The secret of Toto? It’s more of an idea than a band

Ahead of their Abu Dhabi show, singer Joseph Williams on why hits like Africa and Rosanna are built to last

Toto's Joseph Williams says the band's singers 'have to bring one hundred per cent, every single time'. WireImage

Joseph Williams’s first experience with songwriting was modest, but meaningful.

In 1975, at just 15 years old, the budding musician was asked by his father John Williams – then an emerging Hollywood composer – to contribute a short piece of source music: a song playing on a radio within a scene in The Fury, directed by Brian De Palma.

A few things stand out from that early experience, says Williams, now aged 64. It was the first of many collaborations with a father who would go on to define the sound of modern Hollywood blockbusters such as Star Wars and Indiana Jones.

“The first thing is that my dad was always happy to collaborate if he felt the other person, no matter who it is, could add something of value to it,” Williams tells The National. “Another thing is that he wouldn’t hire you just because you’re related to him. If I wasn’t able to do something he was asking me for, he wouldn’t have come to me in the first place. It’s as simple as that.”

It sparked a creative relationship with his father, including contributions to seminal scores on the Star Wars franchise. Williams wrote the English lyrics for Lapti Nek, the song featured in 1983’s Return of the Jedi, and also voiced several alien characters in 1999’s The Phantom Menace.

With that early experience paving the way for his own acclaimed television scores – including work on Roswell and The Lyon’s Den – Williams is perhaps best known for his nearly four-decade association with Toto, which began in 1986 during a transitional period for the band.

American band Toto, featuring former member Bobby Kimball, at the Park West in Chicago in 1982. Getty Images

Despite the success of their 1982 hit Africa establishing Toto as global stars, the following years were spent in a state of flux. Key members, including vocalists Bobby Kimball and Fergie Frederiksen, and bassist David Hungate, departed at various points. Hungate left midway through the recording of their sixth studio album, 1986's Fahrenheit, during which Williams joined the group.

Even as a familiar face within the band’s entourage, he recalls his entry as less than ideal.

“I was just so excited to be there. The guys in the band were already my friends. I’ve known a lot of them since I was 14 years old – since long before there was a Toto,” he says. “But when I joined, there were really only three songs that were compositionally finished. The main one – which was a big hit – was I’ll Be Over You, which they had already recorded. I wasn’t even on that song. But the rest of the album had to be written and filled in.”

Toto's Steve Lukather at the 2016 Dubai Jazz Festival. Reem Mohammed / The National

One reason for the band’s revolving door of musicians – with guitarist Steve Lukather the only continuous member since co-founding Toto in 1977 – is that the group was always seen more as a collective than a traditional band defined by a single lead singer.

“I think it’s because we view Toto as an idea. It didn’t start out that way, but over the years, there have been so many different incarnations of the band that people started getting used to that happening from time to time,” Williams says.

“There have always been a couple of rules that have to be followed. The musicianship has to be top notch. The singers have to bring one hundred per cent, every single time. And as long as that’s taken care of, people are generally forgiving of the fact that certain members come and go.”

It also allowed the band to creatively stretch out and explore other genres effectively. Africa set the blueprint with its melange of soft rock, world music rhythms, and RnB, while 1978’s swaggering Hold the Line is built on strident rock riffs.

“In the beginning, the critics used to say, ‘we can’t decide what they’re trying to be’. But that’s very much the idea of the band – that it’s not just one particular genre. There are common threads in the way the songs are performed and recorded, but stylistically they range widely,” Williams says. “We had members like David Paich who can write anything, from film scores to pop songs, rock, RnB and Motown. It’s endless. And everyone in the group brings that kind of range to the table. So again, that’s part of the idea.”

That breadth not only helped the band endure, but also led to various resurgences fuelled by streaming and social media platforms. Search for Toto’s Africa, and you’ll find countless reinterpretations – from South African a cappella groups to Norwegian heavy metal bands. Meanwhile, snippets of Rosanna and Hold the Line have become memes for drumming impersonations and reaction videos on social media platforms.

Williams welcomes all of it. Like all good ideas, he says, good songs are built to last, regardless of where they land.

“Every time, you’re going to get well-crafted songs that are thoughtfully written,” he says. “Some of these big songs still sound timeless. They could have been recorded yesterday or decades ago.”

Toto perform at Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. Show starts at 8pm; tickets start from Dh225 ($61)