Supporter of spontaneity
Upon its release, “Africa”, FM soft rock ballad “stupid” (many people still think so today) was ranked number 1 worldwide. The single sold ten million copies. With two billion streams, “Africa” is one of the songs “gold” the most listened to on Spotify with “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen and “Wonderwall” by Oasis. If Steve Lukather admits that he has never run naked, he adds, a good sport, that he always takes great pleasure in perform it on stage as he will do at Forest National this February 7 as part of the Dogz Of Oz Tour by Toto. “Africa”, comme “Hold The Line” (first success of the group in 1978) or “Rosanna” are the group’s signatures. We can’t not play them, the fans are waiting for that.“
The last active member of the Toto of the great era, Steve Lukather is one of those musicians who has always had to justify himself. “Today, some people criticize me for touring under the name Toto. I find this completely ridiculous. I joined the band a year after it was created by drummer Jeff Porcaro and David Paich. Jeff died in 1992, David can no longer travel due to his health. Bobby Kimball (former singer and keyboardist, Editor’s note) suffers from dementia. I never wanted to re-appropriate Music made in groups alone. I’m just the guy who keeps her alive. Music critics have also taken to reducing Toto to “Africa” or “Rosanna”. “A ballad group,” they say. But that’s wrong. Toto is more diverse than most classic rock bands. We run the gamut of rock, whatever that means: prog, funk, jazz, country…”
Front 242 at OM in Seraing: winner by KO in the last round
With over a thousand albums featuring his name in the credits, Steve Lukather is one of the most in-demand session guitarists in the world. From Michael Jackson to Alice Cooper, including Cher and Stevie Nicks, he has played for the greatest. His paw? While he doesn’t have an identifiable sound like Jimi Hendrix or Brian May, Lukather adapts to all styles and is known for doing few takes. “For me, music is something unsaid. I know how to read a score, but 99% of the records I played on, it was “here is the melody, let yourself go”. I can’t do without my guitar, I play all the time, but I don’t like to rehearse. Spontaneity is my way of staying creative.” This method allowed him to play with Miles Davis on “Don’t Stop Me Know”, a song co-written with David Paich for Fahrenheitalbum de Toto paru en 1986.”We wanted to take a jazz/rock direction. Miles Davis agreed without hesitation to collaborate with us on this title. A moment of pure happiness. When Miles plays on one of your songs, you no longer need to be validated by anyone. After that, I didn’t care about the criticism of Toto.“
Paul and Michael
The year he recorded the hit “Africa”, Lukather was asked by Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson to Thriller. With the exception of Eddie Van Halen’s solo on “Beat It”, he plays all the guitar parts that we hear on this album which has sold 65 million copies. “I knew Quincy Jones who hired me as a session guitarist for several of his solo albums. I was at home in my Los Angeles house when I was awakened by a phone call. “Hello Steve, it’s Michael Jackson, Quincy gave me your number, would you like to play on my record?” At first I thought it was a joke and hung up. Finally, Michael convinced me that it was really him. The first song we made for Thrillerit was “The Girl Is Mine”, her duet with Paul McCartney. Needless to say, I was in seventh heaven. It’s thanks to the album Meet The Beatles ! that I became a guitarist. Finding myself in the studio with Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson was unreal. From that moment, I understood that Thriller would mark pop history.“
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This son of an assistant director at Paramount has only played on one soundtrack, that of DuneDavid Lynch’s 1984 adaptation of Frank Herbert’s novel starring Sting. A flop at the time, cult today. “The soundtrack is by Toto, I play on it but it is above all the project of David Paich. I enjoyed collaborating with Lynch. Every time I see Sting, we laugh about this kind of diaper he wears in the film. But, musically, it was not a great experience. It was a very orchestral score, I was out of place as a guitarist. Lynch had sold us Dune like a kind of Star Wars but he never got the funding and gave up.”
Toto, 7/2, Forest National, Brussels.
