Africa – Toto (piano solo arr. sheet music, Noten, partition, partitura, spartito)
Toto
Best Sheet Music download from our Library.
In 1976, the musical band ‘Toto’ was formed in the city of Los Angeles, in the United States.
It is a musical ensemble that has released songs belonging to various types of musical genres, including jazz, rock, pop, blues, and has even made funk-style music.
In the mid-1970s, Jeff Porcaro, who was studying percussion, and David Paich, who was a pianist, met at the University, specifically at ‘Grant High School’, where they formed a band called ‘Rural Still Life’. ‘.
Please, subscribe to our Library.
If you are already a subscriber, please, check our NEW SCORES’ page every month for new sheet music. THANK YOU!
A few months later, Jeff and David seriously discuss the possibility of forming a professional band, an idea they share with David Hungate, who played bass, and he shows his interest in also taking part in the project. A short time later Steve Lukather and Bobby Kimball would join the band, the latter as vocalist.
In 1978 Toto’s first album was published, entitled ‘Toto’ with the same name, from which the first single called ‘Hold the Line’ was extracted, and which achieved very acceptable results on the bestseller lists, obtaining number 5 in them, and getting close to a million copies sold.
A short time later, the single ‘I’ll Supply the Love’ is released, with which the name of the band crosses the great pond, beginning to be heard in countries like the United Kingdom and France.
That same year the band is nominated for the Grammy Awards, in the category of ‘Best New Band’.
In 1979, the band released their LP called ‘Hydra’, from which a single called ’99’ would be extracted, which would also sell close to a million copies, obtaining the band a Gold Record.
In 1981, the group wanted to give a different musical style to their songs, inspired by the music of the group ‘Pink Floyd’. This fact was not positive for this album, which did not obtain as good marks as previous works had achieved.
His next album was ‘Toto IV’, which is the one that has achieved the best successes, mainly due to the fact that he has experienced different types of music within it. Her single ‘Rosanna’ was highly acclaimed, earning more than 2 million sales, as well as reaching the top 10 on Billboard.
In 1983 the third single from this album was extracted, which bore the name ‘Africa’, which is considered one of the best songs in the history of music.
At the Grammys the following year, the group managed to win 6 awards, something that no one had achieved before. These were ‘Album of the Year’, ‘Record of the Year’, ‘Producer of the Year’, ‘Best Instrumental Arrangement’, ‘Best Vocal Arrangement’ and ‘Best Sound Arrangement’.
Curiously, a year later, Michael Jackson exceeds this number of awards with his album Thriller, of which the band itself makes some arrangements.
In 1984, the band is hired to edit the main song for the Los Angeles Olympic Games and, shortly after, they are hired by David Lynch to compose the soundtrack for the movie ‘Dune’.
The band has collaborated with other renowned musicians, such as Paul McCartney or Eddie Van Halen.
Before the end of the year, Kimball decides to leave the group, due to some quarrels with the rest of the band members. Soon after, Hungate would leave.
The musician Fergie Frederiksen becomes the new member of the band. With it the next album of the group is published, which is given the title of ‘Isolation’, extracting several singles from it, among which it should be noted that the most important is ‘Stranger In Town’.
The group then decides to carry out a tour with their new LP, which they call ‘Isolation Tour’, in 1985.
Due to some problems with his voice, the vocalist Fergie was forced to leave the group in 1986, being replaced by Joseph Williams.
In the same year, 1986, the musical group released a new LP, which bears the title of ‘Fahrenheit’, at the same time that Steve Porcaro communicated to the band that he was leaving the group.
A new album was published in 1988, this one of the pop genre, called ‘The Seventh One’, from which various singles were released, almost all with women’s names.
At that time, Jean-Michel Byron joined the group as vocalist, and Toto released his best album to date. This is ‘Past to Present’, a work that would come out in various formats, video and audio, achieving a Platinum Record, and selling more than 8 million units.
With this album, the group begins a tour of the European continent, acting in practically all the countries of the same.
After the tour, Byron leaves the group by unanimous decision of its components, due to the conflicts that he maintains continuously with the band.
In 1991 and with a new singer, the band performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival, where they were well received.
‘Kingdom of Desire’ is the band’s new title, which they released in 1993, being of the hard rock genre and obtaining resounding success in Europe.
In 1992, Jeff Porcaro died at the age of 38, as a result of inhaling pesticides for the garden, while he was fumigating it. The reaction gave him a heart attack. The band held a macro concert in the city of Los Angeles to pay tribute to him.
Simon Phillips would be the group’s new drummer, replacing the late Porcado. Simon would already contribute to the edition of the band’s new album, which was released in 1995 under the name ‘Tambu y Toto XX’, obtaining great commercial success.
With this album the band goes on tour, performing in various countries in Europe and the United States.
In these years, some members of the band released albums as soloists, obtaining mixed success.
In 1998, the previous vocalist of the group, Kimball, returned to the formation, participating again in the songs of ‘Toto’.
In 1999, former members of the band, such as Steve Porcaro, brother of the late Jeff, and Joseph Williams, together with the now vocalist Bobby Kimball, made a tour that turned out to be a success with the public and fans.
At the beginning of the 21st century, a new album was released, which would bear the name of ‘Through the Looking Glass’, achieving a large number of sales throughout Europe, Asia and Latin America.
After touring in 2002 on the occasion of their 25th anniversary, the band released a new album to be called ‘Live in Amsterdam’.
It was the year 2003 and David Paich, the group’s keyboardist, comments that he has to be absent from the band since he has to attend to a relative of his who was very ill. Greg Phillinganes took his place.
In 2004, as well as practically the entire following year, the band went on a world tour.
In the year 2007, ‘Falling In Between’ is published, a new title of the band which is very well received in the international market. It contains interesting songs, such as one that is very critical of the United States government for the issue of the Iraq War. It’s about the song called ‘No end in sight’.
In the year 2007, Mike Porcaro is diagnosed with a serious illness. It was a lateral sclerosis, although during that year said news would still be kept secret.
In 2008, the band announced that it was separating after 31 years of activity and having released more than a dozen studio albums and four live albums.
In 2009 the band is included in the Hall of Fame.
In 2010, and due to Mike’s illness, the band met again, making a world tour with the aim of raising funds to help the foundation that studies how to cure this disease. During this tour they visited various European countries, performing various concerts and performances.
In 2012, the band confirmed their presence at several festivals that they attended with their current lineup, which are Steve Lukather, Steve Porcaro, Simon Phillips, David Paich and Joseph Williams.