Mike Porcaro

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Mike Porcaro at a live concert (2005)

Michael "Mike" Joseph Porcaro (born May 29, 1955 in Hartford , Connecticut , USA ; † March 15, 2015 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American bassist . He was a member of the rock band Toto .

Life

Mike Porcaro, also known by the nicknames Groovemeister and Mr. Time , grew up as the second-born son of his parents Joe and Eileen Porcaro in his birthplace. Music was common in the Porcaro family and Mike quickly began playing drums with his brother Jeff Porcaro . He moved to Los Angeles with his family at the age of eleven and began learning to play bass at the age of twelve. Later he also learned the instruments cello and percussion.

Porcaro played in high school with his brother Jeff and the later Toto founding member David Paich together in a band. In 1976 the band broke up, as Jeff Porcaro and David Paich founded their new band Toto together with Steve Lukather , David Hungate , Bobby Kimball and the third Porcaro brother Steve . Mike didn’t play in Toto’s early years, but worked as a session musician for many well-known names, such as Aretha Franklin , The Pointer Sisters and Michael McDonald . In 1982 he replaced David Hungate as bassist for Toto. By 2006, Mike Porcaro recorded a total of 14 albums with the band and went on all of the concert tours. In recent years he has also increasingly worked on third-party productions, including for Carlos Santana , Ricky Martin and Radioactive , a project by the Swedish rock guitarist Tommy Denander . He also worked on the Toto album Falling In Between , which was released in February 2006.

Although he was actually left-handed , he still played right-handed instruments. He justified this by saying that he was taught that way from the start. On stage he most recently played five-string basses from Peavey and G&L . In 2006 Mike Porcaro suffered an injury to his left hand and also complained of numbness in his fingers; he was therefore replaced by Leland Sklar on the 2007 Falling in Between tour .

On February 27, 2010, the band, which was initially disbanded in 2008, not least because of Porcaro's disease, announced on its official website that Mike Porcaro was terminally ill with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and the band with most of the former members in July 2010 , including Steve Porcaro , are going on a short tour of Europe to support him. Since that tour, which was followed by other appearances, Mike Porcaro has continued to be named as an official member of Toto (and was therefore directly involved in the revenue). However, he was now in a wheelchair and could no longer perform himself. Mike Porcaro died on March 15, 2015, at the age of 59, of complications from his illness at his home in Los Angeles.

Discography (excerpt)

  • 1978: Energy (Pointer Sisters), Live And More (Donna Summer)
  • 1980: Aretha (Aretha Franklin)
  • 1981: Black & White (Pointer Sisters)
  • 1982: If That's What It Takes (Michael McDonald), Toto IV (Toto, cello on Good for You )
  • 1984: Isolation (Toto)
  • 1986: Fahrenheit (Toto)
  • 1988: The Seventh One (Toto)
  • 1990: Past To Present (Toto)
  • 1991: Heart Of Stone (Cher)
  • 1992: Kingdom Of Desire (Toto)
  • 1993: Absolutely Live (Toto)
  • 1995: Tambu (Toto)
  • 1998: XX (Toto), Vuelve (Ricky Martin)
  • 1999: Mindfields (Toto), Livefields (Toto), Supernatural (Santana)
  • 2001: Ceremony Of Innocence (Radioactive)
  • 2002: Through The Looking Glass (Toto)
  • 2003: Live in Amsterdam (Toto), Yeah (Radioactive)
  • 2005: Taken (Radioactive)
  • 2006: Falling In Between (Toto)

Web links

Commons : Mike Porcaro  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Questions and Answers on the official Toto website
  2. ↑ Mike's equipment on the official Toto website
  3. ↑ Leland Sklar to sit in for Mike Porcaro , article from February 27, 2007 on stevelukather.net
  4. ^ Toto tour 2010
  5. ↑ Steve Chawkins: Mike Porcaro dies at 59; bassist played with two brothers in rock band Toto. Obituary in the Los Angeles Times on March 16, 2015 (accessed March 17, 2015).
personal data
SURNAME Porcaro, Mike
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Groovemaster; Mr. Time; Porcaro, Michael Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American bass player for the rock band Toto
DATE OF BIRTH May 29, 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH Hartford , Connecticut , United States
DATE OF DEATH March 15, 2015
Place of death Los Angeles , California , United States