Steve Lukather

Steven Lee Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto.

Steven Lee Lukather was born on October 21, 1957, in the San Fernando Valley, California.

His father was an assistant director and production manager at Paramount Studios, and worked on shows such as The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and I Dream of Jeannie.

Lukather first played keyboards and drums, and then taught himself how to play the guitar starting at age seven, when his father bought him a Kay acoustic guitar and a copy of the Beatles album Meet the Beatles.

Lukather has said that the album "changed his life" and that he was greatly influenced by the guitar playing of George Harrison in particular.

At Grant High School, Lukather met David Paich and the Porcaro brothers (Jeff, Steve, and Mike), all of whom eventually became members of Toto.

Lukather, who had been a self-taught musician, began taking guitar lessons from Jimmy Wyble.

With Wyble, Lukather expanded his knowledge of wider aspects of music, including orchestration.

His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to a steady flow of session work beginning in the 1970s that has since established him as a prolific session musician, recording guitar tracks for more than 1,500 albums spanning a broad array of artists and genres.

He has also contributed to albums and hit singles as a songwriter, arranger and producer.

It was during this period in the early 1970s that Lukather became interested in the idea of becoming a session musician, a vocation that provided opportunities to play with a variety of famous musicians.

Jeff Porcaro, who had been playing drums with Steely Dan since 1973, became a mentor to Lukather and nurtured his interest in session work.

Lukather's first job in the music industry was studio work with Boz Scaggs, after which Paich and Jeff Porcaro—who had become prominent session musicians in their own right —asked Lukather to join them in forming Toto in 1976 along with Bobby Kimball, David Hungate, and Steve Porcaro.

Lukather is the original lead guitarist for Toto, serving in that capacity for the band's entire history, as well as composer and lead and backing vocalist.

Lukather won three of his five Grammy Awards for work with Toto, twice as an artist and once as a producer.

Notably, Lukather played guitar on Boz Scaggs' albums Down Two Then Left (1977) and Middle Man (1980), and was a prominent contributor to several studio albums by Michael Jackson, including Thriller (1982).

Lukather has released nine solo albums, the latest of which, Bridges, was released in June 2023.

Influenced by blues-rock guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page, and such jazz fusion players as Al Di Meola and John McLaughlin, Lukather is known for a "melodic and intense" playing style.

He is also recognized for his efficiency in the studio, often recording tracks in one take using minimal sound processing.

While he once used many guitar effects in the studio and on stage, he now frequently disparages such practice, and instead advocates cleaner tones and minimal studio processing.

Lukather plays primarily a signature electric guitar manufactured by Ernie Ball Music Man bearing his nickname, Luke.

He also plays Yamaha and Ovation Adamas series acoustic–electric guitars.

David Paich led the band's songwriting efforts during the development of 1978's Toto—he penned all but two of the album's tracks, including all four of its singles.

Lukather also credits Jeff Porcaro for his leadership within the band during that period.

His first song writing credit is "Hydra", which he co-wrote with the rest of the band for their second self-titled album.

However, Lukather's role in Toto evolved over time owing to the changing needs of the band.

Lukather's songwriting contributions grew from a few tracks on early Toto albums to co-writing almost every track starting in the late 1980s.

Lukather admitted that the reason why he has no songwriting contributions on the first two Toto albums was that he wasn't writing many songs at the time, being intimidated by the talent of the band's chief songwriter, David Paich.

He credits Paich with encouraging him to contribute more songs to the band.

He wrote very few of Toto's songs by himself, an exception being the hit single "I Won't Hold You Back" from Toto IV.

Lukather has said that writing lyrics is not one of his strengths.

After the 1990 dismissal of their fourth vocalist, Jean-Michel Byron, Toto was without a lead singer until around 1997; Lukather assumed most of the vocal duties for the band during that time.

In August 1992, Jeff Porcaro collapsed while doing yard work at home and subsequently died of heart failure.

The death profoundly affected Toto and Lukather in particular, who felt that he needed to step up and make sure the band kept going.

Thus, he began taking more of a leadership role.

Toto went through several lead vocalists over the years, including Bobby Kimball, Fergie Frederiksen, and Joseph Williams.

He performed lead vocals for every track on 1992's Kingdom of Desire and 1995's Tambu except for two instrumental tracks.

The Tambu single "I Will Remember", co-written by Lukather and Stan Lynch, reached number 64 on UK charts.

Some Tambu reviewers contrasted Lukather's vocals with those of former singers Kimball and Williams (and indeed, heavily criticized the entire album), some concert reviewers noted that he struggled vocally on certain songs, and a number of backup singers and guest vocalists accompanied the band's live shows during that period.

It was not until Toto brought back Williams and Kimball to collaborate on 1998's Toto XX that Lukather returned primarily to the role of backup vocalist.