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TOTO
Toto
was formed in Los Angeles in 1978 by David Paich (b. June 21, 1954, Los
Angeles; keyboards, vocals), Steve Lukather (b. October 21, 1957, Los
Angeles; guitar, vocals), Bobby Kimball (b. Robert Toteaux, March 29,
1947, Vinton, LA; vocals), Steve Porcaro (b. September 2, 1957,
Connecticut; keyboards), David Hungate (b. Texas; bass),
 and
Jeff Porcaro (b. April 1, 1954, Hartford, CT; d. August 5, 1992, Hidden
Hills, CA; drums). Paich was the son of arranger Marty Paich; the
Porcaros were the sons of percussionist Joe Porcaro. The band members
had met in high school and at studio sessions in the 1970s, when they
became some of the busiest session musicians in the music business.
Paich, Hungate, and Jeff Porcaro wrote songs for and performed on Silk
Degrees, the multi-million-selling 1976 album that combined pop, rock,
and disco elements into a slick combination which heavily influenced
mainstream pop music.
Toto
released its self-titled debut album in October 1978, and it hit the Top
Ten, sold two million copies, and spawned the gold Top Ten single
"Hold the Line." The gold-selling Hydra (October 1979) and
Turn Back (January 1981) were less successful, but Toto IV (April 1982)
was a multi-platinum Top Ten hit, featuring the number-one hit
"Africa" and the Top Tens "Rosanna" (about
Lukather's girlfriend, movie star Rosanna Arquette) and "I Won't
Hold You Back." At the 1982 Grammy’s, "Rosanna" won
awards for Record of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Performance, and Best
Instrumental Arrangement With Vocal; and Toto IV won awards for Album of
the Year, Best Engineered Recording, and Best Producer (the group). In
 1984,
a third Porcaro brother, Mike (b. May 29, 1955), joined the group on
bass, replacing Hungate. Then lead singer Kimball quit and was replaced
by Dennis "Fergie" Frederiksen (b. May 15, 1951, Wyoming, MI).
Toto's
fifth album, Isolation (November 1984), went gold, but was a commercial
disappointment. Frederiksen was replaced by Joseph Williams (b. Santa
Monica), the son of the conductor/composer John Williams, for Fahrenheit
(August 1986). Steve Porcaro quit in 1988, prior to the release of The
Seventh One. In 1990, Jean-Michel Byron replaced Williams for the new
recordings on Past to Present 1977-1990, then left, as Lukather became
the group's lead singer. Jeff Porcaro died of a heart attack in 1992,
but was featured on the group's next album, Kingdom of Desire. By this
time, Toto was far more popular in Japan and Europe than at home. The
group added British drummer Simon Phillips. Tambu, released in Europe in
the late fall of 1995, appeared in the U.S. in June 1996. For 1999's
Mindfields, Bobby Kimball returned to the line-up after a 15-year
absence. The group members continued to do session work during the
band's tenure, contributing significantly to the sound of mainstream
pop/rock in the 1970s, '80s, and '90s. William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
DISCOGRAPHY
ALBUMS
1978
Toto 1979 Hydra 1980 Turn Back 1982 Toto IV 1984 Isolation 1986
Fahrenheit 1988 The Seventh One 1992 Kingdom of Desire 1995 Tambu 1999
Mindfields 2002 Through the Looking Glass 2006 Falling in Between
SINGLES
1978 "Hold the Line" 1978 "I'll Supply the Love"
1978 "Georgy Porgy" 1979 "St. George and the Dragon"
1979 "99" 1979 "All Us Boys" 1981 "Goodbye
Elenore" 1981 "Live for today" 1982 "Rosanna"
1982 "Make Believe" 1982 "Africa" 1983 "I Won't
Hold You Back" 1983 "Waiting for Your Love" 1984
"Stranger in Town" 1984 "Angel Don't Cry" 1985
"Holyanna" 1985 "How Does It Feel" 1985
"Endless" 1986 "I'll Be Over You" 1986 "Without
Your Love" 1987 "Till The End" 1987 "Could This Be
Love" 1988 "Pamela" 1988 "Stop Loving You" 1988
"Straight for the Heart" 1988 "Mushanga" 1990
"Out of Love" 1990 "Can You Hear What I'm Saying"
1992 "Don't Chain My Heart" 1992 "Only You" 1992
"2 Hearts" 1992 "The Other Side" 1995 "I Will
Remember" 1995 "If You Belong to Me" 1995 "Just
Can't Get to You" 1996 "Drag Him to the Roof" 1996
"The Other End of Time" 1996 "The Turning Point"
1998 "Goin' Home" 1999 "Mad About You" 1999
"Melanie" 1999 "Cruel 2002 "Could You Be Loved"
2002 "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" 2006 "Bottom of Your
Soul"
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