Happy birthday to Steve Lukather!
Toto founding member Lukather is one of the most prolific session players alive, clocking up a staggering number of album credits to his name (over 1,500!) The multiple Grammy-winning guitarist has contributed to a vast number of works spanning genres and styles from pop to hard rock, and for several years has toured with Beatles drummer Ringo Starr in the All-Starr Band supergroup.
As well as being one of the most in-demand guitar players around, Lukather is a successful artist in his own right having recorded 8 solo albums to date, including this year’s I Found the Sun Again (featuring Ringo Starr on drums.)
Lukather was awestruck by the Beatles at an early age when teaching himself to play on a Kay acoustic guitar. Recalling his first encounter with the Meet the Beatles! album the guitarist said, "The sound of it overcame my whole soul, if you want to call it that. I knew that's what I wanted to do. I remember George Harrison played a solo in “I Saw Her Standing There” and just the sound of the guitar bending and the reverb struck a nerve inside of me."
Lukather later paid homage to George Harrison, recording “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” for Toto’s 2002 covers album Through the Looking Glass. And in this clip, the guitarist lets rip with an impassioned electric guitar solo as he performs the number live with Toto – the close-up shot allowing us to view his incredible technique at close quarters.
Check out the awesome Steve Lukather Collection at Ernie Ball Music Man here.
“We worked out a big, long harmonized guitar solo. It’s my little homage to Thin Lizzy.” Foo Fighter Chris Shiflett on his new solo album Lost at Sea and why he's happy to not be the loudest guitarist in the room
“I had a gold Klon but I lost it in Hurricane Katrina...” Blues supremo Eric Johanson on being both a Metallica and Jack White fanboy and why he’s into tone as much as music
