Toto was a band of session players who already played on everything
Before Toto had a name, its members were the hired hands behind records by Steely Dan, Boz Scaggs and Sonny & Cher. So when bassist David Hungate pointed out that the Latin phrase in toto means all-encompassing, it fitted a group that had played across so many genres, whatever the stories about a Wizard of Oz dog.
The core began at Grant High School in Los Angeles, where keyboardist David Paich, son of arranger Marty Paich, met drummer Jeff Porcaro, son of session percussionist Joe Porcaro. Paich co-wrote much of Scaggs's Silk Degrees, and after years of sessions together the pair decided to form their own group. They recruited Hungate, guitarist Steve Lukather, Jeff's brother Steve Porcaro on keyboards and singer Bobby Kimball, signed with Columbia, and started recording in 1977. Legend says Jeff scrawled Toto on the demo tapes to tell them apart from other bands' reels.
The debut, released in October 1978, climbed fast behind Hold the Line and earned a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, even though critics largely brushed the band aside. The next two records wobbled; Turn Back, a heavier arena-rock turn, sold poorly almost everywhere except Japan and Norway. Under pressure from their label, they answered in 1982 with Toto IV. Africa topped the Billboard Hot 100 and Rosanna reached No. 2, and the album went triple platinum. That same year Steve Porcaro co-wrote Human Nature, which Michael Jackson recorded for Thriller.
Success strained the lineup. Hungate left for family life and session work in Nashville, replaced by a third Porcaro brother, Mike. Kimball departed during the Isolation sessions, and a string of singers followed, first Fergie Frederiksen and later Joseph Williams, son of film composer John Williams, who joined for Fahrenheit in 1986, an album featuring an instrumental with Miles Davis. After Jeff Porcaro died in 1992, Simon Phillips took over the drums.
The American radio hits dried up, yet Toto kept recording and touring, scoring top-ten albums and singles in places such as Japan and Scandinavia. The tally reached 14 studio albums, more than 50 million records sold, and, in 2009, a place in the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum. Lukather is the only original member still recording and touring, and 2018's Old Is New was their last studio album.
Source: Toto (band)
