Toto is an American rock band formed in 1976 in Los Angeles by 2 high school friends who are Jeff Porcaro, drummer, and David Paich, keyboardist. Who will be joined a little later by Steve Lukater, Guitarist, Steve Porcaro, Keyboardist, David Hungate, bassist and Bobby Kimball on vocals.
The name "Toto" would simply come from the Latin word which means universal, total. Ideal name for a group a priori open to all musical styles.
They signed with CBS Record in 1977 and the first album, named after the group, was released in the process.
The first single released "Hold the line" immediately hit home. Like the album.
In 1979 released the second album "Hydra" which did not confirm the good scores achieved by the first. The album was a commercial failure despite the presence of the title "99".
The third album "Turn back" was released in 1981 and it was ... another failure.
Everything will change in 1982 with the release of the providential album "Toto IV". Album which will remain the biggest commercial success of the group. From which will be extracted the now cult singles that are "Africa" and "Rosanna", as well as the title "I won’t hold you back" which will also have a good journey in the American Charts.
But the colossal success of this album rises to the head of some and drug use becomes problematic for others.
Bobby Kimball was "thanked" in 1984 and replaced by Fergie Frederiksen.
The album "Isolation" was released the same year and had a successful journey, notably thanks to the titles "Stranger in town" and "Holyanna". Frederiksen in turn leaves the group and is replaced by Joseph Williams.
The year 1986 saw the release of the honorable "Fahrenheit", a relatively successful album mainly driven by the two flagship titles "I’ll be over you" and "Without your love".
Despite the subsequent release of other albums with more than certain quality, the group will no longer find the dynamics of previous years.
This will not prevent them from delivering during the following decades several nuggets of very very large caliber ... thus making this group one of the most successful in the last 40 years, just that !
Toto will remain in contemporary history as one of the flagship groups of the 1980s US version, thanks in particular to 2 major titles which have now definitively entered the World Musical Pantheon.
To discover or rediscover.
Discography (among others ...) :
• Hold the line 1978
• I’ll supply the love 1979
• Georgy porgy 1979
• 99 1980
• St George and the dragon 1980
• Goodbye Eleonore 1981
• Live for today 1981
• Rosanna 1982
• Make believe 1982
• Africa 1982
• I won’t hold you back 1983
• Waiting for your love 1983
• Stranger in town 1984
• Holyanna 1985
• How does it feel 1985
• I’ll be over you 1986
• Without your love 1986
• Stop loving you 1988
• Pamela 1988
• Mushanga 1988
• Anna 1988
• Love has the power 1990
• Out of love 1990
• Can you ear what I'm saying ? 1991
• Don't chain my heart 1992
• Only you 1992
• 2 hearts 1992
• I will remember 1995
• Goin' home 1998
• Melanie 1999
• Caught in the balance 1999
• Mad about you 1999
• Could you be loved 2002
• While my guitar gently weeps 2002
• Bottom of your soul 2006
• King of the world 2006
• Orphan 2015
• Burn 2015
• 21st century blues 2015
• Alone 2018
• Fearful heart 2018
• Chelsea 2018
• We'll keep on running 2018
Clips :
1978 ... the smashing beginnings ! Everything is already there, including the sound that will make them enter the legend a few years later. Race results : first planetary top hit !
1979 ... an amazing rocko-disco phase, but we are at the end of the 70's and at that time, everything is possible. This title will experience a lower level of success than its predecessor, but the important thing is that the dynamics of success are now in place and that is especially what is essential !
1979 ... after a very promising start, the group stalled somewhat. Not that he deserves, far from it. But he set the bar so high on the first title that it is difficult for him to renew the feat for the moment ...
1980 ... the transition to the 80s is done in the best conditions with a level of success that remains constant. It remains simply to repeat the feat of their beginnings. Or do even better, because given their potential, everything is possible !
1980 ... very surprisingly, this title will go completely under the radars despite an obvious quality. Anyway, the group confirms an obvious rise, title after title, year after year ...
1981 ... for the big fireworks, it won't be for this year yet. A mixed year 1981 which sees them moderately inspired. We will therefore have to be a little patient for the big takeoff ...
1981 ... a 1000 % rock year. An irrepressible need to hit hard which unfortunately makes them stagnate. A Strategy to say the least losing for now ...
1982 ... then this title arrives ! An amazing title that will propel them to truly incredible levels of success and make them one of the biggest phenomena of the moment. And this is only the start of the year. A year 1982 which will prove to be exceptional in every way for the group !
1982 ... a halftone suite. With a certain quality, of course, but which is wedged between two jewels. Not the ideal place ...
1982 ... the title of the Ultimate Consecration. A legendary title with which they become incontestably and undisputed one of the major groups of this end of the XXth century. MO-NU-MEN-TAL !
1983 ... a sumptuous suite with this unexpected foray into the Intimist register. A magical Ultimate Slow that literally floats in the air ...
1983 ... a year 1983 which will not have the aura of the previous one but which sees them producing titles with more than certain quality. We will largely be satisfied !
1984 ... a year with a unique hit. They had gotten us used to better but not all years can equal the year 1982, that's clear...
1985 ... a 1985 year that will not remain as their best vintage, that's for sure. A very small hit on the counter but of quality, so the essential is preserved as they say !
1985 ... a nice title with finesse that will go completely unnoticed. There are years like this where nothing goes. Impossible to fight in these cases there ...
1986 ... their business has always been rock, but they also undeniably excel in large-scale ballads. The proof !
1986 ... an impressive series of Intimist titles of very large caliber which shows their extreme versatility. One of the best versatility of the moment and which makes this group one of the major groups of this decade. But that we already knew !
1988 ... another excellent title, among their best, and which shows once again the full extent of their talent. A decidedly extraordinary talent !
1988 ... a 'big' year 1988 with this new top hit where there is talk this time of a charming young lady named Pamela. The adventure continues to be beautiful and who would complain !
1988 ... a year 1988 that never ends. No major hit but an impressive succession of hits of very large caliber which shows that the group still has a damn thing under the pedal !
1988 ... after Pamela, here comes Anna. A year 1988 which clearly showcases women. And why not...
1990 ... one would have thought that the 90s would not be really favorable to the group. Oh no ! They continue their journey without asking any questions and above all by maintaining an obvious level of quality !
1990 ... we set off again in the Ultimate Slow of the High Class. A group that will undoubtedly remain one of the most complete of its generation
1991 ... certainly, their sound has evolved somewhat and no longer really resembles that which carried them to the firmament of fame. But the quality is still there, anyway !
1992 ... return to pure rock. But once again, the group knows how to find the inspiration to make a difference. The brand of the Great !
1992 ... a nice title that will surprisingly go under the radar. They will have had few like that but it is the kind of thing that happens, even to the most gifted !
1992 ... a year 1992 undeniably placed under the sign of the 'emotional' register. Nothing exceptional but just a good job !
1995 ... it is no longer a flood of hits like in the 80s but the group continues to regularly deliver pieces of very large caliber. The proof with this title which will remain as their biggest hit of the decade !
1998 ... then, incredible thing, we find the Toto of yesteryear. An unexpected return to basics that hits home. We stopped believing it would happen !
1999 ... after Pamela, after Anna, here comes Mélanie. Women bringing them luck, so it's a new world class hit. But that will not be the last, as incredible as it may seem !
1999...which will still be the last on the Singles side. Because it is only on the albums side that the group will succeed in staying afloat in the years to come...
1999...a decade which will have seen the group succeed in maintaining himself at the highest level without too many difficulties. Certainly it is no longer the Toto of yesteryear but all the same...
2002...and here they are again in this new decade in luxury cover mode. Seeing Toto revisit Bob Marley from 1980 is unexpected, very unexpected to say the least...
2002... they even dare to cover a Beatles title dating from 1968, that's to say ! And the version they give is not devoid of interest, quite the contrary !
2006...one would have thought that the group would die out definitively during the 90s. Here they are again in great shape during the 2000s. And once again with the sound that made them successful. Who says success, says success !
2006... what is certain is that they haven't lost any of their basic fans given the level of success achieved by the albums they will produce during this decade. Which is reassuring to say the least...
2015 ... almost 40 years after their debut, they are once again coming to the fore. Incredible but true !
2015...but how far will they go...?? They sign here a mega hit on the albums side almost of the same level of success as their biggest hits of the 80s. They come from another planet, it is the only plausible explanation !
2015...and we imagine that they don't intend to stop there, that's for sure with a success of this magnitude. Pumped up the little guys once again !
2017...a group that will amaze us until the end. They manage to pass the years, just like the decades, with the most impressive mastery. What talent !
2018...they will have been able to reinvent themselves each time, something that few groups of this era will have managed to do. A precious asset that will inevitably have made the difference !
2018... so we imagine that this album released in 2018 will not be the last even if it will not remain as the best ranked of all. Because we now know, with them, nothing is ever over...
2018...a title far, very far from their usual standards. What better way to end this decade which will once again have been profitable for them. Waiting for the next...
Wiki :
Official Website :
Greatest Hits :
Discography :