Joe Porcaro obit

Joe Porcaro, Drummer and Father to Toto’s Steve, Jeff and Mike Porcaro, Dies at 90

Porcaro performed on scores of albums for the likes of Madonna, Boz Scaggs, Glen Campbell, Pink Floyd and Barbra Streisand.

 He was not on the list.

Joe Porcaro, the acclaimed jazz drummer and percussionist whose sons Steve, Jeff and Mike Porcaro co-founded Toto, died Monday at the age of 90.

Over a decades-long career, Porcaro performed on scores of albums for the likes of Madonna, Boz Scaggs, Glen Campbell and Barbra Streisand, and cut a string of records with Rosemary Clooney and Lalo Schifrin.

Porcaro’s musical talents clearly rubbed off on his boys, who repaid their gifts by inviting their dad to guest on several of their albums in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

The late artist contributed percussion for Toto’s iconic 1982 album Toto IV, which scored six Grammy Awards and yielded the classics “Africa” and “Rosanna”. Indeed, it was Joe who performed the bass marimba part on “Africa,” the California rock band’s signature song.

Steve Porcaro announced his father’s passing. “The Porcaro Family is heartbroken to announce the passing of our beloved Patriarch, Joe Porcaro. Surrounded by his wife Eileen and his family, Joe passed peacefully in his sleep on July 6 at 11:37 PM,” he wrote in a Facebook post.

“Please allow a few days before reaching out with phone calls and texts. Given the enormous amount of people who Joe considered family and whose lives Joe has impacted, it would be overwhelming to respond just now. Please know that we so appreciate your love, thoughts, friendship and can’t wait to celebrate his amazing life with all of you.”

The Porcaro patriarch outlived two of his sons. Jeff, Toto’s drummer, died in 1992 (aged 38). And Mike, the band’s bass player, passed in 2015 (aged 59).

Porcaro recorded with Natalie Cole, Don Ellis, Stan Getz, Freddie Hubbard, Gladys Knight, Madonna, The Monkees, Gerry Mulligan, Pink Floyd, Howard Roberts, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra, and Sarah Vaughan. He performed film scores with James Newton Howard, John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner, Danny Elfman, John Frizzell and his son Steve Porcaro. With educator and drummer Ralph Humphrey, he was one of the founders of the Los Angeles Music Academy (LAMA) in Pasadena, California, which is now called the Los Angeles College of Music (LACM). Porcaro led a group with Emil Richards, a native of Hartford who played vibraphone and collected percussion instruments from around the world.