and all the experience we've had and not just phone it in for a check." But when you mix a tricky and prickly brother dynamic with band politics, it's remarkable anything gets done and recording sessions don't descend into a knock-down, drag-out wrestling match. Phillips was then replaced by Steely Dan drummer Keith Carlock. After the European leg of the tour, Toto covered Weezer's song "Hash Pipe" in response to their cover of Toto's 1981 number 1 single, "Africa". Mike Porcaro, longtime bassist for the rock band Toto, died on Sunday morning after a long battle with . "It was benign, thank God." The release featured extensive keyboard work from Steve Porcaro and a duet with Joseph Williams on the first single, "Bottom of Your Soul". That's the spirit. 19951997: Addition of Simon Phillips and, 20032005: Greg Phillinganes joins and David Paich's semi-retirement, 2008-2010: First hiatus and subsequent reformation, 20132014: 35th anniversary and Simon Phillips's departure, 2014: David Hungate's return and North American tour with Michael McDonald, Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group, Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices, Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s), "Steve Lukather Says Toto Are 'Calling It a Day', "Toto to Release First Album in Nearly a Decade", "Rascal Flatts Perform With Toto During Musicians Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony", https://www.loudersound.com/news/steve-lukather-there-will-be-no-more-toto-albums, "Former Toto singer upsets fans by using band's name at club", "Drummer's Death Linked to Cocaine, Coroner Says: Autopsy: Report finds no evidence to support earlier belief that Toto's Jeff Porcaro died of an allergic reaction to a pesticide", "Toto: Africa (Music Video 1982) Full Cast & Crew Website", "A Rip-Roaring Tribute to Toto's Jeff Porcaro", "Toto Setlist at Medina Entertainment Complex, Medina", "Toto Setlist at Vive Cuervo Saln, Mexico City", "Toto Ramps Up for Busy 2014 With Planned Studio Album, Upcoming DVD/CD Release, Japanese Tour", "Steve Lukather Talks New Toto Album: 'I Think This Is Gonna Surprise People', "Toto XIV Lukather & CJ Vanston Comment Exclusively", "Toto's First Album in 10 Years Given Release Date", "Yes & Toto 2015 North American Summer Tour", "Yes & Toto 2015 Co-Headlining North American Summer Tour Schedule", "Toto announce European/Japan dates for 2016", "Toto has announced that David Paich will not be performing on the band's planned North American tour", "Susan Porcaro Goings vs Steven L Lukather et al", "Toto To Call It Quits After Finishing '40th Anniversary Tour' In Philadelphia", "Steve Lukather and Joseph Williams Announce New Toto Line-Up and Plans to Bring The Dogz of Oz Tour Worldwide", "Toto Reform With New Lineup, Plot 'Dogz of Oz' World Tour", "Toto Announce Plans to Move Confirmed Appearances to 2022 and Share Detail on Additional Announce / On-Sales", "Toto To Release 'With A Little Help From My Friends' In June", "Steve Lukather: There will be no more Toto albums", "Toto reunites with David Paich in Amsterdam", "Help us in welcoming back the legendary @greg_phillinganes_live to the Toto stage! [21] In April, mirroring the situation that had happened with Kimball seven years previously, former singer Joseph Williams was arrested on drug-related charges.[22]. At the close of the first tour, the band began work on their next album, titled Hydra, which was released later that year and featured the single "99", inspired by George Lucas' cult film THX 1138. Tickets go on sale on Tuesday. Band History BIO. But by that point, Steve Lukather was the only original member left, but as he later told Classic Rock (via Louder), neither musical nor personnel reasons caused the split. "Steve had a tumor removed in his brain," Steve Lukather told Classic Rock (via Louder). Two singles were released: "Could You Be Loved", a Bob Marley cover, and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", a Beatles cover. Ive spent almost four and a half decades of my life as the only original member who never missed a show or an album nurturing this legacy while enabling the music to continually exist in the live concert setting. The band added the cover to their setlist as the encore for the 2018 North American leg of the tour. Like so many other bands before them, the classic lineup of Toto (or the still-living ones at least)Steve Lukather, David Paich, Steve Porcaro, David Hungate, along with other associatesconvened for a tourin 2015 ostensibly in support of Toto XIV, its first album in nine years. It seemed like the Grammys got it right that time, but apparently not, because Toto still couldn't get much respect. Steven Lee Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. They had considered using him for their 1980 album Chicago XIV, but went with Tom Dowd instead. However, Jeff Porcaro's family insisted the band continue. The current lineup features constant member Lukather, and lead vocalist Joseph Williams (who . Theyve held onto a devoted cult fanbase ever since that time, but they saw an incredible resurgence in popularity a few years back when a new generation of fans discovered Africa. Weezer covered the song in 2018 and turned it into a hit yet again. The band's lineup consisted of Joseph Williams, Steve Lukather, David Paich, and Steve Porcaro, and their touring musicians: Lenny Castro, Shannon Forrest, Warren Ham, and Shem von Schroeck. On October 16, 2019, Steve Lukather stated that after the final show in Philadelphia on October 20, 2019, it would mark the "end of this configuration of Toto". The Doors ' lead singer, Jim Morrison joined the 27 Club in 1971 when he died of a heroin overdose. His younger brother Mike was a successful bassist and was a member of the band Toto. This contained the three new tracks already released on 40 Trips Around the Sun plus completed recordings of four other older tracks featuring Jeff Porcaro on drums and either Mike Porcaro or David Hungate on bass plus other new recordings. Tambu sold 600,000 copies worldwide. The lineup featured David Paich, Steve Lukather, Steve Porcaro, Simon Phillips, Joseph Williams, and special guest Nathan East. Jeff Porcaro and Steve Lukather also appeared on Thriller on multiple tracks, most notably the Jackson/Paul McCartney duet "The Girl Is Mine". [20] The band toured from February through July 1988. The band contacted Los Angeles-based Englishman Simon Phillips to replace Jeff Porcaro as they knew that Porcaro liked Phillips alongside Vinnie Colaiuta and Gregg Bissonette and because Lukather worked with Phillips on a previous tour with Santana and Jeff Beck in Japan in 1986. In 2008, Toto suspected that its label, Sony, owed unpaid royalties for digital downloads. Having played on many sessions with drummer Jeff Porcaro (the son of session percussionist Joe Porcaro), whom he met while attending Grant High School, where they formed the band Rural Still Life, Paich began to discuss seriously with Porcaro the possibility of their forming their own band. However, Toto member Steve Lukather wasn't happy with this conclusion at all, and disavowed the coroner's report as well as the news organizations that went ahead and published it. As of 2023, they have released fourteen studio albums, eight live albums, one movie soundtrack (1984's Dune) and a number of compilation albums. "It was a bad time. The singer-songwriter is best known for serving for a time as the lead vocalist for the rock band Toto for new material on their first greatest hits album, Past to Present, [1] as well as the band's Greatest Hits . He recalled Jeff Porcaro getting frustrated if his sibling couldn't reach his perfectionist standards, but "there was definitely some brother s*** going down, because I'd hear him singing my praises when I wasn't around." (Which begs the questions: How did he hear things if he wasn't there? Member who died: Jim Morrison of a heroin overdose, 1971. A third Porcaro brother, Mike Porcaro, who had performed cello on a track from Toto IV, replaced Hungate on bass, while lead singer Bobby Kimball spent the early part of 1983 facing prosecution for drug-related charges. Once the band came together, David Paich began composing what would become the eponymous debut album, Toto. Hungate rejoined Toto as a touring musician and later a band member. A lot of kids were coming to see us [because of Weezer], believe me, Lukather told Guitar Player. [18] The band held an audition and Joseph Williams, son of film composer John Williams and 1950s singer/actress Barbara Ruick, was chosen to take over lead vocals in early 1986. Michael McDonald provided backup vocals on the song "I'll Be Over You" (and appeared in the accompanying music video), while Eagles founder and songwriting giant Don Henley appeared on the Steve Porcaro penned track "Lea". He also joined the band for the European leg of the tour at the Amsterdam show on July 15, 2022. [25] James sang "Stop Loving You" and Kimball's part on "Rosanna", McDaniel sang "Home of the Brave" and "Angel Don't Cry", and Douglas-McRae sang "Hold the Line". If Toto needed cash before it sued Sony, it certainly needed it after it lost an expensive, years-long legal battle. Sadly, in June 2010, Frederiksen announced that he'd been diagnosed with an inoperable form of cancer. Bass player Nathan East, who had been touring with them since 2010, left after the Japanese tour to pursue his own projects. Mike Porcaro, who was the son and brother of prominent musicians and carved out a long, successful career as the bass player for the Grammy-winning pop group Toto, has died at age 59. To promote the newly finished project, the band started a world tour running with an extensive European headline arena tour including appearances at key festivals, along with a North American tour to follow in the summer of 2015 and Asia later that year. In late 2003, Toto headlined Night of the Proms for two months straight. We want to hear it. This live set marked the fourth for the band, following 1993's Absolutely Live, 1999's Livefields, and 2003's Live In Amsterdam. On February 9, 2018, Toto released their anniversary album 40 Trips Around the Sun. To say that a close friend is "like a brother" is one of the most inaccurate expressions in the English language. We could not be more at peace with this move, Lukather says in a statement. [57] The tour began with a soft-opening: a worldwide live-streamed performance on November 21, 2020, during which David Paich appeared with the band for the final two songs. By Lukather's own count, this is the 15th incarnation of Toto. It's almost as contentious a relationship as that of bandmates, and, as any episode of Behind the Music or a rock band biopic can tell you, band members seem to be at each other's throats more often than not, fighting over whose songs to do, artistic direction, and such. According to a story published in the Los Angeles Times on August 7, 1992, Porcaro was working in his yard in the San Fernando Valley, spraying plants with pesticide, when he fell ill. By the time emergency workers arrived, he wasn't breathing, had no pulse, and his heart had stopped. [4] He was replaced by Dennis "Fergie" Frederiksen (who performed on Isolation before), and later Jean-Michel Byron. The Edge Calls it a Quantum Leap Forward, Neil Young and Stephen Stills Honor David Crosby, Revive Buffalo Springfield at Light Up The Blues, Stagecoach 2023: Lainey Wilson, Chris Stapleton, and Nostalgia Dominate Countrys California Fest, Ed Sheeran Plays Van Morrison Song as Proof He Didn't Steal From Marvin Gaye in Copyright Trial, Chance the Rapper 'Would've Died' From Xanax Use If He Didn't Have His 'Spirit Tugged On', Fall Out Boy's Literal Teardrops Are Pressed Into Limited-Edition 'So Much (for) Stardust' Vinyl, DeSantis' Disney Board Will Countersue the Mouse, Academy Slaps Down New Rules After Andrea Riseborough, Tom Cruise, Michelle Yeoh Controversies, Right-Wing Media and Anti-Trans Groups Welcome Kiss' Paul Stanley to the Cause. [15] Original bassist David Hungate also returned for the album's touring cycle, with Shannon Forrest taking over from Carlock. "We knew they were going to do a hatchet job on us." Upon the release of their 1982 album (Toto IV), Toto became one of the best-selling groups from their musical era. #dogzofoz #dogzofoztour #dogzofoztour2022 #totolive", "Chicago Tribune - Historical Newspapers", "Toto is back in action, set to open Journey's 'Freedom Tour 2023' stop at Bryce Jordan Center", "Rock Utility Player Warren Ham on His Years With Ringo Starr, Toto, and Cher", Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Toto_(band)&oldid=1150325582, Progressive rock musical groups from California, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2018, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2015, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2015, Pages using Sister project links with default search, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Dominique "Xavier" Taplin keyboards, backing vocals, Steve Maggiora keyboards, backing and occasional lead vocals, 1990 Planet Earth Tour (Past to Present Tour), 20022004 25th Anniversary Tour (Through the Looking Glass Tour), 20152016 Toto XIV Tour (Yes & Toto Co-Headlining North American Summer Tour 2015), 20182019 40 Trips Around the Sun Tour (40th Anniversary Tour), 2021-2023 Dogz of Oz Tour (2022/3 selected dates with, This page was last edited on 17 April 2023, at 14:00. "Africa" topped the Billboard Hot 100, while "Rosanna" reached number 2, helping Toto become one of the best-selling music groups of their era. [69] Steve Lukather provided the main guitar work on Michael Jackson's hit "Beat It", although Eddie Van Halen played the guitar solo in the bridge.