“Everybody knew Jeff was a great drummer. It was the same when I joined The Who to replace Kenney Jones – and when I was with Mick Jagger, playing the Stones tunes that Charlie played”: How Simon Phillips succeeded in replacing Jeff Porcaro in Toto

Simon Phillips performing with Toto in 2007.

Jeff Porcaro was one of the greatest drummers that ever lived: as the session musician who played on hundreds of hit records, including the biggest selling album of all time, Michael Jackson’s Thriller; and as the driving force in Toto, the LA rock band that crafted classic radio hits such as Africa, Rosanna and Hold The Line.

But after Porcaro’s death at the age of 38 in 1992, his band was able to continue – with the help of one of the few drummers capable of replacing the seemingly irreplaceable.