Luke's
Story
Lyricist, one half of the Steinberg-Kelly team behind "Like a Virgin," "True Colors" and "Alone." Co-wrote and produced "It Looks Like Rain" on Lukather (1989).
Songwriter and session vocalist. With Billy Steinberg wrote "Like a Virgin," "True Colors" and "Eternal Flame." Co-wrote, produced and sang on "It Looks Like Rain" for Lukather (1989).
Songwriter and keyboardist. Luke's long-running writing partner – "I'll Be Over You," "Anna," "Melanie," and three tracks on Lukather (1989).
Session guitarist turned producer. Played in Elton John's band before producing Cheap Trick, Heart and Bad English. Produced "Lonely Beat of My Heart" on Lukather (1989).
Session guitarist and producer, a fixture of the LA singer-songwriter scene with James Taylor and Carole King. Don Henley's co-writer and producer. Co-wrote and produced two tracks on Lukather (1989).
Guitarist with Billy Idol on "Rebel Yell" and "White Wedding." Co-wrote and produced two tracks on Luke's first solo album, Lukather (1989).
Luke's eldest son. Musician and guitarist. Contributed to Bridges (2023). Plays in the band The Effect.
Legendary session bassist. Contributor to Luke's 2023 album Bridges.
Toto's vocalist since the late '80s. Co-leads the current Toto lineup — the "Dogz of Oz" — alongside Luke.
Drummer of the Beatles. Invited Luke to join his All-Starr Band in 2012. Luke has toured with him every year since.
Jazz-fusion guitarist. One of Luke's guitar heroes growing up. Their live album No Substitutions won the Grammy in 2002.
British drummer. Replaced Jeff Porcaro in Toto in 1992. Became a long-term musical partner for Luke.
Singer-songwriter and producer. Contributed to Luke's first solo album. Luke played on Marx's hit records.
Lead guitarist of Van Halen. Close friend of Luke's. Played on Luke's first solo album, Lukather (1989).
Singer-songwriter, later of Chicago. Co-wrote "Turn Your Love Around" with Luke and Jay Graydon.
Guitarist, songwriter, and producer. Co-wrote "Turn Your Love Around" with Luke and Bill Champlin. Early session mentor.
Jazz guitarist and vocalist. Luke co-wrote his hit "Turn Your Love Around," which won the Grammy for Best R&B Song in 1982.
Producer of Thriller and The Dude. Hired Luke as a regular session guitarist across multiple landmark albums.
Artist behind Thriller — the best-selling album of all time. Luke and the Toto members were the core session band.
Lead guitarist of the Beatles. His guitar solo on "I Saw Her Standing There" inspired Luke to pick up the guitar at age seven.
Singer-songwriter behind Silk Degrees. Gave Luke his first professional session and touring work at age 19.
Drummer. Luke's bandmate in Still Life. Became one of the most recorded session drummers in LA.
Bassist. Luke's bandmate in their high school group Still Life. Went on to become a top LA session musician.
Session guitarist. Luke's bandmate in Still Life and longtime collaborator. One of LA's most respected players.
Jazz and classical guitarist. Taught Luke to read music and study orchestration starting at age 15.
Toto's bassist from 1982 to 2007. Jeff Porcaro's brother. Died from ALS in 2015, age 59.
Toto's founding keyboardist. Luke's bandmate in their high school group Still Life. Co-wrote "Human Nature" for Thriller.
Toto's founding keyboardist and primary songwriter. Wrote "Africa," "Rosanna," and most of Toto's early catalogue.
Toto's founding drummer. Luke's closest friend and mentor since high school. Died August 5, 1992, age 38.
You’ve heard Steve Lukather play. You might not know it, but you have. He’s on Thriller. He’s on records by Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Stevie Nicks, Lionel Richie, Don Henley, and thousands more.
Over 2,000 albums across five decades. He’s the only founding member of Toto who never stepped away. And it all started with a kid, a cheap guitar, and seeing the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show.
Act I
The Spark
Born in the San Fernando Valley
Meets the Porcaro brothers at Grant High School
Invited to join Toto at 19
A Kay acoustic guitar and Meet the Beatles
First sessions with Boz Scaggs
Steve Lukather was seven years old when his father brought home a cheap Kay acoustic guitar and a copy of Meet the Beatles.
"Just the sound of it overcame my whole soul, if you want to call it that. I knew that's what I wanted to do. I remember George Harrison played a solo in "I Saw Her Standing There" and just the sound of the guitar bending and the reverb struck a nerve inside of me."
Meeting the Porcaros
He taught himself for years – learning by ear, hanging out with older kids who showed him chords. At fourteen he started studying with Jimmy Wyble, a classical and jazz guitarist who taught him to read music, orchestration, theory. But the real education was happening at Grant High School, where he met the people who would shape the rest of his life.
"Jeff was a mentor to us all; he was a guy we looked up to. He and the whole Porcaro family had so much to do with my getting a break in the music business. Jeff was already in Steely Dan when we were in high school.”
His high school band – Still Life – had Luke and Michael Landau on guitar, John Pierce on bass, Steve Porcaro on keys, and Carlos Vega on drums. Every one of them went on to become one of the most respected musicians in LA.
"I was self-taught until about 14 and then I started taking lessons with Jimmy Wyble. He taught me how to read and I took a lot of other classes, like orchestration. I wanted to learn. At that point I was really intrigued by the whole session thing."
Boz Scaggs and the Invitation
The session world – where the best players in Los Angeles walked into a studio, got handed a chord chart, and had to invent the perfect part on the spot – was starting to look like the most exciting job in music. Jeff Porcaro and David Paich were already doing it.
“Toto was Dave and Jeff's band and vision. I was 19 and so honored to be invited in. You gotta dig, these guys were and still are my heroes. I still can't believe they chose me!!! It was my personal dream come true.”
Act II
The Golden Era
Toto’s debut – “Hold the Line”
Toto IV – “Rosanna,” “Africa”
Six Grammys in one night
Grammy for “Turn Your Love Around”
Thriller sessions – guitar, bass, arrangements
In 1977, two things happened that would define the next decade. Toto released their debut album – Hold the Line became an instant – and the session calls started coming in faster than Luke could count them.
Toto
And The session Life
Toto was a band built on an idea: that great musicians could also write great songs. Luke was the guitarist and increasingly the co-writer, though in the early years, the songwriting was David Paich’s domain.
"I've been writing songs since I was a kid, but I kind of stopped writing when I joined Toto because Dave had all these incredible tunes. Every day he'd come in and say "Dig my new tune" and when he played it, it would be a killer tune."
“But towards the second album, like the song Hydra, which was a group written tune and I came up with the riff parts. So it started with that album… and then gradually I’m writing more and more.”
While Toto was recording albums and playing arenas, Luke was also one of the most in-demand session guitarists in Los Angeles. He wasn’t choosing between a band career and a session career – he was doing both, at full speed, simultaneously. Twenty-some sessions a week. George Benson. Aretha Franklin. Diana Ross. Elton John. Donna Summer. Joni Mitchell. Don Henley.
"You never knew what was going to happen. People imagine studio players just sitting in a room reading dots on a piece of paper, but most of the time all we got were blank sheets of paper with chord symbols on it. You had to be a quick study by listening to the song, finding a cool part that worked and then adding great hooks to the song. That's what kept getting you called back."
The co-write for George Benson’s “Turn Your Love Around” – with Jay Graydon and Bill Champlin – earned him a Grammy Award for Best R&B Song. He was twenty-four.
1982. Toto IV & Thriller
Luke played guitar and bass on multiple tracks, as well as contributing to the arrangement of Human Nature.
Gibson would later name him one of the Top 10 session guitarists of all time, but in that moment he was simply a working musician doing what he did every day – walking into a studio and making the music better.
“I was doing all of Quincy Jones’ records back then. Funny story: I was in the house band for the Grammy’s ‘Album of the Year’ three years in a row. Quincy’s The Dude record, Toto IV, then Thriller. It was happening big time back then. The last great era of the ‘session guy’ scene.”
Act III
Loss & Reinvention
First solo album – Lukather
Jeff Porcaro passes away
Luke album
Takes over as Toto’s lead vocalist
Kingdom of Desire
Grammy with Larry Carlton – No Substitutions
By the late ’80s, the session scene was starting to change. Drum machines, home studios, shrinking budgets – the ecosystem that had made LA the recording capital of the world was shifting under everyone’s feet. Luke was writing more than ever for Toto, and his playing was evolving.
His own name on the cover
In 1989 he released his first solo album – simply titled Lukather. A record made with friends: Steve Stevens, Danny Kortchmar, Richie Zito, Randy Goodrum, Tom Kelly, Billy Steinberg, Michael Landau, Eddie Van Halen, Jeff Porcaro, David Paich and more. It was Luke stepping forward as a songwriter and a singer.
Toto pushed into darker, heavier territory with Kingdom of Desire – some of the most aggressive work the band had ever done. Luke had taken over as lead vocalist in 1991. The band was evolving.
August 5, 1992.
Jeff Porcaro collapsed at his home. He was thirty-eight.
“How can I equate this? It’s so hard for me to actually come to grips with how to put how I feel into words. It’s so hard. I’ll never be the same without him. But he’ll always be with me. I have pictures of him all over my house. I feel his presence.”
Carrying on
“Lots of people think when Jeff died, so did Toto. True in some ways but… The rest of us left to not play together would not bring Jeff back. We are trying to keep the music alive. I am the only guy that has made every Toto gig and been there from day one, nor have I backed off of trying to keep this thing burnin’.”
Simon Phillips joined as drummer. The band kept going – Kingdom of Desire, Tambu, Mindfields. Luke was writing more of the material, singing more of the songs, and eventually managing the band himself.
“Toto is Dave and Jeff’s band and vision… Yeah, after 4 lead singers and me being with the band from day one, I picked up the ball and ran with it! Someone had to! I have NEVER been or will ever be the ‘leader’ of Toto… but I will take the bull by the balls and try and keep this legacy alive.”
His solo work deepened alongside the band. Candyman (1994). Luke (1997) – a personal record, more open, more direct. And in 1998, a collaboration with one of his own guitar heroes: Larry Carlton.
They recorded live at the Blue Note in Osaka. The resulting album – No Substitutions – won the Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Album in 2002.
“When I was just getting into studio players and wanted that job, Larry was my hero, among many. To be standing here 25 years later on stage with him with awards in our hands, it’s a dream come true.”
Act IV
Full Circle
Falling in Between – Toto returns
Transition album
Mike Porcaro passes away
Toto’s 40th anniversary
Joins Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band
Toto XIV – Top 10 in nine countries
The Gospel According to Luke
The music industry Luke had grown up in was gone. The studios were closing. Around 1994 Luke had moved to his solo career and record production. But Luke was still making records, still touring, still finding new stages.
In 2006, Toto returned with Falling in Between – and the tour ended alongside Boz Scaggs, the artist who’d given Luke his first professional gig five decades ago.
Playing with a Beatle
In 2012, Ringo Starr invited Luke to join his All-Starr Band. He’s performed with Ringo every year since to audiences around the world.
“This is full circle for me. I started playing the guitar the day I saw The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, and now 62 years later I have been so graciously asked to be a part of The Grammy Awards with Ringo alongside playing and being a part of the 50th Anniversary show as well as continuing to this day to be a member of the All-Starr Band.. I am beyond honored.”
Losing Mike
In 2015, while Toto XIV was charting in nine countries – the band’s strongest chart performance since the ’80s – they lost another brother. Mike Porcaro died from ALS. He was fifty-nine.
“To say goodbye to another brother – besides Jeff Porcaro – is excruciatingly hard. And it was not an easy out for him. I don’t know if you’ve ever known anybody with ALS, but it is a cruel disease. It takes somebody very slowly… What can you say about things like this? That anything stupid that may bother me is just meaningless when you realize the bigger picture.”
The Gospel According to Luke
In 2018, Toto’s 40th anniversary year, Luke published his memoir. A global best-seller – raw, funny, honest, and full of stories from behind the studio doors that had never been told.
“We’re still here, man, and I’m proud of that. We’ve taken every punch known to man. We have been running up a vertical glass mountain with butter on our feet for 40 years, hanging on for dear life. In fact, we were the antithesis of that. We came out the same time as the Sex Pistols, and that was a really unfair comparison because we were studio musicians and studied our instruments – since when is knowledge a deficit?”
Act V
And it continues
I Found the Sun Again
Dogz of Oz world tour
500,000+ fans at Toto shows in one year
Bridges – #1 on Billboard
Africa hits 2 billion Spotify streams
In 2023, Bridges became the first album of Luke's solo career to hit number one in the US. The chart was Billboard's New Artist Albums – which, five decades and several thousand sessions in, is either a milestone or a filing error. He'll take it either way. The album featured David Paich, Joseph Williams, Simon Phillips, Lee Sklar – and Luke's eldest son, Trev Lukather – among others.
“I see it as a bridge between my solo music and ToTo Music. The fact that Joseph Williams, David Paich and I wrote most of the record, and the fact I invited many of the old ToTo gang to come and play, co-writers like Stan Lynch and Randy Goodrum brings all this together.”
The Numbers
Dogs of Oz
Led by Luke and Joseph Williams, the current Dogz of Oz lineup is a collection of lifelong friends – world-class players many consider among the very best. The band at this point is about the music, that's it.
In 2025, more than 600,000 fans came out to see them – a number they've never reached in their entire history. The live audience has become a three-generation room: the people who bought the records, the people who grew up on them, and the people finding them right now.
"It’s mind-blowing – is this really happening? We’ve got an audience that never knew about us before. They just go, ‘I like that song,’ without having preconceived ideas about what it is. Today they have a billion choices, and they choose us."
Still Breathing
Over five decades, Steve Lukather has placed an indelible stamp on pop culture – as a session musician, a songwriter, a bandleader, a solo artist, and the only member of Toto who never took a break from it. He’s still touring. Still recording. Still playing like the kid who heard George Harrison bend a note and knew what he wanted to do with his life.
“We’re still here, man.”
Awards & Accolades
Awards & Accolades
Grammy Awards
1982
Best R&B Song
“Turn Your Love Around” (Steve Lukather, Jay Graydon, Bill Champlin — for George Benson)
1982
Producer of the Year
Toto IV
1982
Album of the Year
Toto IV
1982
Record of the Year
Toto IV
2001
Best Pop Instrumental Album
No Substitutions (Larry Carlton & Steve Lukather)
Additional Honours
1999
Edison Award – Lifetime Achievement
Toto (Netherlands)
2009
Musicians Hall of Fame
Toto induction (Nashville, USA)
2010
Eddie Christiani Award
Lifetime Guitar Achievement (Netherlands)
2015
Guitar Player Hall of Fame
Lifetime Achievement Award
5x Guitar Player Magazine “Best Studio Player”