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INSANE: Steve porcaro | Rare Historical Photos

"It's the silliest, most oddball song in our entire catalogue, but it truly hit a nerve." How Toto used a synthesised flute riff and a drum loop to concoct a classic and a cultural phenomenon

Written to get their label off their back, Toto's Africa – written by a man who'd never been there – has become inescapable

Louder

“I’m going, ’We’re from North Hollywood! What do we have to sing about Africa?’“: How Toto crafted their deathless classic

Song has streamed over a billion times

MusicRadar

“I think it’s too dumb for anybody to insult their own intelligence by mounting a serious critique of it”: How Toto crafted their deathless classic, Africa

Song has streamed over a billion times

MusicRadar

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"All the way through, I never stopped the tape once. He'd just go through the whole song and say ‘give me another track'. We did that nine times and then he said ‘I’m outta here’": Steve Porcaro on the two unreleased songs he wrote with Michael Jackson

Chicago 1945 and Dream Away remain in the vaults

MusicRadar

"There were times recording Rosanna – and Africa, too – where we literally had one spare track. Just the one!”: Toto’s Steve Porcaro on the perils of recording live to analogue tape, and what happened if you were the one who messed up the crucial take

“We were debating whether we needed to do another guitar take. ‘Are you really sure we need another take? That last one was pretty good. If we punch in, we’re going to lose that one’”

MusicRadar

“Along with Journey, REO Speedwagon and Foreigner, we’d been lumped-in with the whole Corporate Rawk thing. We weren’t ‘cool’": Steve Porcaro on the rise, fall and resurgence of Toto, working with Michael Jackson and his new solo album

"Yacht Rock! When I first heard that phrase, I groaned. But then I thought, ‘Who cares what it’s called? If it keeps people listening to some great music, I’m happy!'"

MusicRadar

“I remember when I first heard it. Big deal for me – I loved it immediately. It’s all over Rosanna, all over Africa”: Toto’s Steve Porcaro names his Top 5 synths

“How much is it worth? Ha! Don’t even ask!”

MusicRadar

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“I’d been playing guitar full-time for 25 years, and when I got to play on a Deep Purple album it was just one chord!” Meet Tommy Denander, the session guitar great who’s worked with everyone from Jeff Beck and Michael Jackson to Joe Perry and Ace Frehley

You’ve heard the Swedish guitarist on over 100 gold or platinum records. He tells his war stories from decades of session work, from fighting for all-important missing credits to playing with his heroes – and writing the song that finally brought Alice Cooper and Jeff Beck together…

Guitar World

“Even the seemingly straight-ahead rockers feature those clever fills and time changes that make the band so unique": Hydra may not be Toto’s best selling album, but it remains their proggiest

The seasoned American session stars changed tack after the success of their self-titled debut, inserting splashes of musical colour that became part of their unique style

Louder

“I don’t worry about labels and I’ve ended up in the premier prog band of all time. If I’d listened to haters I’d have stopped after my first record”: Billy Sherwood’s journey to Yes started with the wayward World Trade

By the time he reunited his 80s group for third album Unify, he’d replaced Chris Squire and started fronting Asia. None of it would have happened without Toto and Gentle Giant

Louder

Toto guitarist insists things 'got weird' with Weezer after Africa over

Toto guitarist Steve Lukather has claimed the band have a "weird" relationship with Weezer after Rivers Cuomo's reaction to their 'Africa' cover becoming a hit.

BANG Premier

“He’d be like, ‘Let’s throw Lukather in there.’ The next thing I knew, I’m in a room with Stevie Wonder and all these guys. It was like a childhood dream come true”: Steve Lukather on Quincy Jones’ ability to create “magic” in the studio

"Everyone played their best around Quincy. He commanded the room. Everyone was their extra best for every take”

MusicRadar

“I’m happy we’ve had hits. But I do wish the record label had put out some of our challenging songs as singles”: Some only know them as ‘That Africa band,’ but how prog are Toto?

They were inspired by prog heavyweights and their records have always contained surprising depth

Louder

“How do you play that right hand?”: Watch Toto’s David Paich and Steve Porcaro playing Rosanna and Africa on the Steinway grand piano that they were originally recorded on more than 40 years ago

We also get snippets of Hold The Line and Michael Jackson’s Human Nature, as Paich and Porcaro head back to Sunset Sound recording studio in Hollywood

MusicRadar

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Louder

"She went on several talk shows and said it was about her. But I can tell you that it wasn't": the real story behind Toto's Rosanna

Inspired by upcoming actress Rosanna Arquette - and John Bonham! - Toto knew Rosanna would be a hit the moment David Paich first played it on a piano

MusicRadar

10 famous father/son drumming duos

The dads who raised successful sticksmen

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