Steve Lukather
Steven Lee Lukather , usually short Steve Lukather (born October 21, 1957 in the San Fernando Valley , Los Angeles ), is an American guitarist , studio musician , singer, arranger and founding member of the band Toto and a globally successful solo artist.
Life
He learned the instruments of guitar and piano as a child and after two years of studying guitar with Jimmy Wyble, he quickly established himself in the session scene in the LA studios. When he was just under 20, he founded the band Toto with his high school friends and became world-famous on their albums, primarily through his solos. However, his fame is also based on his many years of session activity as a guitarist for numerous other well-known artists. Lukather has now played on over 1000 recordings for musicians such as Michael Jackson , Elton John, Eric Clapton , Paul McCartney , The Tubes , Joe Cocker , Boz Scaggs , Brothers Johnson , Chicago . In total, it can be heard on more than 500 million records sold.
For his instrumental album No Substitutions in rock / jazz / fusion style, which he recorded in Japan with Larry Carlton , he received one of his numerous Grammys in 2002 .
Steve Lukather is divorced twice and is a father of four. He has a daughter Lily Rose and a son Bodhi William from his second marriage to Shawn Batten and a daughter Tina and a son Trevor from his first marriage to Marie Currie .
Musical career
In addition to a few other projects, Lukather's music career took place mainly as a session musician and as part of Toto, Los Lobotomys and his solo project. In total, Lukather is mentioned as a contributor on over 500 music albums, released 17 albums with Toto, five with Los Lobotomys and six in his solo project.
Musical role models
In addition to Jeff Beck , with whom he recorded an unreleased album, he names Jay Graydon, Larry Carlton , Dean Parks, Ray Parker Jr., Lee Ritenour as role models among the studio musicians and Jimi Hendrix , Al Di Meola , Eric as general role models Clapton , Jimmy Page and George Harrison . His solo in I Saw Her Standing There on a TV appearance by the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 was the reason why he began to learn guitar. He covered the song Freedom by Jimi Hendrix on his album Candyman . The same album also features a cover version of the James Gang song The Bomber . On the 1990 Past-to-Present tour of his band Toto, he played the Hendrix song Little Wing as a tribute solo. Since then, he has occasionally sprinkled this song at Toto concerts. Since 2015 Lukather has also played Little Wing or While my guitar gently weeps as tributes with Toto .
Toto
In 1977 Lukather was involved in the founding of the rock band Toto , in which he took over the guitar and vocals until it was dissolved in 2008 , and since Jeff Porcaro's death in 1992 he has held the unofficial position of band leader . At the beginning of June 2008 Lukather temporarily left Toto; that also meant the temporary end of the band. In early 2010, the band announced that they would go on tour again to financially support Mike Porcaro , who suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and who eventually died in 2015 . From 2010 to 2012 Steve Lukather gave concerts with Toto in Europe and Japan as well as North and South America. As announced in summer 2012, Steve Lukather was still on tour with Toto. In October 2019 the band played their last concert of the North America Tour 2019 as part of the 40 Trips Around The Sun Tour. Steve Lukather then announced that this would be Toto’s last appearance in the line-up of Paich, Porcaro, Williams and Lukather.
Los Lobotomys
The music project Los Lobotomys was founded in 1985 as a "Fun Band" in Los Angeles. Over the years, top studio musicians such as David Garfield , Steve Lukather, Jeff Porcaro , Michael Landau , Chris Brandon Fields , Joe Sample and Will Lee have found a common platform in this band to primarily celebrate top-class instrumental music. In 1994 Los Lobotomys played in the line-up of Steve Lukather (guitar and vocals), David Garfield (keyboards), John Pena (bass) and Simon Phillips (drums) as a band on Steve Lukathers solo project Candyman and the subsequent world tour. In 2004 there was a falling out between the musicians, as Garfield and Pena, against the wishes of Lukather and Phillips, released live material from 1994 as an official bootleg . According to Lukather, Los Lobotomys will no longer exist in this form.
Solo projects
- Lukather (1989)
- Candyman (1994, appeared solo in Europe as Lukather, in the USA as Los Lobotomys ) Columbia / Sony Music,
- Luke (1997) Columbia / Sony Music,
- No Substitutions with Larry Carlton (2001) Favored Nations / Zomba Records,
- SantaMental (2003),
- Ever Changing Times (2008),
- All's Well That Ends Well (Mascot Records) 2010.
- Transition (Mascot Records) 2013.
Instruments and technology
At the beginning of his career, Lukather often played Gibson Les Paul guitars . In the early 1980s he played guitars made by the Japanese company Ibanez . From the mid-80s he received his own signature guitar model from the then independent company Valley Arts from North Hollywood. It was based on the "Custom Pro" model, a classic Super Strat with Floyd Rose tremolo and HSS ( humbucker / single coil / single coil) pickups from EMG (E85 / SA / SA). Since 1994 he has been playing his own guitar model called Luke from Music Man . Initially also with Floyd Rose tremolo, later with the Music Man Vintage tremolo with locking mechanisms. Until 2010 he continued to use EMG series pickups in the bridge and middle position. Only in the neck position did he use a single-coil pickup from EMG that he had developed . This enables him to produce typically "hollow" Strat sounds, as was the case with Jimi Hendrix . Since 2011 he has been working on a new "Luke" III model, which appeared in 2012. The electro-acoustic guitar of his choice has been a Yamaha since 2009 . Lukather runs a three-channel amplifier setup, i.e. the dry signal from his amplifier in the middle (without effects), the mixed effects on the left and right (stereo). The three channels each run through a 2x12 "Custom Audio Electronics loudspeaker box. Its amplifier is a Custom Audio Electronics Preamp (CAE 3+) in conjunction with a VHT Classic Power amplifier.
In 2014 Lukather played over amplifiers and speakers from Bogner Amplification , two amplifiers with one speaker each in stereo. Initially, 2 Bogner Ecstasy 101b were used. In 2015 a third 101b was added to protect against previous problems with the tubes. From 2018, Bogner Helios 100 tops were used. According to Lukather, these sound more like the Marshall amplifiers he used in the past and, since the Helios 100 only has one channel, are easier to use.
Discography
Steve Lukather
- 1989: Lukather (album)
- 1994: Candyman (also to be found under the artist Los Lobotomys )
- 1997: Luke
- 2008: Ever Changing Times
- 2010: All's Well That Ends Well
- 2013: transition
Steve Lukather and Edgar Winter Live Album
- 2010: An Odd Couple Live
Steve Lukather and El Grupo Live Album
- 2005: El Grupo Live
Steve Lukather and Friends album
- 2003: Santamental
Steve Lukather and Larry Carlton album
- 2001: No Substitutions
- 2016: At Blue Note Tokyo (Live Album)
Steve Lukather and Larry Carlton Live DVD
- 2005: The Paris Concert
Steve Lukather, Carlos Santana and Beck
- 1986: Lotus Gem
Awards (as a solo artist)
| year | Org. | Award | title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Grammy Award | Best Rhythm & Blues Song | Turn Your Love Around * (Artist: George Benson ) |
| 2002 | Grammy Award | Best Pop Instrumental Album | No Substitutions: Live in Osaka ( Larry Carlton & Steve Lukather) |
| 2010 | Eddy Christiani Award | Lifetime achievement guitar award, Holland |
* as songwriter with Jay Graydon and Bill Champlin .
There are also numerous awards for / with Toto .
Individual evidence
- ↑ stevelukather.net - Statement on the dissolution of the band
- ↑ Corey Irwin: Steve Lukather Says Toto Are 'Calling It a Day'. Retrieved April 20, 2020 (English).
- ↑ stevelukather.com: Gear
literature
- Frank Laufenberg, Ingrid Laufenberg: Frank Laufenberg's hit lexicon of rock and pop. Ullstein Taschenbuch, 2002, ISBN 3-548-36362-8
- Christian Graf, Burghard Rausch: Rock Music Lexicon America, Africa, Asia, Australia. Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt 2003, ISBN 3-596-15869-9
Web links
- Literature by and about Steve Lukather in the catalog of the German National Library
- Homepage with extensive discography
- Official Toto homepage
- Steve Lukather at Discogs
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Lukather, Steve |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Lukather, Steven Lee (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American guitarist and singer at Toto |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 21, 1957 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | San Fernando Valley , Los Angeles |