American keyboardist and composer
Steve Porcaro
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![Porcaro in 2013](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/Steve_Porcaro_2013_%28cropped%29.jpg/220px-Steve_Porcaro_2013_%28cropped%29.jpg) Porcaro in 2013
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Birth name
| Steven Maxwell Porcaro
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Born
| (
1957-09-02
)
September 2, 1957
(age 66)
Hartford, Connecticut
, U.S.
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Genres
| Pop, rock
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Occupations
| Musician, songwriter, film composer
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Instruments
| Keyboards, vocals
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Years active
| 1976?present
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Formerly of
| Toto
,
The Chris Squire Experiment
|
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Musical artist
Steven Maxwell Porcaro
(born September 2, 1957) is an American keyboardist, songwriter, singer, and film composer, known as one of the founding members of the rock band
Toto
[1]
and the last surviving Porcaro brother (after the deaths of
Jeff
in 1992 and
Mike
in 2015); as the songwriter of "
Human Nature
" by
Michael Jackson
and songs by Toto; and as the composer of the TV series
Justified
. He has won three Grammys, including Record of the Year for "Rosanna" and Album of the Year for
Toto IV
, and three nominations.
[2]
Porcaro has appeared as a
session musician
on recordings by
Yes
(on
Union
and
Open Your Eyes
) and
Jefferson Airplane
(on
their self-titled 1989 reunion album
). He was also a member of
Chris Squire
's short-lived band, The Chris Squire Experiment, in 1992.
Early life
[
edit
]
Porcaro is a native of Connecticut. Just like his brothers Jeff and Mike, Steve Porcaro started out as a drummer under the tutelage of his father
Joe Porcaro
, before taking up piano. In 1967, his father bought him an organ made by
Rheem
, a company that specializes in heating and air conditioning. Soon after, he took his father down to a
Guitar Center
to trade in the keyboard for a
Farfisa
with a Leslie 147 and preamp, which Porcaro called his "first real rig".
[3]
[
failed verification
]
Career
[
edit
]
Porcaro's touring career began playing with
Gary Wright
during his tour in 1976, supporting the latter's
The Dream Weaver
album. Porcaro and the other original members of Toto then played with
Boz Scaggs
before forming Toto.
[4]
Porcaro wrote or co-wrote at least one song on each of Toto's first six albums, with the exception of
Isolation
. His two older brothers
Mike
and
Jeff
were Toto's bassist and drummer as well as session musicians while his father Joe was a prolific session percussionist.
Porcaro in 1982
Unlike most of his Toto bandmates, he generally did not contribute lead or even backing vocals; he considered himself a weak singer, and sang lead on two of his earlier compositions only because he felt that the vocal styles of his bandmates, with the exception of
Joseph Williams
, were not appropriate for his songs.
[5]
The song "
Rosanna
" was supposedly inspired by Porcaro's girlfriend at the time,
Rosanna Arquette
but this was since denied by the song's writer, David Paich, and Arquette herself.
[6]
[7]
However, in an interview with Ben Mankiewicz in 2022 both Paich and Arquette admitted on camera that yes, she was the inspiration.
[
citation needed
]
He left Toto in 1987 after the
Fahrenheit
album in order to pursue a more full-time songwriting and composing career. However, Porcaro continued working with Toto in various supporting capacities, assisting with keyboards, drum looping,
synthesizers
and
arranging
/composing.
Porcaro composed the music for the song "
Human Nature
" and produced the synthesizer for "
The Girl Is Mine
" from
Michael Jackson
's album
Thriller
, as well as playing synthesizer and keyboard on "
Stranger in Moscow
" from Jackson's
HIStory
album.
Steve Porcaro composes music for film and television, including the FX television show
Justified
, among others.
[8]
Porcaro returned to play with Toto at live performances since 2010, when they decided to reform the band and tour in Europe to support Mike Porcaro. They scheduled further concerts in Europe.
[9]
Porcaro performed on the band's 2015 studio album
Toto XIV
, co-writing and singing lead on "The Little Things" and co-writing/singing lead on the Japan-only bonus cut, "Bend". When the band dissolved in 2019 and regrouped in 2020, Porcaro did not return.
[10]
Someday/Somehow
[
edit
]
Steve released his first ever solo album on June 10, 2016.
Someday/Somehow
was co-written/produced by
Michael Sherwood
, former member of the band Lodgic. The album contains 13 songs, one of which reunites Steve with his late brothers Mike and Jeff Porcaro, from recordings made prior to their passing.
[11]
[12]
[13]
[14]
[15]
Performing contributions are from Sherwood,
Michael McDonald
,
Jamie Kimmett
, Mabvuto Carpenter,
Marc Bonilla
,
Steve Lukather
, Lenny Castro,
Jimmy Haun
,
Shannon Forrest
,
[16]
Jeff Porcaro
and
Mike Porcaro
.
[4]
Equipment
[
edit
]
Steve Porcaro played a huge variety of synthesizers on Toto albums. While David Paich handled piano duties, it was usually Steve's job to complement the music with creative synth sounds. He was known to use Yamaha GS1,
Yamaha DX1
,
Yamaha DX7
,
Yamaha CS-80
,
Roland Jupiter-8
,
Minimoog
,
Oberheim Xpander
, Polyfusion Modular,
Dynacord Add-one
and
Sequential Circuits Prophet-5
synthesizers among others. The synth solo in the Toto song "
Rosanna
" is a noted example of his approach.
[17]
In later years, he gravitated towards working with software synthesizers. Onstage, he is using two Yamaha keyboards (a Montage 8 and a
Yamaha Motif
XF7) to drive his
Apple MainStage
-based virtual synth rig,
[18]
which draws samples from, among others,
Logic's ES2 plug-in
and
Spitfire Audio
libraries.
[3]
Personal life
[
edit
]
He collaborated with his daughter Heather Porcaro on her debut album,
The Heartstring Symphony
, released in 2009. Heather was featured in
Paper
magazine's "Most Beautiful People" issue in 2002.
[19]
[
failed verification
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Hogan, Ed.
"Biography: Steve Porcaro"
.
AMG
. Retrieved
May 19,
2010
.
- ^
"Steve Porcaro"
.
GRAMMY.com
. November 23, 2020
. Retrieved
June 1,
2021
.
- ^
a
b
Kovarsky, Jerry (July 13, 2015).
"TOTO: The Synth Statesmen of Progressive Pop Return"
.
Keyboard
. Retrieved
April 18,
2018
.
- ^
a
b
Steve Porcaro.
"Steve Porcaro ? Official Website of the TOTO Founding Member"
. Steveporcaromusic.com
. Retrieved
April 5,
2017
.
- ^
"Lea"
, Toto99.com. Retrieved October 27, 2011.
- ^
"Toto: The Story Behind Rosanna (2017, with Dutch subtitles) Top 2000"
.
YouTube
.
[
dead YouTube link
]
- ^
"Steve Porcaro | Credits"
.
AllMusic
. Retrieved
June 1,
2021
.
- ^
Appelo, Tim (October 3, 2012).
"Showrunners 2012: 'Justified's' Graham Yost"
.
The Hollywood Reporter
. Retrieved
June 1,
2021
.
- ^
Toto99.com
- ^
Greene, Andy (November 20, 2020).
"Bless the Rains: Inside Toto's Slow Fall and Surprise Resurrection"
.
Rolling Stone
. Retrieved
June 1,
2021
.
- ^
"Steve Porcaro, of Toto: Something Else! Interview"
.
Something Else!
. May 26, 2016
. Retrieved
June 1,
2021
.
- ^
"Concert Preview: Connecticut's Steve Porcaro Promoting First Solo Record …And Toto, Too!"
.
www.newtownbee.com
. Retrieved
June 1,
2021
.
- ^
"Steve Porcaro | Someday / Somehow ? CD Review"
.
VintageRock.com
. Retrieved
June 1,
2021
.
- ^
O'Neill, Christina (April 8, 2016).
"Toto's Steve Porcaro to release first solo album"
.
Classic Rock Magazine
. Retrieved
June 1,
2021
.
- ^
Wardlaw, Matt (June 21, 2016).
"Toto's Steve Porcaro Talks About His New Debut Solo Album: Exclusive Interview"
.
Ultimate Classic Rock
. Retrieved
June 1,
2021
.
- ^
"Toto's Steve Porcaro to release first solo album ? Classic Rock"
. Teamrock.com. April 8, 2016
. Retrieved
April 5,
2017
.
- ^
"Toto99.com"
. Toto99.com. April 30, 2007
. Retrieved
April 5,
2017
.
- ^
"Musinq.com"
. Musinq.com. January 12, 2015
. Retrieved
April 5,
2017
.
- ^
"Beautiful People 2002: Heather Porcaro"
.
PAPER
. April 1, 2002
. Retrieved
June 6,
2019
.
External links
[
edit
]
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Studio albums
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Live albums
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Compilation albums
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Soundtracks
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Notable songs
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