Steve Porcaro | |
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Steve Porcaro (right) at Toto's 35th Anniversary Tour in Örebro, Sweden July 3, 2013
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Background information | |
Birth name | Steven Maxwell Porcaro |
Born |
Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |
September 2, 1957
Occupation(s) | Keyboardist, composer, programmer |
Instruments | |
Associated acts | Toto, Michael Jackson, Clair Marlo |
Website | steveporcaromusic |
Steven Maxwell "Steve" Porcaro (born September 2, 1957 in Hartford, Connecticut) is an American keyboardist, composer and original member of the rock band Toto. He is also the sole surviving Porcaro brother with his brothers Jeff and Mike having died in 1992 and 2015 respectively.
Porcaro's touring career began playing with Gary Wright during his tour in 1977, supporting the latter's The Dream Weaver album. Porcaro and the other original members of Toto then played with Boz Scaggs before forming Toto.
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 is a prolific session percussionist.
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. 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.