By Karen Wolitzer
TOTO IV went platinum in 1982 featuring the hit singles
Africa and
Rosanna. They received 6 Grammy awards in 1983 including Album Of The Year, Record Of The Year, and Best Vocal Arrangement. Toto's other top hits include
99, I Won't Hold You Back, and
I'll Be Over You.Last year, in honor of the group's 25th anniversary, they put out an album-
Through The Looking Glass consisting of 11 cover songs that were written by their favorite writers and friends, most of which were originally recorded during the 1970's. Tracks include
Could You Be Loved Sunshine of Your Love, House of the Rising Sun, and
It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Lot to Cry."I can't believe we just celebrated the 25th anniversary of the band," says lead guitarist Steve Luthaker incredulously. "We've known each other even longer than that," he continues. "I met Steve Porcaro (bass player) in 1973 when I was in 10th grade and we've been friends since then...and I met David Paich (keyboards and vocals) right around the same time. And that's the core of us. We went to high school together. We hung out together and we played music together."Toto didn't start until 1977. We played in other bands before that. When I got out of high school, SONY Records heard we were starting a band and signed us. It was pretty cool. "I've been playing guitar since I was 7- years-old. I practiced everyday and studied music. We all studied music and the dream was to have a hit record...then our first record came out and it was a huge success."But the guys didn't sit back and let Toto take over their lives. "We got into playing with other artists. We did things with Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Aretha Franklin. Let's just say that between 1976 and 1986 at least one of us was on every record that came out of LA." That's very impressive!And they're still very hot in in Europe and Asia. They're still selling out arenas; but recently they decided that they wanted to play here in the United States, so they're playing smaller venues. "We're doing an east coast/west coast run and having a laugh. We're following our hearts. I'm really happy. Life is good. People still want to come see us play. I love meeting our fans. There's no difference between them and us. We're not like rock stars with bodyguards...we're very accessible people. We laugh at ourselves. We're our own worst critics. We find ourselves terribly amusing."I'm having more fun now because I think I appreciate it more. I've been down the block, paid the dues, seen the dark and the light side, been ripped off made a lot of money, had fun and I'm still grooving. I'm really happy to still be playing music and I think the band sounds better than ever. We know what we're doing now and we still want to sound good. We're always working on making everything better and that's why people keep coming to see us. It ain't because we're the prettiest guys in the world...although we all have our hair," he laughs.I think people are still going to see them because their music is still great. And so do some of today's most popular artists. Ja Rule just sampled
Africa. "We've been sampled by more rap people than any other rock and roll group," admits Steve, who has never played at Westbury Music Fair before."I'm looking forward to coming to New York!" he says enthusiastically. Come see Toto's Westbury debut... but don't ask Steve where the name Toto came from...he hates it!
