Sort of sad seeing my old heroes in Toto behaving like this.
From Rick Goings -
Regarding TOTO/Lukather - It’s time for me to share the truth.
Jeff Porcaro is not here to defend his interests, nor defend his wife. But, I am. He would be furious with Steve Lukather using his celebrity status to make false, defamatory attacks against Susan.
When Jeff tragically died in 1992, Susan, his widow, stopped everything in order to care for their three small children. The youngest was only 7 months old. Leaving behind her successful time as an ABC broadcast journalist in Los Angeles and as Mayor ProTem of an important Los Angeles city, she moved back to Florida, where she was raised. Her family helped fill the void of the boys growing up without their father.
Susan’s friends tell me her only focus was their boys. After a couple of years they encouraged her to date, but she refused. Finally, after five years, she went on her first date, with me. When we married not only did I get a wonderful wife, but I also got three amazing sons. I also knew that Jeff would be a part of our lives, because it was important to both Susan and me that he always be a part of his son’s lives.
Over the last 20 years I’ve observed Susan’s flawless character and selfless contributions to making the world a better place ... over and over again.
~ Whether traveling to countries representing the large global company where I was CEO, with the United Nations on issues regarding women and children, working with the Boys & Girls Clubs, or the Jeff Porcaro Foundation, she ALWAYS gave her all to help others. Visit ChainofConfidence.com to see her draw out stories from amazing women from all around the world, all of which she did as a volunteer.
~ Recently we co-founded the World Federation of Youth Clubs. After my years as a Board Member and Chairman of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, it was Susan who had the inspiration to create an international movement to help children. Today, there are clubs in 19 countries.
Susan has had a positive impact on so many people, but that is not the purpose of my writing. It’s to set the record straight about Lukather, and his ongoing, troubling, cruel and entirely unjustified attacks on this special, giving woman.
TOTO has been on tour for three long years. Now, blaming Susan for stopping the tour is simply ridiculous, not based on any truth. It’s all a fabrication of Lukather’s lies, and and she and our sons are the one’s suffering.
Over the years Jeff’s and Susan’s true friends have been there for her and the boys. They have frequently visited with us, including their well-known musician friends. Those warm friendships have continued for decades, and I have grown to love them, too. Like me, they are distressed by Lukather’s viciousness, although as observers for many years we are not surprised.
The first time I met Lukather was at Mike Porcaro’s house. Mike was still healthy then, before ALS took this gentle, talented, loving man. Lukather gave each of our boys a high-five and said, (please forgive this disrespectful, derogatory term) “Hey ********s...how are you?” The boys were 12, 11, and 6 years old. My initial thought was to say something to Lukather, but Mike had already warned me that he was often an embarrassment, so I said nothing.
As the years went by, Susan had the responsibility of protecting Jeff’s interests, as I was busy with my work and had little interest in TOTO’s business. She thought things were going smoothly, since David Paich and Lukather were still part of TOTO. She trusted and believed that between them and their managers, Jeff’s interests were in safe hands. She didn’t realize that for years these men who had been Jeff’s best friends and claimed him as their “brother”, had systematically taken advantage of her trusting nature and diverted income that was rightfully Jeff’s, to their own accounts.
Like so many who loved him, Mike’s illness hit Susan hard, especially because following Jeff’s death Mike had embraced their sons. They spent a lot of time with Uncle Mike and his family. Susan visited Mike frequently and did what was possible to help him and his family.
A few months before Mike died he told Susan some alarming things about TOTO. He had heard about a TOTO-Sony lawsuit that he and Susan were named in, without their knowledge. No one in TOTO, or their management, had ever notified Mike or Susan, until TOTO lost the lawsuit and Sony wanted money for their legal fees. Mike suspected something underhanded was going on. Susan promised Mike she would look into it for him, Jeff, and their families.
I suggested Susan simply ask for details from Paich, Lukather, and their representatives. Despite repeated requests, there were no answers. Eventually, a highly respected musician who also knew the business side of music, put Susan in touch with experts who had experience with these types of issues. For over two years they tried to work amicably with TOTO’s members and representatives to hopefully resolve these issues quietly. Continually, they were blocked and stalled.
It’s important to note that there are only two “real TOTO members”, Lukather and Paich, because they never made Steve Porcaro an official member of the band again. For all these years he’s only been a hired musician like the others who tour with the band.
Despite the band’s stonewalling, a number of additional alarming actions were uncovered. The first was that TOTO claimed that Jeff had relinquished his shares in TOTO’s corporation in 1994 — TWO YEARS AFTER HE DIED. Obviously impossible.
That revelation made it even more important to find out what was REALLY GOING ON. The only way to learn the truth was to file suit on Jeff’s behalf. Susan was very reluctant, because she didn’t want to be involved in a lawsuit or do anything that would hurt TOTO. This was never about money, but about protecting what Jeff had co-created and loved. It was about protecting his legacy.
Despite what Lukather is now claiming, the truth is that they never even went to court. There was a one-day mediation where the evidence against the band was so obvious that finally TOTO had no choice but to settle in a manner consistent with Susan’s original claims.
I attended the mediation as an observer. Unfortunately I had to leave early, and missed Lukather’s volatile outburst, shouting at Susan using vile language and vile gestures. The good news is that during mediation Susan was also able to look out for Mike’s interests. She tried to do the same for Steve Porcaro, but they refused.
Now, Lukather is trying to tarnish Jeff’s widow’s name. He continues his bizarre, cruel behavior spewing lies about her in interviews and blogs. No wonder TOTO Corp. has had “countless” unsuccessful lawsuits. The common thread is not the conduct of the people suing, but TOTO’s bad behavior repeatedly evidenced by Steve Lukather’s words and deeds.
The legal process has been illuminating and shocking. It brought out Lukather’s horrific actions toward his supposed “brothers” Jeff and Mike Porcaro. Actions he took after Jeff died and while Mike was terminally ill and fighting for his life. Disturbing and disgusting.
I told Susan she should make public Lukather’s video deposition. His cruel lies are startling and at times laughable.
~ The name TOTO: It’s well-documented in years of print, TV and radio interviews with all of the original members of TOTO that Jeff chose the name after watching the movie, the Wizard of Oz. Yet, during his deposition Lukather claimed that Jeff was not the one who came up with the name.
~ The song Africa: It’s also well-documented through print, TV and radio interviews with Jeff and David how they co-wrote Africa. But, in his deposition Lukather claims that Jeff did not co-write Africa, because “he’s only a drummer” and therefore no way he could write songs. Jeff actually has about 60 songs in his music catalog that he either wrote or co-wrote, despite Lukather’s ridiculous claim.
And, Lukather claiming that he’s working on a documentary but that “a widow out there ... won’t let me do anything”, is just one more lie. Susan has absolutely no idea what he’s talking about.
Susan and our family have received harassing social media messages as a result of Lukather’s deceitful remarks, which are causing distress for her and our family.
Lukather has repeatedly violated their settlement agreement. He needs to correct and discontinue his defamatory statements pertaining to Susan, who is not a public figure and does not appreciate the negative media coverage which Lukather seems to relish.
So, why hasn’t Susan personally responded to Lukather’s false claim that she is responsible for “the end of TOTO”? Because she agrees with the guidance a wise and gentle leader once gave me that I have always embraced...
“NEVER GET IN THE MUD AND FIGHT WITH A PIG...YOU’LL GET DIRTY AND THE PIG LIKES IT”.
Thank you for your time.
Please feel free to share and post. The truth needs to be told.