Steve Porcaro

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Joseph Williams (left) and Steve Porcaro 2013

Steven Maxwell "Steve" Porcaro (born September 2, 1957 in Hartford , Connecticut ) is an American keyboardist , songwriter and film composer . He is a founding member of the California rock band Toto .

biography

Private life

He is the son of Joe Porcaro and the younger brother of Jeff Porcaro and Mike Porcaro and began playing keyboard at the age of five . Porcaro had a long relationship with actress Rosanna Arquette from 1981 . He has been married to Pam Porcaro since 1998. He has two daughters, one of whom is also a musician, and a son.

Career

In 1983 he received several Grammys with Toto . In 1988 he left the group, but also took part in the band's subsequent studio albums. He was a visionary of electronically generated music, which was still in its infancy at the beginning of the 80s. He was the most adventurous musician in the band, but only keyboardist David Paich had an advocate for the use of novel synthesizers and electronic gadgets within the more rock-oriented band . He is considered one of the pioneers in the popular use of the Yamaha CS-80 synthesizer , which he used in most of the songs in the early years of Toto and also in the hit Human Nature he composed for Michael Jackson .

In the following years he devoted himself more to his own projects, especially film music , but worked as a sound designer and keyboard player on all of Toto’s subsequent albums. He was also involved in numerous songs on the album Falling in Between, which was released in February 2006 . He took over the lead vocals for his own compositions Takin 'it back , It's a Feeling , The Little Things and Bend , because in his opinion these songs did not match the voices of his bandmates with the exception of Joseph Williams . Since the reunion in 2010, Porcaro has been on tour again with Toto to support his brother Mike, who had ALS and died on March 15, 2015.

Porcaro became one of the most sought-after keyboard players in Los Angeles , working as a session musician and songwriter. In addition to Michael Jackson, he also worked with Elton John , Rod Stewart and Yes . He also wrote the score for numerous films, including Hope (1997), Head Overhead (2001), My First Mister (2001), No Way Out (Emmett's Mark, 2002) and Nora Roberts - The Wide Sky (2007). Porcaro has twice been named Session Player of the Year by Keyboard Magazine .

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stephen Fortner: Michael Jackson Keyboard Sounds of His Signature Songs Then and Now. Keyboard, September 1, 2009, accessed September 21, 2014 .
personal data
SURNAME Porcaro, Steve
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Porcaro, Steven Maxwell (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American keyboardist, songwriter and film composer
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd September 1957
PLACE OF BIRTH Hartford , Connecticut