Toto

TOTO

Toto was formed in Los Angeles in 1978 by David Paich (keyboards, vocals), Steve Lukather (guitar, vocals),
Bobby Kimball (vocals), Steve Porcaro (keyboards), David Hungate (bass), and Jeff Porcaro (drums).

Toto released its self-titled debut album in September 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" and "I Won't Hold You Back." At the 1982 Grammys,
"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 then 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
lineup after a 17-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.
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