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Lukather, Steve (21st October 1957-Present)

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 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), Ever Changing Times, Lukather, Luke and Santamental as well as all of Toto’s releases and Magic Manby 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 16by 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 Loveby 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 SchoolFootloose, 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.  However, Toto reformed in 2014 and announced an international tour and Toto XIV was released in 2015.

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)

Johnny Mathis & Deniece Williams recordings
Emotion (Barry Gibb/Robin Gibb)
S CBS 6164B (UK 45)

Sources:

  1. http://www.stevelukather.net/Biography.aspx
  2. http://www.toto99.com/band/luke/luke.shtml
  3. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:hjfexq85ldte
  4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Lukather
  5. http://www.answers.com/topic/steve-lukather?cat=entertainment
  6. http://classicrock.about.com/b/2005/12/14/steve-lukather-gets-santamental.htm
  7. http://www.myspace.com/stevelukathertribute
  8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toto_IV
  9. http://www.melodicrock.com/showcase/stevelukather-everchangingtimes.html
  10. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:hjfexq85ldte~T4
  11. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:hjfexq85ldte~2~T40B
  12. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:hjfexq85ldte~3~T40B
  13. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:hjfexq85ldte~4~T40B
  14. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:hjfexq85ldte~5~T40B