Background and career
Steven Maxwell Porcaro (born September 2, 1957) is an American keyboardist, synth programmer, songwriter, film & television composer, and founding member of the rock band Toto, which he founded with his brother, drummer Jeff Porcaro, and later included their brother Mike Porcaro on bass. He has won three Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year for "Rosanna" and Album of the Year for Toto IV, and three nominations. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the Porcaro brothers were in constant demand as session musicians, appearing on records for artists including Steely Dan, Don Henley, Chicago, Earth, Wind & Fire, Boz Scaggs, Seals and Croft, Warren Zevon, Paul Simon, Yes, and Pink Floyd. He was also a member of Chris Squire's short-lived band, The Chris Squire Experiment, in 1992.
Porcaro was born in Connecticut. Like his brothers Jeff and Mike Porcaro, Steve started out as a drummer under the tutelage of his father, legendary jazz drummer and educator Joe Porcaro, who played with Frank Sinatra, Stan Getz, Rosemary Clooney, Marvin Gaye, and Madonna and played on hundreds of TV and film scores including: The Wild Bunch, Edward Scissorhands, Dances With Wolves and I Dream of Jeannie. Joe went on to create The Percussion Institute of Technology and later the drum department at the Los Angeles Music Academy. In 1967, his father bought him an organ made by Rheem. Later his father took him to the Guitar Center to trade in the keyboard for a Farfisa with a Leslie 147 and preamp, which Porcaro called his "first real rig".
Porcaro's career as a touring musician began at the age of 17, playing with Gary Wright on the 1975–76 tour in support of his album, The Dream Weaver. The following year, he joined Boz Scaggs' Silk Degrees tour, along with his brothers Jeff and Mike, future Toto bandmates David Paich and David Hungate, and later Steve Lukather and Lenny Castro.
In 1978, Columbia Records released Toto's self-titled debut. The band would go on to become one of the best-selling bands of the era and achieve successful singles such as "Africa", "Rosanna", and "Hold the Line". Their album Toto IV has been certified quadruple platinum in the United States. Porcaro wrote or co-wrote one track on each of Toto's first six albums except for Isolation. The title of the song "Rosanna" was inspired by Porcaro's then girlfriend, actress Rosanna Arquette. Though she did not directly inspire the song's lyrics, her name fit the song perfectly as described by the song's writer, David Paich, on HBO's Music Box: Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary. In 1984, Toto composed music for David Lynch's Dune. In 1987, Porcaro left the band to focus on songwriting and scoring, although he accompanied them on their 1988 The Seventh One tour and continued working with them in various capacities, assisting with keyboards, synthesizers, and programming on all the band's albums following his departure.
After his departure from Toto, Porcaro composed music and arranged orchestration for such film/TV as Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money, Eddie Murphy's Metro, and Jackie Chan's The Medallion. He also developed music for the television series Justified. He wrote the song "Human Nature", which appeared on Michael Jackson's Thriller album. The demo of "Human Nature" was sent to Quincy Jones via a cassette tape, which also included a few songs written by Paich. Jones was fielding material from various composers to consider for Thriller and elected to present "Human Nature" to Jackson. Porcaro said that he did not intend for Jones to hear his demo of "Human Nature" and explained that he placed the track on the back of the cassette as he lacked any other tapes to store the song. From 1982 to 2009, he composed or co-wrote many other songs for Jackson, including "Chicago 1945", "Dream Away", and "For All Time". In 2024, Porcaro sold the rights to all his music to the estate of Michael Jackson and publisher Primary Wave. In the early 2010s, he had surgery to remove a benign brain tumor, which resulted in him becoming deaf in his left ear. In 2010, Porcaro returned to play with Toto at live performances when they reformed for a tour in Europe to support Mike Porcaro, who was suffering from ALS. He performed on the band's 2015 studio album Toto XIV, co-writing and singing lead on "The Little Things" and co-writing/singing lead on the Japan-only bonus cut, "Bend". When the band dissolved in 2019 and regrouped in 2020, Porcaro did not return. In 2018, indie rock band Weezer covered Toto's "Africa", which was prompted by a fan campaign. Porcaro joined the band onstage for a performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. In 2024, Porcaro appeared on HBO Original documentary Music Box: Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary.
Steve released his first ever solo album on June 10, 2016. Someday/Somehow was co-written/produced by Michael Sherwood, former member of the band Lodgic. The album contains 13 songs, one of which reunites Steve with his late brothers Mike and Jeff Porcaro, from recordings made before their deaths. Other performing contributions are from Sherwood, Michael McDonald, Jamie Kimmett, Mabvuto Carpenter, Marc Bonilla, Steve Lukather, Lenny Castro, Jimmy Haun, and Shannon Forrest. Steve announced his second solo album, The Very Day, on July 3, 2025. It was released on October 3, 2025. It features many collaborators from his last album.
