TOTO CUTUGNO - AFRICA

AFRICA

TOTO CUTUGNO

SongwriterS: DAVID PAICH & JEFF PORCARO

Country: u. s. a.

album: totoiv

Label: COLUMBIA RECORDS

Genre: rock

Year: 1982

Toto was an American rock band formed in 1977 in Los Angeles. The band's most recent lineup consisted of Joseph Williams(lead vocals), David Paich (keyboards, vocals), Steve Porcaro (keyboards), Steve Lukather(guitars, vocals), plus touring members Lenny Castro (percussion), Warren Ham(saxophone), Shem von Schroeck (bass) and Shannon Forrest(drums). Toto is known for a musical style that combines elements of pop, rock, soul, funk, progressive rock, hard rock, R&B, blues, and jazz.

Paich and Jeff Porcaro had played together as session musicians on several albums and decided to form a band. David Hungate, Lukather, Steve Porcaro, and Bobby Kimball were recruited before the first album release. The band enjoyed great commercial success in the late 1970s and 1980s, beginning with the band's eponymous debut released in 1978. With the release of the critically acclaimed and commercially successful Toto IV(1982), Toto became one of the best-selling music groups of their era.

Widely known for the Top 5 hits "Hold the Line", "Rosanna", and "Africa", the makeup of the group continued to evolve. Hungate left in 1982; Kimball left in 1984, but rejoined the band in 1998, leaving again in 2008. Jeff Porcaro died in 1992 of a heart attack. Hungate rejoined Toto as a touring musician and later a band member. In 2008, Lukather announced his departure from the band, and the remaining band members later went their separate ways. In the summer of 2010, Toto reformed and went on a short European tour, with a new lineup, to benefit Mike Porcaro, who had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and was no longer an active member of the band. He died in 2015. The band celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2017. Toto announced an extended hiatus following the final leg of their 40th anniversary tour in 2019.

Toto has released 14 studio albums, and has sold over 40 million records worldwide. The group has been honored with several Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2009.

Toto IV is the fourth studio album by American pop and rock band Toto released in the spring of 1982 by Columbia Records.

The lead single, "Rosanna", peaked at number 2 for five weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, while the album's third single, "Africa", topping the Hot 100 chart, became the group's first and only number 1 hit. Both songs were hits in the UK as well, reaching number 12 and 3, respectively. The fourth single, "I Won't Hold You Back", also peaked within the top ten on the Hot 100, at number 10, but atop the Billboard Adult Contemporary charts for three weeks. It also went into the top 40 in the UK. With the success of "Africa", the album climbed back into the top 10 in early 1983 on both sides of the Atlantic.

Toto IV received six Grammy Awards in 1983 including Album of the Year, Producer of the Year for the band, and Record of the Year for "Rosanna". It reached number four on the Billboard 200 album charts in the United States, shortly after its release. It also reached the top ten in other countries, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, and Japan. It was also the last Toto album to feature their original bassist David Hungate until his return in 2014 (with the release of their 2015 album Toto XIV) when he replaced by Mike Porcaro after the band’s recording of the album, and also the final album to feature original lead vocalist Bobby Kimball until his comeback in 1998 (with the release of the 1999 album Mindfields)^.

"Africa" is a song recorded by the American rock band Toto in 1981, for their fourth studio album Toto IV, and released as the album's third single on September 30, 1982, through Columbia Records. The song was written by band members David Paich and Jeff Porcaro.

Critics praised its composition and Toto's performances. The song reached number one on the United States' Billboard Hot 100 chart and is the band's only Billboard number one. The song remained at the top for a single week (February 5, 1983). "Africa" also peaked in the top ten in the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, and Switzerland.

The song was accompanied by a music video, which premiered in 1983, and was directed by Steve Barron, who collaborated previously with the group for "Rosanna". The video features Toto in a library, as they perform and showcase various aspects of African culture. While popular in the 1980s and 1990s, with the song being certified gold by the RIAA in 1991, "Africa" saw a resurgence in popularity via social media during the mid- to late 2010s, including a fan-requested cover by American rock band Weezer which peaked at number 51 on the Billboard Hot 100. It has since been certified five times platinum. 

I hear the drums echoing tonight

But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation

She's coming in the twelve thirty flight

The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation

I stopped an old man along the way

Hoping to find some old forgotten words or ancient melodies

He turned to me as if to say

Hurry, boy, it's waiting there for you!

It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you

There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do

I bless the rains down in Africa

Gonna take some time to do the things we never had

The wild dogs cry out in the night

As they grow restless longing for some solitary company

I know that I must do what's right

Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti

I seek to cure what's deep inside

Frightened of this thing that I've become

It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you

There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do

I bless the rains down in Africa

Gonna take some time to do the things we never had

Hurry boy, she's waiting there for you

It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you

There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do

I bless the rains down in Africa

I bless the rains down in Africa

I bless the rains down in Africa

I bless the rains down in Africa

I bless the rains down in Africa

Gonna take some time to do the things we never had.