Composed entirely of seasoned studio musicians, Toto seemed to come out of nowhere. They did not get known first on the club circuit as nearly all bands do prior to being signed by a label. Their reputations in the studio were enough. For example, Paich, Hungate and Jeff Porcaro wrote songs for and performed on Boz Scaggs' album Silk Degrees.
Toto released their debut album Toto in October 1978, selling two million copies based on their top ten hit Hold the Line. The next two albums Hydra and Turn Back had little success, but Toto IV (released in 1982) featured the number one hit Africa as well as the top ten single Rosanna. Toto IV went multi-platinum and earned several Grammy Awards including 1983 Album of the Year and Record of the Year (for "Rosanna").
Their only film work to date was for the 1984 David Lynch science fiction film Dune. In addition to their own score, they also recorded the Prophecy Theme, composed by Brian Eno.
After the release of Toto IV, Mike Porcaro (brother to Jeff and Steve), joined the group on bass, replacing Hungate. In 1984, Bobby Kimball left the group after being arrested for selling cocaine and was replaced by Dennis Frederiksen aka Fergie Frederiksen, who was replaced not long after by Joseph Williams.
Steve Porcaro left the band in 1988, however, he still contributes as a sideman.
In 1990, Jean-Michel Byron replaced Williams for the new recordings on Past to Present 1977-1990, then left with Lukather becoming the group's lead singer.
On August 5, 1992, Jeff Porcaro died of a heart attack, days after completing work on Kingdom of Desire. The group considered disbanding, before adding British drummer Simon Phillips for the subsequent tour. In the years since Porcaro's death, Lukather has seemingly succeeded Paich as the band's de facto leader.
In 1999, Bobby Kimball returned to the lineup after a 15-year absence.
Greg Phillinganes joined the lineup in 2004 to fill in for David Paich during a tour, then officially joined Toto in 2005.
After a period of rumours and some allusions, on June 5th, 2008 Steve Lukather made an official announcement on his website stevelukather.net, stating: "The fact is yes I have left Toto. There is no more Toto." Lukather further stated that after 31 years of recording, producing and playing with Toto without even missing one single gig, he couldn't do it anymore: "I just can't do it anymore and at 50 years old I wanted to start over and give it one last try on my own." With Lukather being the only original member left in the band (Bobby Kimball was also an original member, but was out of the band from 1984-1998) there was no other option than to call it quits. As the main motivation for his decision, Lukather said: "When Dave retired that was REAL hard for me 'cause we started the band together. Hell, it's 35 years if you count High School where the core all met. When Mike fell ill and had to leave that was it for me. If there isn't Paich or at least one Porcaro how can we even call it Toto?" Luke also stated: "Honestly, I have just had enough. This is NOT a break. It is over. I really can't go out and play Hold The Line with a straight face anymore." The break-up of Toto after 31 years received mixed reactions from the fans, but in general the decision was understood and many agreed with Lukather's reasons to quit the band.
On April 5th, 2008, Toto played what would be their last show ever, in Seoul, Korea, as a part of their Falling In Between Live tour. This left lots of fans without a real farewell tour.
On February 26th, 2010, Steve Lukather announced on his Twitter-account that Toto are reforming for a brief tour in Europe in the summer of 2010 to honor bass player Mike Porcaro, who's suffering from ALS syndrome. Line-up will include David Paich, Steve Lukather, Steve Porcaro, Simon Phillips, Joseph Williams and Nathan East.
Toto released their fourteenth studio album and their first in nine years titled Toto XIV on March 20 (Europe), March 23 (UK and Oceania), and March 24, 2015 (North America). To promote the newly finished project, the band started a world tour running with an extensive European headline arena tour including appearances at key festivals, along with a North American tour to follow in the summer of 2015 and Asia later that year.[43][44]
On March 15, 2015, former bassist Mike Porcaro died, due to complications from his battle with ALS, in his sleep at his home in Los Angeles.[45]
On 6 April 2015, Toto announced that they would embark on 7 August 2015 in Mashantucket, Connecticut with veteran progressive band Yes on a joint summer tour of North America due to end on 12 September 2015 in Coquitlam, British Columbia.[46][47][48] Shannon Forrest has continued to perform as the band's drummer.
On 29 September 2015, Toto announced the first leg of their 2016 Tour in support of Toto XIV consisting of European and Japanese dates. Leland Sklar, who joined them on their 2007 and 2008 tours, replaced founding member Hungate.[49] Sklar left Toto in early 2017 and was replaced by Shem von Schroeck.
Toto will release their anniversary album "40 Trips Around The Sun" on February 9, 2018. Then, they'll embark on their world tour promoting their album and celebrating 40 years of music.
The original lineup (1978)
* David Paich - vocals and keyboards
* Steve Lukather - guitar and vocals
* Bobby Kimball - vocals
* Steve Porcaro - keyboards
* David Hungate - bass
* Jeff Porcaro - drums
The last lineup (2017)
* David Paich - vocals and keyboards
* Steve Lukather - guitar and vocals
* Joseph Williams - vocals
* Steve Porcaro - vocals and keyboards
Live for Today
Toto Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Babe, I've got to have you but you're never ever, ever there
Hey, the game is over, give it up right now
You're teasin' me, baby, how do you expect me to be without you
[Chorus]
You let your hair down low
You didn't want to know about lovin' me, babe
Let's live for today, tomorrow may never come
But you just can't tell anymore
Baby, you're a teaser but you just don't dare
Baby, keep your secrets, this whole thing just ain't fair
Tonight is almost over, tomorrow you'll be gone away
So please baby, won't you stay
[Chorus: x2]
The lyrics to Toto's song Live for Today seem to be describing a tumultuous and complicated relationship. The singer admits to lying about not caring, and despite their efforts to move on from the other person, they can't deny that they need them. The object of their desire is described as a teaser, someone who leads them on but won't commit. The song urges them to live in the moment and not worry about what tomorrow may bring. The chorus repeats this message, reminding the listener that tomorrow is unpredictable and that they should enjoy today while they can.
Overall, the song seems to be about the difficulties of letting go of someone who is both alluring and unreliable. The singer knows that the relationship is likely not going to work out and that they'll be hurt in the end. However, they can't resist the temptation to stay in the moment with the person they desire. The song's message is one of embracing the present, even if the future is uncertain.
Line by Line Meaning
Baby, I'm a liar when I tell you that I just don't care
I'm lying when I say I don't care, because in reality, I do
Babe, I've got to have you but you're never ever, ever there
I need you, but you're never around when I need you most
Hey, the game is over, give it up right now
We can stop playing games and be honest with each other now
You're teasin' me, baby, how do you expect me to be without you
You play with my emotions, how can I live without you?
You let your hair down low
You let your guard down and showed vulnerability
You didn't want to know about lovin' me, babe
You didn't want to commit to loving me
Let's live for today, tomorrow may never come
Let's enjoy the present, because the future is uncertain
But you just can't tell anymore
It's hard to predict what will happen in the future
Baby, you're a teaser but you just don't dare
You tease me, but you're too afraid to take action
Baby, keep your secrets, this whole thing just ain't fair
You're keeping secrets, and it's not fair to me
Tonight is almost over, tomorrow you'll be gone away
Our time together is coming to a close, and you'll be leaving soon
So please baby, won't you stay
Please stay with me a little longer before you go
Let's live for today, tomorrow may never come
Let's enjoy the present, because the future is uncertain
Let's live for today, tomorrow may never come
Let's enjoy the present, because the future is uncertain
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: STEVEN LEE LUKATHER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Andoroid
it's simply wrong to say music was "better" than today,
the issue is that modern western pop fell into a completely slump that (creatively speaking), on average, paled in comparison to the rush of new clever music that came out in the 70s-80s
But there's still Amazing music being released (mostly by interdependent artists)
Also Japan
Many Japanese artists and producers were influenced by the likes of Toto and it really shows in their style, so there's a lot of fantastic produced and arranged music (ranging from jazz to pop to rock) over there that's still mainstream
Also just for clarification - Toto is one of my all time favorite bands. They're Criminally underrated and I love their musician ship. My only point is, if you look for it, there's AMAZING music being released today
SeattleSlew77
Absolutely one of the best bands of all-time. Teutonic musicianship and song craft. Simply amazing and one-of-a-kind.
Douglas Sloan
One of the greatest TOTO songs of all time. Complete mystery as to why this wasn't a HUGE hit. Oh, and BTW, live music video???? ONLY Toto could have pulled this off back in the day. Just amazing.
Juan Pablo Castano
I'm from Colombia but I live in the U.S for some time now, I listen to TOTO in a taxi in a radio years ago, I listen to TOTO for some years now, they're a favorite band of the plenty of bands that I like
Extropian Transhuman
it sounds very similar to another song that's like this - maybe it stole its thunder? I can't remember it, but I think 1 direction stole its show with "what makes you beautiful". 1 Direction pulled off the riff more than this one did - because it totally took from this song's popularity wave and sound and pulled it to the top. Without this song, where would we get 1 direction's? This song was right on time, under our nose and no one saw it until 1 direction's came out.
Olivier Gabin
From their third album wich is, in my opinion, underrated. This one is one of the best tracks of Toto III, nice to ear it again !
Machine Head
Turn Back is a favorite of mine
Sadowsky1965
@Machine Head Me too....
Rypsolisti
Agreed but I think Turn Back was underrated because the production wasn't on par with Hydra and IV. They wanted to make a rock album but it didn't sound in the end the way they wished for. Great songs and one of my favourite albums still!
Anna Neumann
One of the underrated albums ever to my view !
Ken Adkins
Crazy how good this is, Toto in their prime! Still don't understand how this wasn't a huge hit?