Little known facts about the band Toto

Toto is an American musical group performing progressive rock, pop rock, hard rock and soft rock. The Californian band is widely known all over the world for such hits as "Hold the Line", "Rosanna" and "Africa"... And it all started in 1977, when a group of old friends from Ulysses S. Grant High School in Los Angeles began recording an album together. Grant High School in Los Angeles began recording an album together. Over the decades, the band has become a huge commercial success! However, in recent years it is starting to be forgotten... But Toto's music is important in the music industry (more than 40 million copies of their records have been sold worldwide for a reason!) The tragic death of members and brothers Mike and Jeff Pocaro led to many changes in the band: Toto broke up in 2008, reformed in 2010 and soon took a break. But their popularity as a band persists! Today we will recall the most interesting and little-known facts related to this marvellous band...

The band's legendary hit song "Africa" plays constantly in a secret desert location...

In 2019, Namibian artist Max Ziedentopf created a sound installation that incorporates solar panels to play Toto's popular song "Africa" endlessly.

He placed this unusual six-speaker system in a secret location in the Namib Desert, the oldest desert in the world... Siedentopf himself commented as follows:

"I wanted to pay homage to this song. Some people like it, and some people say it's probably the worst sound installation ever... But I think it's a great compliment to the band!"

Toto wrote the soundtrack to the film Dune.

Yes, yes! Toto is the band behind the symphonic rock soundtrack of the 1984 film "Dune"! With the exception of one Brian Eno song, the band recorded all the notes for this cult sci-fi classic... By the way: the band recorded with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the People's Choir. It seems to be a really beautiful, melodic addition to David Lynch's fantastic masterpiece...

The members of Toto play on Michael Jackson's iconic album Thriller...

There's probably no point in saying that Michael Jackson's Thriller was one of the best-selling albums of all time... When it was released in 1982, it instantly broke all records! Thriller stayed at the top of the chart for 37 weeks! Today, the album never fails to occupy prestigious places in lists and rankings, inspiring a new generation of artists...

But did you know that it was Toto who play (or at least are present) in almost every track from Thriller? For example, Steve Porcaro co-wrote "Human Nature" with Jackson, and Jeff Porcaro and Steve Lukather played guitar and drums on Beat It and The Girl Is Mine....

Among Toto's soloists was John Williams' son!

Joseph Williams is far from the first name that comes to mind when mentioning Toto: he didn't feature in any of the band's most famous hits... However, the son of composer John Williams became the lead vocalist of Toto's sixth and seventh albums! You can hear him on the song "Stop Loving You"... Later, in 2015, he also returned as lead singer for the Toto XIV album. By the way: John Towner Williams, Joseph's father - wrote the soundtracks for the iconic Star Wars, Jaws, Superman and many other blockbusters!

Toto claim to be the only band to turn down the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.....

And it's true! The band has never been on the cover of the influential Rolling Stone magazine. Why not? Let's hear from the band themselves:

"We're the only band in history to turn down the cover of Rolling Stone," Steve Lukather once told the St Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper. "We knew they were going to do away with us, stomp us into the dust...," he added.

Unfortunately, despite great commercial success and influence, Toto often struggled with poor reviews and scorn from the press...

Prior to their success in the film Dirty Dancing, Patrick Swayze and Cynthia Rhodes starred in the music video for the track "Rosanna"...

Today, watching the music video for the wonderful 80's hit "Rosanna", you obviously won't have a problem recognising the famous icon of the film "Dirty Dancing" - Cynthia Rhodes in the main character! Later this actress also gained fame in the film "Staying Alive", but that's another story....

As for Patrick Swayze, he is less notable in the clip: the legendary artiste is one of the backup dancers. Like Rhodes, in addition to Dirty Dancing, he would later also become famous for the 1990 film Ghost...

The rivalry between the brothers caused havoc in the early years of the band's...

Brothers Steve and Jeff Porcaro were the originators of the band, with their brother Mike not officially joining the line-up until 1982. The trio later stated that in the early days of the band, they often struggled with rivalries and quarrels amongst themselves...

"I felt underappreciated in the beginning," Steve once told Classic Rock in a 2015 interview. "Jeff and I were always fighting with each other... We literally bumped heads! He was such a perfectionist... Mike, on the other hand, got along with both of us. It's an amazing character trait of his..."

Toto regrouped to support former member with ALS...

Toto's bassist, Mike Porcaro, left the band in 2007 due to weak fingers. He was later diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neuromuscular disease. Toto broke up in 2008, but then regrouped for a 2010 European tour to raise funds for Mike and raise awareness of his illness. After an eight-year battle with the disease, Mike Porcaro passed away in 2015 ....

The Toto XIV album was recorded specifically to cover legal fees after the Sony litigation...

In 2008, Toto sued their record label Sony, revealing unpaid royalties. In response, Sony countersued, claiming that the band owed them overpaid royalties. After an expensive and lengthy trial, a judge ruled in 2015 that Sony did not owe Toto any money. The band was forced to record the album Toto XIV to compensate for the legal fees.

They named their band after their dog Dorothy

Jeff Porcaro watched The Wizard of Oz before the band started recording in 1977... He chose the name of his faithful puppy Dorothy as the unofficial name for the new band. As a result, the name caught on, especially after guitarist David Hungate pointed out that "Toto" is a Latin word meaning "all-encompassing". The band felt that the name was a perfect fit for its versatile musical talent...