He is a guitarist, singer-songwriter, producer,
arranger and voting member of NARAS born Steven Lee Lukather in Los
Angeles, California, and nicknamed Luke.He began his life in music be learning the drums and
keyboard but moved onto the guitar when he was seven years old, citing the
album Meet the Beatles and George Harrison as major influences.When he was in the 7th grade at
school he formed the trio English Muffin and when he was just twelve he
recorded his first ever single with them, "Grass", with the B-Side "Leave
It" co-written by him.When he
was at high school he met up with the Porcaro brothers and David Paich who
would all eventually be his co-members in Toto.At this time he was taking guitar lessons and was
looking at the session musician side of things.He began to look towards Jeff Porcaro as his mentor and
soon he found himself touring and recording with Boz Scaggs.Once he had finished this work he
was asked to become a co-founder of Toto in 1976 by David Paich and Jeff
Porcaro, and it is with them that his name became recognisable as their
lead guitarist, as well as singing and co-writing many of their tracks,
such as "I Won't Hold You Back" from the 1980s onwards.Following the sudden death of Jeff
Porcaro in 1992 he took over the position of lead vocals, as well as lead
guitar, and carried on doing this for around 7 years until two previous leads
returned to work with the band on Toto XX.Throughout all his years with the band, starting in the
1970s, he has also maintained a very busy schedule as a session musician,
which also found him performing with the session musician band El Grupo,
and songwriter for other artists.This has seen him working on an estimated 1,000+ albums and has him
appearing on the hits "Beat It" and "Human Nature" by Michael Jackson and as
a co-writer of George Benson's Grammy Award winning "Turn Your Love
Around".The huge array of
artists who have worked with him, or he has lent his talents as a
songwriter, arranger and/or guitarist to, include Ian Anderson, Carmine
Appice, Chet Atkins, Patti Austin, Stephen Bishop, Michael Bolton, Laura
Branigan, Jackson Browne, Kim Carnes, Lenny Castro, Cerrone, Peter Cetera,
Eric Clapton, Rosemary Clooney, Joe Cocker, Alice Cooper, David Crosby,
Kiki Dee, Charlie Dore, Sheena Easton, Randy Edelman, Far Corporation,
David Foster, Aretha Franklin, Randy Goodrum, Jan Hammer, Don Henley, James
Ingram, Jermaine Jackson, The Jacksons, Booker T. Jones, Chaka Khan, Kiss, Greg
Lake, Kenny Loggins, Mary McGregor, Melissa Manchester, The Manhattan
Transfer, Richard Marx, John Mayall, Bette Midler, Ronnie Milsap, Joni
Mitchell, Graham Nash, Randy Newman, Juice Newton, Stevie Nicks, Ozzy
Osbourne, Les Paul, Billy Preston, Paul Rodgers, Kenny Rogers, Brenda
Russell, Carole Bayer Sager, Timothy B. Schmit, Dan Seals, Slash, Spinal
Tap. The Tubes, Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen, Roger Waters, Peter Wolf, The
Yardbirds and Warren Zevon.His
extensive album output has included his own Candyman (with Los
Lobotomys), Every Changing Times, Lukather, Luke and Santamental
as well as all of Toto's releases and Magic Man by Herb Alpert, Alibi
by America, In the City of Angels by Jon Anderson, Then &
Now by Asia, Best of... by George Benson, Tonight You're Right
by Eric Carmen, I Paralyse by Cher, Chicago 16 by Chicago, Behind
the Sun by Eric Clapton, Secret Combination by Randy Crawford, Another
Page by Christopher Cross, Healing the Wounds by The Crusaders,.
Headed for the Future by Neil Diamond, I Am by Earth, Wind
& Fire, Dr. Heckle & Mr. Jive by England Dan & John Ford
Coley, Breaking All the Rules by Peter Frampton, Along the Red
Ledge by Hall & Oates, Lite Me Up by Herbie Hancock, Thriller
by Michael Jackson, Breakin' Away by Al Jarreau, Victim of
Love by Elton John, Superdisc by Quincy Jones, That's What
Friends Are For by Johnny Mathis & Deniece Williams, Give My
Regards to Broad Street by Paul McCartney, If That's What It Takes
by Michael McDonald, Live Around the World by Meat Loaf, Totally
Hot by Olivia Newton John, Make a Little Magic by The Nitty
Gritty Dirt Band, Can't Slow Down by Lionel Richie, Baby, It's Me
by Diana Ross, Todd Rundgren & His Friends by Todd Rundgren, World
Radio by Leo Sayer, Down Two Then Left by Boz Scaggs, The
Fire Inside by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band, Vagabond
Heart by Rod Stewart, Songbird by Barbra Streisand, The
Wanderer by Donna Summer, He Who Rides the Tiger by Bernie
Taupin and the soundtracks of Back to School, Footloose, Pokemon
2000: The Power of One, Raw Deal, Roadhouse,St. Elmo's Fire and
Straight Talk to name just a very few. Often recognised by award committees he has been named
the "No. 1 Guitarist" by VoteNumber1.com in more than 40 countries,
nominated for 12 Grammy Awards and won 5 for the two mentioned earlier plus
"Best Pop Instrumental Album" for the collaborative album with Larry
Carlton, No Substitutions: Live in Osaka, " Producer of the Year" and
"Album of the Year" for Toto IV and "Record of the Year" for
"Rosanna". In 2005 he
released the DVD Star Licks, which is an instructional guitar video that
had originally come out on video in 1985.He left Toto in 2008, with this causing the
disbandment of the rest of the group, as he decided to follow his own
career as a solo artist after having been with them for over three decades.
The Manhattan
Transfer Recordings
Body and Soul (Edward Heyman/Johnny
Green/Robert Sour/Frank Eyton)
Twilight Zone/Twilight Tone (Marius
Constant/Jay Graydon/Alan Paul)
