Toto is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1977. Toto combines elements of pop, rock, soul, funk, prog, hard rock, R&B, blues, and jazz. Having released 14 studio albums and sold over 50 million records worldwide, the group has received several Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2009.
David Paich (keyboards, vocals) and Jeff Porcaro (drums) had played together as session musicians on several albums and formed the band; David Hungate (bass), Steve Lukather (guitar, vocals), Steve Porcaro (keyboards, vocals), and Bobby Kimball (vocals) were recruited before the release of the band's eponymous debut album in 1978. Led by the top 5 single "Hold the Line", the album brought the band to mainstream attention, though it was their fourth album Toto IV (1982) which brought them global attention. "Africa" topped the Billboard Hot 100, while "Rosanna" reached number 2, helping Toto become one of the best-selling music groups of their era.
Before the release of Toto IV, Hungate left the band. He was replaced on bass by Mike Porcaro for their 1982 World Tour. During the recording of their next studio album, Isolation, Kimball also departed the band. He was replaced by a number of different short-term vocalists, the first of which was Fergie Frederiksen, and the longest serving of which was Joseph Williams. After Jeff Porcaro's death in 1992, he was replaced by Simon Phillips. While the band has not repeated the U.S. radio successes of their heyday in the late 1970s and early 1980s, they have continued to produce albums and tour more-or-less continuously to the current day, minus a few hiatuses, and have had many more top-ten albums and singles in places like Japan and Scandinavia. Steve Lukather remains the only original member who still records and tours with the band. Paich remains an official member of the band, though he has mostly retired from touring. Since the 2010s, the band has increasingly relied on contracted touring musicians to continue to perform. As of 2023, they have released fourteen studio albums, eight live albums, one movie soundtrack (1984's Dune) and a number of compilation albums. Their final release was 2018's Old Is New before the band decided against recording any further studio albums. In 2022, Toto launched its "Dogz of Oz" Tour by opening for Journey. Its first date was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on February 22.
History 1977–1979: Formation and debut album
The members of Toto were regulars on albums by Sonny & Cher, Seals & Crofts, Steely Dan,Boz Scaggs, and many others, contributing to many of the most popular records of the 1970s. Keyboardist David Paich, son of musician and session player/arranger Marty Paich, rose to fame after having co-written much of Scaggs's Silk Degrees album. David met drummer Jeff Porcaro, the son of session percussionist Joe Porcaro, while attending Grant High School, where they formed the band Rural Still Life. Years later, having played on many sessions together, the two began to seriously discuss the possibility of forming their own band.
They brought in bassist and fellow session veteran David Hungate, with whom they had played in the backing bands for both Sonny & Cher and Scaggs. The duo asked fellow Grant High School students, guitarist Steve Lukather (who also played in Scaggs' band) and Jeff Porcaro's brother Steve Porcaro (keyboards) to join the team. Lukather and Steve Porcaro were in the same year at Grant and continued the band Rural Still Life (the name shortened to Still Life) after Paich and Jeff graduated. With the addition of former S.S. Fools singer Bobby Kimball, the group began to work on their first album in 1977 after signing with Columbia Records.
Once the band came together, David Paich began composing what would become the eponymous debut album, Toto. According to popular myth, at the first recording sessions, in order to distinguish their own demo tapes from other bands' in the studio, Jeff Porcaro wrote the word "Toto" on them. In the early 1980s, band members told the press that the band was named after Toto the dog from The Wizard of Oz. After the completion of the first album, the band and record were still unnamed. David Hungate, after viewing the name on the demo tapes, explained to the group that the Latin words "in toto" translated to "all-encompassing". Because the band members played on so many records and so many musical genres, they adopted the name "Toto" as their own.
Released in October 1978, Toto climbed the charts quickly, earning popularity with the hit single "Hold the Line", as well as the charting "I'll Supply the Love" and "Georgy Porgy", featuring Cheryl Lynn. Though the band was largely dismissed by music critics, they were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist. Shortly thereafter, in early 1979, Toto embarked on their first American tour in support of the debut album. For the tour, Toto brought along two additional musicians, Tom Kelly (guitar & backing vocals) and Lenny Castro (percussion & backing vocals), to increase the depth of the sound. Castro had appeared with the group on their first album as a session musician and continued to play on every one of their albums for the next 40 years in varying capacities, with the exception of Turn Back. The band continued to hire additional touring musicians for all subsequent tours. (See the "Tour Musicians" section below.)
1979–1981: Hydra and Turn Back At the close of the first tour, the band began work on their next album, Hydra, which was released later that year and featured the single "99", inspired by George Lucas' cult film THX 1138. Nearly 30 years later, Steve Lukather confessed that, despite the song's popularity, he hated "99" and that it's one of his least favorite Toto songs.Steve Lukather Interview 2007 The band also released four promotional music videos for the album, including the title track, "99", "St George and The Dragon" and "All Us Boys". They were directed by Bruce Gowers and produced by Paul Flattery for Jon Roseman Productions International. Although the album Hydra failed to achieve the commercial success of Toto's first release, it still went gold. Following the album's release, the band set out on the "Hydra Tour", which featured both American and international dates. The tour lasted from January until June 1980.
In early 1981, Toto released their third album, Turn Back. The album was a venture into arena rock and featured heavier guitar and fewer keyboards than the previous two albums. Its disappointing chart performance and sales in almost every country except Japan and Norway put the band's career into further jeopardy, as they had not had a hit single in North America in almost two years at that point. The unexpected 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.
1982–1985: Toto IV and Isolation
1982 marked the beginning of Toto's most successful era. After the poor sales of Turn Back, the band was under a great deal of pressure from the record company to produce a new hit record, akin to their first. With the Triple Platinum-certified Toto IV, the band delivered one of the most commercially successful records of the year. The album featured three singles that reached the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart: "Rosanna", "Africa" and "I Won't Hold You Back". The album appeared on several worldwide charts, introducing the band to new audiences around the globe. "Africa" topped the charts in February 1983 and was a constant presence on radios around the world, but it was "Rosanna" that earned the band multiple Grammy nominations. 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". At the time Steve Porcaro was dating actress Rosanna Arquette, but the song is not about her, according to writer David Paich.
In the music video for the song, Cynthia Rhodes plays the title character. In addition to "Africa" and "Rosanna", Toto IV continued its successful run with the release of another single, "Make Believe". Toto toured throughout 1982 in support of Toto IV. 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. Jeff Porcaro and Steve Lukather also appeared on Thriller on multiple tracks, most notably on "Beat It" and the Jackson/Paul McCartney duet "The Girl Is Mine".
Directly after the release of Toto IV, bassist David Hungate left the band. Hungate, who had relocated to Nashville in 1980 to pursue a session/production career, felt that the fame surrounding Toto IV would prevent him from spending time with his family. 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. Kimball was ordered to stand trial, but pled not guilty. The charges were dismissed on May 28 of that year. However, Kimball was fired from the band in 1984 due to difficulty recording vocals and numerous missed sessions. Later that year, Toto composed most of the music for the soundtrack to the film Dune.
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. Fergie Frederiksen (formerly of bands Angel, Trillion and LeRoux) was brought in as the new vocalist and the band recorded Isolation, released in November 1984. 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". Isolations tour began in February 1985 and concluded three months later.
1985–1988: Fahrenheit and The Seventh One with Joseph Williams
At the close of the Isolation tour in 1985, Fergie Frederiksen was let go. Lukather stated that the band was not meshing well with Frederiksen because he had a difficult time recording with them in the studio. 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.
With Joseph Williams now onboard officially, Toto wrote and recorded Fahrenheit, released in August 1986. While Williams performs lead vocals, Frederiksen had begun recording a few tracks before leaving the band, and he is featured as a background vocalist on the track "Could This Be Love".
Fahrenheit brought the band back from the heavier sound of Isolation to their pop/rock roots. "I'll Be Over You" and "Without Your Love", which were both ballads sung by Lukather, were the two hit singles. The band recruited several guest musicians for the album. They recorded an instrumental piece entitled "Don't Stop Me Now" with legendary jazz trumpeter Miles Davis. In addition, a then-unknown Paula Abdul appeared as a dancer in their "Till the End" music video. Michael McDonald provided backing 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".
After the release of Fahrenheit, the band embarked on another world tour. Upon its conclusion in 1987, Steve Porcaro left the band to pursue a career in film and television scoring. Fahrenheit eventually went Gold on October 3, 1994. Steve Porcaro was never replaced and Toto decided to continue with only five members. Although Porcaro occasionally assisted the band on synthesizers for their subsequent studio albums and appeared on their 1988 tour, David Paich handled most of the live keyboard work, with keyboard technician John Jessel assisting from 1990 onward.