Five For Friday: Steve Lukather (One Guy, Multiple Acts)

Five For Friday 1 Minute

Steve Lukather is best known as the lead guitarist for the band Toto, but he’s done a lot of side projects besides that as well as a few solo albums. Here’s a quick five to give you an idea.

  1. Toto, "Rosanna": 1982’s "Rosanna" was Toto’s second Top Ten single, no doubt helped by this video featuring the lovely Cynthia Rhodes. It reached #2 on the Hot 100 and #8 on the Mainstream Rock survey.
  2. Los Lobotomys, "The Bomber": From 1994’s Candyman, which is a Los Lobotomys album in the US and UK, but a Lukather solo album in the rest of the world. "The Bomber" is a medley that was originally done by the James Gang on their 1970 album Rides Again. It was originally comprised of the song "Closet Queen," Ravel’s "Bolero," and Vince Guaraldi’s "Cast Your Fate To The Wind." A distant relative of Ravel got wind of it, and claimed a copyright violation, so it was rather artlessly eliminated from further copies of the album. Lukather’s version ties the first and third songs together seamlessly.
  3. Larry Carlton and Steve Lukather, "Room 335": Larry Carlton invited Lukather to join him on a tour of Japan, and whie their styles are different, the two of them collaborated on several other occasions, maybe because, as this video shows, they had great fun working together. "Room 335" is a Carlton song (Carlton is known as "Mr. 335," a moniker earned by his preference for playing the Gibson ES-335, which he uses here).
  4. Kenny Loggins, "Forever": From Kenny’s fifth solo album, 1985’s Vox Humana. Steve plays the guitar solo.
  5. Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band, "Africa": Steve has toured with Ringo’s All-Starr Band since 2012, and typically does this, "Rosanna," and "Hold The Line" from Toto’s catalog in their shows.

Steve Lukather, your Five For Friday, February 19, 2021.

Published by John Holton

Internet disc jockey, lover of old TV (especially the commercials), inveterate wise guy.

Published

12 thoughts on “Five For Friday: Steve Lukather (One Guy, Multiple Acts)”

  1. Pingback: The First Week That Was Of Lent – The Sound of One Hand Typing

  4. I’m so glad I got to see him. I saw him with Ringo in 2012 at the Ryman. Great musician…he has played on a crazy amount of albums.

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      1. Yea that was the only time I think he was there…plus there is a DVD of it. Joe Walsh popped out and played Rocky Mountain Way….It was Ringo’s 70th birthday.

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  5. We saw Toto at the Mountain Winery a couple years ago and we were sitting close enough that my hubby had an eye to eye moment with Steve Lukather (or at least that’s the way my hubby feels – LOL). I got him an autographed copy of Steve’s book, “The World According To Luke.” I am waiting for him to finish it so I can read it too. He was amazed by how many people/bands Steve’s worked with. FYI I could not access the music. It gave me an error code and said try again later.

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