Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro (April 1, 1954 – August 5, 1992) was an American drummer and songwriter. He is best known for being the co-founder and drummer of the rock band Toto, but he is also one of the most recorded session musicians in history, working on hundreds of albums and thousands of sessions. While already an established studio player in the 1970s, he came to prominence in the US as the drummer on the Steely Dan album Katy Lied (1975).

AllMusic has characterized Porcaro as "arguably the most highly regarded studio drummer in rock from the mid-'70s to the early '90s", stating that "it is no exaggeration to say that the sound of mainstream pop/rock drumming in the 1980s was, to a large extent, the sound of Jeff Porcaro."

Early life

Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro was born on April 1, 1954, in Hartford, Connecticut, the eldest son of Los Angeles session percussionist Joe Porcaro (1930–2020) and his wife, Eileen. His younger brother Mike was a successful bassist and was a member of the band Toto. Younger brother Steve, also a member of Toto, is still a studio musician. Porcaro was raised in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles and attended Ulysses S. Grant High School. Jeff's youngest sibling, sister Joleen, was born in 1960.

Career

Porcaro began playing drums at the age of seven. Lessons came from his father Joe Porcaro, followed by further studies with Bob Zimmitti and Richie Lepore. When he was seventeen, he got his first professional gig playing in Sonny & Cher's touring band. He later called Jim Keltner and Jim Gordon his idols at that time. During his twenties, Porcaro played on hundreds of albums, including three for Steely Dan. On the Steely Dan album Pretzel Logic, he played alongside Gordon on the dual-drummer track "Parker's Band". He toured with Boz Scaggs before co-founding Toto with his brother Steve and childhood friends Steve Lukather and David Paich. Jeff Porcaro is renowned among drummers for the drum pattern he used on the Grammy Award-winning Toto song "Rosanna", from the album Toto IV. The drum pattern, called the Half-Time Shuffle Groove, was originally created by drummer Bernard Purdie, who called it the "Purdie Shuffle." Porcaro created his own version of this groove by blending the aforementioned shuffle with John Bonham's groove heard in the Led Zeppelin song "Fool in the Rain", while keeping a Bo Diddley beat on the bass drum. Porcaro describes this groove in detail on a Star Licks video (now DVD) he created shortly after "Rosanna" became popular.

Besides his work with Toto, he was also a highly sought session musician. Porcaro collaborated with many of the biggest names in music, including:

  • Herb Alpert
  • Lynn Anderson
  • The Bee Gees
  • George Benson
  • Tommy Bolin
  • Eric Carmen
  • Larry Carlton
  • Eric Clapton
  • Joe Cocker
  • Christopher Cross
  • Miles Davis
  • Dire Straits
  • Donald Fagen
  • David Foster
  • Stan Getz
  • David Gilmour
  • Andrew Gold
  • Don Henley
  • Michael Jackson
  • Al Jarreau
  • Elton John
  • Rickie Lee Jones
  • Paul McCartney
  • Michael McDonald
  • Richard Marx
  • Sérgio Mendes
  • Jim Messina
  • Rhythm Heritage,
  • Lee Ritenour
  • Leo Sayer
  • Boz Scaggs
  • Seals and Crofts
  • Sonny & Cher
  • Steely Dan
  • Barbra Streisand
  • Frankie Valli
  • Joe Walsh

Porcaro contributed drums to four tracks on Michael Jackson's Thriller Michael Jackson made a dedication to Porcaro in the liner notes for his 1995 album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I.

Personal life and death

On October 22, 1983, Porcaro married Susan Norris, a Los Angeles television broadcaster at KABC-TV. Together, they had three sons: Christopher Joseph (1984), Miles Edwin Crawford (1986–2017) and Nico Hendrix (1991).

Porcaro died at Humana Hospital-West Hills on the evening of August 5, 1992, at the age of 38 after falling ill while spraying insecticide in the yard of his Hidden Hills home. The doctors who treated Porcaro attributed his death to a heart attack caused by an allergic reaction to inhaled pesticide. Friends and relatives have rejected this ruling and maintain that the pesticide was to blame.

His funeral was attended by musicians Eddie Van Halen and David Crosby, among others. Eulogies were given by Gary Katz (who produced several albums that Porcaro played on) and Porcaro's drumming idol Jim Keltner.

Equipment

Porcaro was known for using a wide variety of drum equipment throughout his career. He used Gretsch drums early in his career before switched to Yamaha and later Pearl. He endorsed Paiste cymbals, also used his signature Regal Tip drumsticks, Zildjian cymbals, Remo drumheads and Drum Workshop pedals.

Legacy

The Jeff Porcaro Memorial Fund was established to benefit the music and art departments of Grant High School in Los Angeles, where he was a student in the early 1970s. A memorial concert took place at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles on December 14, 1992, with an all-star line-up that included George Harrison, Boz Scaggs, Donald Fagen, Don Henley, Michael McDonald, David Crosby, Eddie Van Halen and the members of Toto.

  • Lionel Richie – Can't Slow Down (1983) – "Running with the Night"; Louder Than Words (1996) – "The Climbing"
  • Paul Simon – Hearts and Bones (1983) – "Train in the Distance"
  • Randy Newman – Trouble in Paradise (1983) – "I Love L.A."
  • Russ Taff – Walls of Glass (1983) – "Walls of Glass", "Jeremiah", "Inside Look"; Russ Taft (1987) – "I Still Believe"
  • Chicago – Chicago 17 (1984) – "Stay the Night"
  • David Gilmour – About Face (1984)
  • The Jacksons – Victory (1984) – "Torture", "Wait"; 2300 Jackson Street (1989) – "Midnight Rendezvous"
  • Paul McCartney – Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984) – "Silly Love Songs"
  • Joe Walsh – The Confessor (1985)
  • Eric Clapton – Behind the Sun (1985) – "See What Love Can Do", "Forever Man"
  • Peter Cetera – Solitude/Solitaire (1986)
  • Earth, Wind & Fire – Touch the World (1987) – <nowiki></nowiki>You and I<nowiki></nowiki>, <nowiki></nowiki>Every Now and Then<nowiki></nowiki>
  • Fra Lippo Lippi – Light and Shade (1987)
  • Roger Hodgson – Hai Hai (1987)
  • David Benoit – Freedom at Midnight (1987); Shadows (1991)
  • Jon Anderson – In the City of Angels (1988)
  • Luis Miguel – Busca Una Mujer (1988)
  • Love and Money – Strange Kind of Love (1988)
  • Patti Austin – The Real Me (1988); Love Is Gonna Getcha (1990)
  • Dr. John – In a Sentimental Mood (1989)
  • Nik Kershaw – The Works (1989) – "Walkabout"
  • Poco – Legacy (1989)
  • Clair Marlo – Let It Go (1989)
  • Anri - Circuit of Rainbow (1989)
  • Celine Dion – Have a Heart (1989)
  • Natalie Cole – Good to Be Back (1989) – <nowiki></nowiki>The Rest Of The Night<nowiki></nowiki>, "Miss You Like Crazy", <nowiki></nowiki>Gonna Make You Mine<nowiki></nowiki>, "Starting Over Again"
  • Benny Hester – Perfect (1989)
  • Madonna – Like a Prayer (1989) – "Cherish"; I'm Breathless (1990) – "Hanky Panky"
  • Jude Cole – A View from 3rd Street (1990) – "Compared to Nothing"; Start the Car (1992) – "Open Road", "Tell the Truth"
  • Sandi Patty – "Another Time...Another Place" (1990)
  • Bruce Springsteen – "Viva Las Vegas" (1990, included in the collective album The Last Temptation of Elvis and featured in the movie Honeymoon in Vegas); Human Touch (1992)
  • Bryan Duncan – Anonymous Confessions of a Lunatic Friend (1990)
  • Emily Remler – This Is Me (1990)
  • Cher – Mermaids (1990) – "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)"; Love Hurts (1991) – "Could've Been You"
  • Michael Bolton – Time, Love & Tenderness (1991) – "When a Man Loves a Woman"
  • Dire Straits – On Every Street (1991)
  • Richard Marx – Rush Street (1991); Paid Vacation (1994) – "One Man"
  • Bonnie Raitt – Luck of the Draw (1991); - "Luck of the Draw"
  • Rod Stewart – Vagabond Heart (1991) – "The Motown Song"
  • Curtis Stigers – Curtis Stigers (1991)
  • Ricky Gianco – E' rock & roll (1991)
  • Paul Brady – Trick or Treat (1991)
  • B-52s – Good Stuff (1992)
  • Go West – Indian Summer (1992)
  • 10cc – ...Meanwhile (1992); Woman In Love (1992); Welcome To Paradise (1992)
  • Sergio Mendes – Brasileiro (1992)
  • Bruce Springsteen – Human Touch (1992) – "Human Touch"
  • Roger Waters – Amused to Death (1992) – "It's a Miracle"
  • Paul Young – The Crossing (1993)
  • David Crosby – Thousand Roads (1993)
  • Patti Scialfa – Rumble Doll (1993) – "Come Tomorrow", "Talk to Me Like the Rain"
  • Steve Porcaro – Someday/Somehow (2016) – "Back to You"

Books

  • Foreword by Jim Keltner.

Academic paper

See also

  • Rosanna shuffle, a drum pattern

References

  • Jeffporcaro.net
  • Tribute site with complete discography of sessions
  • Section dedicated to Porcaro at Official Toto website
  • Porcaro page at Drummerworld
  • 2013 Audio Interview with Steve Lukather talking about Jeff Porcaro on I'd Hit That podcast