June 25 – Paich Sets The Pace For Toto And More

Top player, top hat? In his case it might seem so. Happy 70^th birthday, David Paich. Paich is one of only two guys who’ve been constants in Toto over it’s nearly 50 year run (Steve Lukather being the other) but there’s a whole lot more to him than “just” that. While many know the names, it’s not always easy putting a face to the Toto members; David is one usually adorned with a big hat.

Born in L.A., it was perhaps no surprise young David should gravitate towards music. His dad Marty was one of the premier musical figures of his generation – a composer, conductor, arranger and great pianist. Marty had worked with the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles and Sammy Davis Jr. and composed scores for films ranging from The Lady & the Tramp to Pretty Woman. He had a particular fondness for jazz, as young David did too. “I grew up with jazz,” he told Classic Rock Bob, “(dad) wrote arrangements for Duke Ellington, who I met when I was eight years old.” By the age of 10, David was leading a band which played weddings.

Though multi-talented, David’s real talent and interest lies with keyboards, ranging from traditional pianos through any type of synth you could think of with everything in between – organs, clavinets, harpsichords even.

He quickly got work as a session musician in L.A. during the ’70s and began writing songs as well. By 1974, Glen Campbell had recorded one of his tunes (“Houston”), but he really came to the forefront with Boz Scaggs on his massive 1976 album Silk Degrees. Paich was an integral part of that six million-selling album, playing all the keyboards and co-writing almost all the songs on it including the hits “Lido Shuffle” and “Lowdown.” The latter won Paich his first Grammy, for Best R&B Song. He’s won five more since with Toto.

There was never a shortage of session work for him, with artists like Campbell, Seals & Crofts, Cher but presumably he began to have two new thoughts. One, that he obviously was a talent and could write a hit song, and two, that he seemed to run into the same group of equally-talented session musicians all the time in the California studios, chief among them guitarist Lukather. They decided to add in David Hungate, Bobby Kimball and Steve Porcaro and form their own band, Toto. Their 1978 debut album went double-platinum in the U.S. as well as Canada and contained the hit “Hold the Line”, which he wrote … as he did seven of the other nine songs on it. Since then they’ve put out 13 more albums, one of them topping five million in sales (Toto IV) and hit the American top 40 with ten songs including ones he wrote or co-wrote like “99” “Rosanna” and of course, their signature song “Africa” which he also sang lead on.

“I’d seen some movies and read a lot of National Geographics,” he told Songfacts, “and always romanticized this story about a social worker that goes over there and falls in love with working with the (continent) and doing good and has to choose between helping people for the rest of his life and having a family” back home. He added it was “a little metaphor involved here because … I was so immersed in my work, 24/7, that at times I felt like I was becoming just a victim.”

Indeed he was immersed. Not only were Toto massively successful, the number of calls for him to work on other albums increased, with artists like Don Henley coming calling. And one job that sold far better than even Toto – Thriller.

“Michael (Jackson) was very involved and he’s a professional,” he says, “We miss him dearly.” During the sessions for the megahit, he says it was like some other sessions in some ways. “You’d see a lot of your colleagues and peers out in the hallway. But Quincy Jones was at the helm and he’s a master producer.” Though Jackson was interested in every detail, he says the singer let him improvise. “Just think of Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel. Do whatever you need to do here, the sky’s the limit.”

It’s an attitude Paich carries over with him to the studio when he produces other artists. “It’s try to let the artist come through… don’t worry about the budget and don’t worry about the clock ticking.”

He put out a solo album, Forgotten Toys, in 2022, a decently-reviewed record of songs he had lying around from the Toto days. He learned a thing or three from all that session work it seems; among the session musicians on it are Eno, Don Felder, Ray Parker Jr., Mel Torme’s son James, Steve Jordan and his bandmates from Toto. “A lot of them live near me and we’ve all been friends for years, so anytime anybody picks up the phone to anybody, we’re happy to do it” he explains. Also appearing on it, his 30-something daughter Elizabeth, who added vocals to his song “The First Time” without him knowing… she just approached his co-producer and did it. “It traumatized me at first, like ‘what are you doing to my song?!’ But then I heard it and it filled me with tears.”

He says he might put out another, he still has lots of unrecorded material but adds he’s “methodical and a perfectionist. Sometimes too much”. He’s still considered a member of Toto, and has appeared on all their records, but while touring in 2018, he had a seizure which has impacted his health somewhat so he tends to only make occasional brief appearances with them on the rare occasions they do play live now. All the better to catch up with his wife of 40 years, Lorraine, presumably.

Asked what work he was most proud of, oddly he doesn’t respond with “Africa” or Toto Grammy winners, nor Boz Scaggs’ record nor Thriller. It’s “Got to Be Real” by Cheryl Lynn, which he produced with his father Marty. Who knows, maybe thirty years from now someone will be talking about a third generation hit-maker Paich and asking Elizabeth what she is most proud of.