Beech Tree News Network

It’s been 40 years since Toto’s “Africa” became an unexpected worldwide sensation.  The band nearly left it off the album.  Co-founder Steve Lukather said if “Africa” was a hit, he’d run down Hollywood boulevard naked.  He, fellow co-founder David Paich and lead vocalist Joseph Williams don’t take themselves too seriously. Critics weren’t high on them, saying their lyrics “sounded like a tangerine leisure suit”.  What does a tangerine leisure suit sound like?

These guys are getting the last laugh with packed shows, 40 million albums sold and a string of hits spanning decades.  Toto may be the coolest uncool band in history.  It began in Los Angeles with high school age pals Paich, Lukather and brothers Jeff and Steve Bochero sending demos out to record companies.  They needed a name.  One of them was watching the Wizard of Oz late one night and Dorothy’s dog became a temporary solution, or so they thought.  Paich says “We got our contract and it said Toto on the contract.  We didn’t have time to change the name”.  Lukather adds “The name didn’t help.  It’s easy to pick on a band called Toto”. 

No matter the name, that band had talent.  “Hold The Line” was one of the first songs the band recorded.  It went top 5 in 1978.  Toto was on the map.  Four years and three albums later, pressure was mounting.  Lukather recounts “they came right out with “if you guys don’t pull one out now, you’re done”.  We said we should just go back to doing what we do-write good songs and record them”.  They recorded nine songs for Toto IV.  They just needed one more.  That one more song was a little smash called “Africa”.  Paich played the piano intro a few times before coming up with the opening lyric.  All these years later, “Africa”, streamed more than a billion times on Spotify, is as popular as ever.  Williams says “that song has had so many different lives over the years, been covered on tv and film.  Newer generations find it all the time”. 

Some question how white musicians could capture the spirit of a continent they’d never visited.  Paich calls the song totally aspirational.  “I just wanted to see the world; you know.  That was kind of me writing “what if”? In 1983, “Africa” hit #1, surpassing the album’s first single, “Rosanna”.  The title, inspired in part by an unknown actress at the time, Rosanna Arquette.  “I was dating Steve Bokaro, keyboard player of Toto.  The first time I heard it, David Paich sat me down at the piano bench, asked me to sit next to him and played it.  I was really shy and said “Oh wow, thanks”, Arquette said.  Paich adds “I didn’t have a title and I just plucked her name out because she was very adorable.  It just stuck with me”. 

Toto has released 14 studio albums but that just scratches the surface.  As session players, they’ve worked with hundreds of artists, from Olivia Newton John and Cheryl Lynn to Michael McDonald.  Toto bandmembers are all over Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”.  When you hear it, Eddie Van Halen has the solo.  Every other guitar part is by Steve Lukather.  Toto has long ago moved past snarky reviews.  What matters to them is connection to fans and each other.  (Info from CBS Sunday Morning)