If you love guitar solos that are both melodic and acrobatic, Toto’s 14 studio albums provide plenty of examples for you to enjoy, courtesy of the rock virtuoso who is Steve Lukather. His two solos on “Rosanna” are among the most admired guitar solos in rock history (incredibly, his solo for the outro jam was recorded in one take!).
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Once you’re done exploring Lukather’s work with Toto, you may be looking for a change of pace. Fortunately, he has played on countless sessions with other artists, and he often performed solos on those gigs. The following six songs brought Lukather’s brilliant soloing to an even larger audience, as each was a hit single, either on Billboard’s Hot 100 or on the Mainstream Rock chart. So grab your guitars (real or air versions), and good luck with playing along!
1. The Tubes, “Talk to Ya Later”
Imagine being in a band that’s about to put the finishing touches on an album and finding out that a guitarist from another band was brought in to write some “single” material with the lead singer and producer. Not only that, but then the track was cut with only the drummer added to the songwriting trio.
That’s what happened with the Tubes’ 1981 album, The Completion Backward Principle, and more specifically, “Talk to Ya Later.” Lukather was the outside guitarist who was brought in to help write the song and play the parts that would have otherwise been performed by The Tubes’ guitarists Bill Spooner and Roger Steen along with bassist Rick Anderson. Lukather actually kicked off the songwriting process when he came up with the song’s memorable riff. He is also responsible for both of the guitar solos—the one before the final chorus and the one that brings “Talk to Ya Later” to its conclusion.
2. Olivia Newton-John, “Physical”
Lukather played a couple of solos on what was not only the biggest hit of Newton-John’s career, but also the No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 for the entire year of 1982. John Farrar—Newton-John’s longtime producer and collaborator—plays the rest of the song’s guitar parts, but it’s Lukather setting the stage for the final chorus and bringing the song to its conclusion.
The song also includes former Toto bassist David Hungate and frequent Toto contributor Lenny Castro on percussion. Lukather made another contribution to the Physical album’s 2021 deluxe edition, having co-written “Take a Chance” with Newton-John and David Foster; that track previously appeared on the soundtrack for the 1983 film Two of a Kind. (Side note: That video, though!)
[RELATED: The Story Behind Olivia Newton-John’s Favorite Song “I Honestly Love You”]
3. Richard Marx, “Nothin’ You Can Do About It”
Lukather appeared on three of Marx’s albums, and the first of those was his sophomore effort, Repeat Offender. “Nothin’ You Can Do About It” leads off that album, and was the fourth single to come from the 1989 release. Lukather provides the song’s hard-driving bluesy riff, as well as a couple of solos. Listen closely to the fadeout, as he saves some of his nastiest runs for the latter part of the outro.
4. Lionel Richie, “Running with the Night”
This may be Lukather’s most impressive solo ever (with apologies to “Rosanna”), because the melodic shredding you hear on the final recording is him warming up. Lukather was playing along to the instrumental tracks, unaware that he was being recorded. The song also brings Lukather together with another frequent collaborator, as Toto’s Jeff Porcaro played drums on the track.
5. Don Henley, “Dirty Laundry”
Lukather is one of three legendary guitarists to play on “Dirty Laundry,” with session whiz Danny Kortchmar handling the rhythm guitar duties and Henley’s former Eagles bandmate Joe Walsh taking a solo just over two minutes into the song.
Lukather’s 45-second solo comes before the outro, so, mercifully, there is no fadeout. He leaves a lot of space in this solo, though he manages to get a ferocious run in before wrapping it up. This song is yet another reunion for Lukather with his Toto colleagues, with Jeff Porcaro on drums and Jeff’s younger brother Steve Porcaro providing the telegraph-like pulse on synthesizer.
6. Boz Scaggs, “Breakdown Dead Ahead”
Scaggs provided Lukather with one of his first high-profile session gigs when he used him for his 1977 album Down Two Then Left. (Lukather’s solo on that album’s “A Clue” also ranks as one of his greatest and is worth a listen.)
But Lukather played an even bigger role on Scaggs’ 1980 follow-up, Middle Man, playing on all but one of the album’s nine tracks and soloing on three of them. One of the songs featuring a Lukather solo is the lead single, “Breakdown Dead Ahead,” which peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100. In addition to his solo, Lukather is credited with rhythm guitar on the track, as is Scaggs and Ray Parker Jr. (yes, of “Ghostbusters” fame).
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