I hear the drums that go in tonight and she has only
been on the stage.
There you go, one of the biggest hits in history in music.
The soundtrack of a generation, Toto, and I am honored.
Joseph Williams, lead vocalist for Toto on the air with us this morning live.
What are you from Los Angeles, right?
I am from Los Angeles.
Okay, good because it's zero here in Racine and Milwaukee and it's cold.
And well, thank you for joining me this morning. I really do appreciate it.
I am very honored.
My entire life has been playing music by Toto.
And before we get started, you're going to be at the river set.
Before we get started with that, I got to get these stats out there.
Because they are amazing.
The songs that you guys have put out over the years.
Obviously got Africa your biggest hit.
But we're talking about one.
Well, let's see exactly how do I get to do it.
Two billion plays on Spotify alone.
Two billion certified.
I know.
11 million, 11 million copies.
I mean, that's.
Yeah, it's crazy.
It is crazy.
But I think that certified double platinum, two million copies.
And he kills on and on and on.
And on and on.
Could you imagine?
Two billion people heard that song.
That's a lot that's like half the world.
I heard it.
Okay, so you're going to be at the river site theater.
And that's coming up February 18.
Have you ever been to the river side before?
You know I feel like I have.
I'm trying to rack my brain for exactly what it looks like in there.
We're looking forward to it.
We're really looking forward to this tour
with this kind of format with these kinds of venues.
It's a lot of fun for us.
It's very a little bit more intimate
and the sound is always great.
Well, the river site theater is one of these old movie palaces that was restored to its original splendor.
As it was built probably in the 1920s and 30s.
It is huge. It is beautiful.
And when you go on stage and look out of that audience,
it's one of those beautiful theaters around.
The biggest stars play there.
The river side theater.
I was very lucky.
I got to MC shows with Johnny Mathis
and also comedian Jackie Mason there.
I know you're going to do well at the river side theater.
And that's coming up February 18.
So how do you feel playing with one of the most iconic groups
at the 70s and 80s, Toto?
Well, it's a true blessing.
I mean, it's such a wonderful gig to have.
And, you know, to be able to go out there
and sing something like Africa
that's got two billion streams.
Listen, I've learned into people
who thought that the name of the band was Africa.
That's something that people popular over the years.
It's not a re...
Go ahead.
No, I was about to say,
Africa, don't you do that song Toto?
Exactly.
That's exactly right.
I was in an elevator coming down to the lobby
of a casino.
We were doing a gig and there were two couples
in the elevator talking about what they were going to do
that evening.
And one of the women said to the other one,
what are you guys doing tonight?
She said, we're going to go see the band Africa.
And I thought you thought that was hysterical.
Now, you are named after the dog
from the Wizard of Oz.
That's what I heard over the years.
And there's got to be truth to that, right?
Yeah, I think so.
I mean, Jeff Piccar,
original drummer,
who unfortunately passed away,
but it was his baby
from the very beginning.
He and David Page.
And the story goes that they had a bunch of tape boxes
in the studio when they were doing their demos.
They were unmarked.
And they were warned that
somebody was going to record over these tapes
if they didn't put something on there.
And so he ran into the tape vault
and he just wrote todo on all of the boxes.
Obviously, taking up the dog, you know.
But liking the idea that it was a short name
that was easy to read
and all those things.
But yeah, I mean, it's, of course, it's the dog.
Now, you and Steve Lookether have been
friends since your teenagers.
I mean, that's a long time ago.
That's a long time.
I've known Luke since 1974.
Maybe 73, 74.
I was 14, 13, 14 years old.
And he was 16, 17,
and he was already a superstar
in the realm of our high school dances
and those kinds of things.
And I used to be in a band
and we played at his school
and we all followed him around town.
Because he was the best.
He was the best guy in town at that time.
And you know, he's still my favorite guitar player.
So how's life on the road?
Because I'm looking at your tour schedule here
and it's pretty big.
It's taken you right through the summer.
Yeah, it's going to be great.
I mean, we're looking forward to it.
And we're ramping up
into the 50th anniversary next year.
Okay, it's unbelievable that it's been that long.
But we're really looking forward to it
and really looking forward to the theater vibe,
which is all fun, sounds great.
People are a little bit more up on you.
And we all perform.
Everything you're going to hear is live.
There's nothing computerized helping us.
It's all just virtuoso musicianship.
So it's a blast.
We're looking forward to it.
You are going to love the Riverside Theater.
I'm telling you, it's a magnificent venue.
It's probably the best we have around here.
And you're going to have a great time there
at the Riverside in Milwaukee.
Okay, let's talk about you a little bit
because some interesting facts I didn't know.
You actually sang in the movie The Lion King.
I did. I did.
That was an amazing, amazing stroke of luck.
You know, there were a couple of guys
who worked at Disney and the music department
who knew me back then.
And I got a call to sing the demos
for that whole movie.
It was a great year before I actually went in
and did the vocal for real.
And I didn't even.
I didn't know until the actual
the first screening that I was going to
even end up in the film.
So it was great.
I remember sitting there with my wife
flipping out when we heard me in there.
Kuna Matata.
And you're on Can you feel the love tonight?
Man, that's right.
That's it.
Every little kid in America grew up with those songs.
Now, also, you're a filmmaker yourself, right?
Well, filmmaker in that I've done music for films
and TV and that kind of stuff.
And obviously, I mean, I've made videos for myself
on solo stuff.
I don't know about, like, I'm not going to call myself
a director or producer.
But I have been a composer.
I've got to mention this for just a moment
because you come from an amazing family.
I mean, acting, music.
I mean, it's just you've got the jeans inside of you
for this.
Your dad, of course, is John Williams,
who composed Star Wars,
ET, of course,
Jaws. I mean, I just heard that last night
in a video.
Jaws, you name it,
all the Steven Spielberg movies.
Your dad did that.
Your mother is Barbara Rueck,
who sees on my soundtrack album at home for Carousel.
She was in the musical Carousel.
And then you've got a relative,
Lauren Tuttle.
How is she related to you?
Lauren Tuttle is my mother's mother.
She was my grandmother.
And she also was a radio actor
back in the 40s and 50s
and then did a bunch of television in the 60s and 70s.
And she taught me in my siblings how to read,
how to act a little bit.
And yeah, no, she was amazing.
We were all really very close to her.
I listen to old-time radio shows all the time
in my car.
And she's on a ton of them.
But she's on my favorite TV series.
I could picture her on the episodes
of Leave It To Beaver.
The Anti-Graphic Show.
I mean, if you have 40 or 50 TV series
and you've got movies,
she was really prolific.
You know why?
Somebody once said the second banana
and she's in a ton of stuff.
So your family's got the big jeans in it now.
So how do you feel about your dad?
Composer of all those music scores.
Like you, you compose scores.
Well, did you learn anything from your dad
when you composed scores?
Well, I'm still learning stuff from him.
I mean, the guy is about to turn 94
and he is actually a couple of weeks away
from finishing a score
for Spielberg's newest film.
So he's actually still working.
He's actually getting on a plane this morning
as we speak to Flight of Boston
to attend one of the performances
of his newest piano concerto.
So the guy is not, I mean, he's an amazing dude.
And I continue to learn so much from him.
I've been lucky when we're not on the road
to spend a lot of time with him.
And he's given me all kinds of history lessons
about music and early composers
and Hollywood and, you know,
talking about his family,
you know, our family, all of that.
He's a wealth of knowledge
and I'm just soaking it up as long as I can.
So you're at least father, your dad is a nice guy.
There were two young people
with trumpets standing in front of your dad's house
on the sidewalk playing star wars on their trumpets.
And your dad came out to greet him.
I thought that was great.
I saw the video.
I love that.
And he came out of his house to talk to them.
I mean, I wouldn't.
So there were a lot of toto,
toto, not imitators or tribute bands.
Do you think there are a lot out there?
There's some.
There's some out there that, you know,
we get sent links for clips
and things like that often.
And, you know, there's some great,
great talent out there
that grew up on toto
or found it again, you know,
or their parents, you know,
hit them to it.
There's a lot of great musicians out there
that are using toto to sort of learn their craft or whatever.
Toto has always been a grand band of great musicians
and unbelievable musicianship
and songwriting and stuff.
And, you know, so it's real popular
with upcoming musicians.
Now, you can join toto in the 80s.
Is it through Steve? Look at third that you got into the group?
Well, it was, you know,
it certainly was new Steve.
He knew me when I was a kid.
I don't know that, but it was also, you know,
the Picarros, the Picarros brothers
and Jeff Picarros was the one
that actually really voted me in.
You know, the page,
David Page who wrote Africa
and Rosanna and all those big songs.
His father and my father were colleagues
and friends, you know,
from when I was four or five years old.
I go back a long way with these guys.
And I think that, you know,
it was a mutual love fest
when I came in there.
You know, we're just being able
to play with my pals.
The crowds must go wild
when you start playing the hits
like Rosanna, Toto,
Hold the Line.
I mean, those songs just still played on the radio every day.
I work for another radio station.
We play Toto in my shift,
two Toto songs a day
on that radio station.
So I know it's still
in the public loves Toto's music.
So when you play those songs
to the crowds start singing along with it,
do they do the,
they start gathering around
and start waving their fists
and singing along?
Oh, they should, they should do,
especially the songs that, you know,
real popular and people remember,
like Rosanna and Hold the Line.
You know, I love doing Africa
because people can't help.
It's, you know, sing along with that chorus.
And when you hear an entire room
or an arena or, you know,
any kind of a venue really
and you hear the audio,
at one point we sort of stop playing
so we can hear what they're doing.
And it's deafening.
It's amazing.
So much fun to hear
and everybody can sing with each other.
It's a blast.
You with Toto, but you also have
10 solo albums you put out, right?
Yeah, a lot of music.
Yeah, absolutely over the years.
A lot of, you know,
compositions for film and TV
and solo records and, you know,
playing on other people's records as well.
So yeah, it's been, it's been great.
It's a wonderful life.
I'm going to get you out of here on time.
I just want to remind everybody Toto
an evening with Toto is going to be
at the Riverside Theatre.
It's going to be coming up
on February 18th,
one of the most beautiful venues,
perfect venues to play.
And I know you're going to have a good time there
and now you're going to love the crowds,
Milwaukee loves Toto.
And we're going to love it.
I just love the fact you took time to talk to me this morning.
That's, I've been waiting all week for this
because I'm just between you,
your family and everything around.
See now by knowing you,
I know now your father
so I'm connected to all that now.
See how that works?
The Kevin Bacon Game.
I love, I love that game.
I'm always, you know, thinking about
who I'm connected to through other people.
A friend of mine, her dad was chairman
of the FCC and she took a picture
with John Kennedy when she was a little girl.
So now I'm connected through John Kennedy
two steps away. That's not bad.
I love that. I love that.
Hey, you have a great concert.
We can't wait February 18th,
Riverside Theatre in Milwaukee.
Get tickets because it's the
move on after that night.
Thank you very much. Joseph Williams from Toto.
Thank you very much for joining me this morning.
I really do appreciate it.
It's absolutely my pleasure.
You have a great day. Come and hang with us
when we're there. It's going to be a lot of fun.
Hey, I'm going to hang with Toto. I love it.
All right, man. Thank you very much.
Okay. Take care.
All right. Joseph Williams from Toto.
Thank you, man.
Hey, dad is John Williams.
His mother, Barbara Ruick.
His grandmother is a Lorraine Tuddle
who's been on a million TV shows and
a Griffith? Leave it to be,
over. Wow.
That's something.