Inside Toto: Steve Porcaro shares stories about his musical journey
As a founding member of the Grammy-winning, platinum-selling rock band TOTO, songwriter/keyboardist Steve Porcaro had huge pop hits with "Hold the Line," "Rosanna," and "Make Believe."
He also co-wrote "Human Nature" which is featured on Michael Jackson’s 30 million-selling Thriller album.
Steve’s other band mates in Toto were his brothers Jeff and Mike Porcaro, David Paich, David Hungate, Steve Luthaker, Bobby Kimball, Fergie Fredericksen, and Joseph Williams. Each of these guys also became in-demand session musicians, playing on numerous records.
Born in Connecticut, Steve’s musical roots run deep in his family tree. He started taking piano lessons when he was four years old. With his brothers began playing in various bands. The Porcaro brothers met David Paich when their fathers worked together on Glenn Campbell’s TV variety show. The boys became friends and started making music together.
As the youngest brother, Steve couldn’t compete with his brothers and found a niche playing the synthesiser and the keyboard. He got his break when he toured both with Gary Wright ("Dreamweaver") and Boz Scaggs around the time of Boz’s Silk Degrees album.
It was the members of Boz’s touring band who would later form Toto. Their self-titled LP was released in 1977. Going platinum, it yielded the gold single "Hold the Line," "I’ll Supply the Love," and "Georgy Porgy" –a favourite sample source for rap/hip hop groups in the ’90s, as was "Human Nature."
1982 would prove to be a huge year for the group. Their million-selling LP Toto IV cleaned up at the Grammys winning Album of the Year, Record of the Year ("Rosanna" ), and Producer of the Year.
After seven albums, Toto disbanded in 1988. Steve went on to launch a film scoring career and contributed to many popular films.
However, he continued working with Toto in various supporting capacities, assisting with keyboards, drum looping, synthesizers and arranging/composing. He has also done session musician work for many other acts, including Yes (on Union) and Jefferson Airplane (on their self-titled 1989 reunion album). He was also a member of Chris Squire’s short lived band, The Chris Squire Experiment, in 1992.
Steve returned to play with Toto at live performances since 2010, when they decided to reform the band and tour in Europe to support an ailing Mike Porcaro. He performed on the band’s 2015 studio album, co-writing and singing lead on "The Little Things" and co-writing/singing lead on the Japan-only bonus cut, "Bend". This was only the third lead vocal performance from him on a Toto album.
When the band dissolved in 2019 and regrouped in 2020, Porcaro did not return.
Steve Porcaro joins us this week to share stories of his fascinating musical journey. If you’d like to know more abotu him, head to his facebook page https://www.facebook.com/steveporcaromusic/
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