Steve Luthaker studio monster, guitar royalty. I knew him in Toto, but Rick Beato clued me in -

[The Polack MSgt]

to a song he did with Lionel Richie - "Running With The Night"

Richie recorded Steve while he was warming up/learning the song and just kept the entire guitar track on the record.

Steve just shreds all the way through it but the last 45 seconds or so are insane.

What I'm most impressed with is Steve's ability to sound like he's played with any artist since middle school no matter the genre.

Few years ago he was playing blues rock and boogie and killing it.

[Midnight Writer]

1. I read an article about The Tubes song She's A Beauty

The producer needed a hit song for their new album, and the unconventional Tubes were unlikely to produce one.

So he called in Steve Luthaker.

Luthaker came into the studio, sat down with his guitar and the band, and within 20 minutes came up with the iconic guitar riff and the basic outline for the song.

He actually played on the studio version of the song, which was the band's biggest selling hit.

[sweetloukillbot]

3. A highlight of Toto shows I've seen over the past few years has been "Human Nature"

Written by Steve Porcaro and performed by Toto - it's essentially a Toto song w/ Michael Jackson singing.
I think Luke did a similar thing for Quincy Jones w/ Beat It. Van Halen plays the solo, but Luke came up with the main riff and arrangement.

[sweetloukillbot]

2. There's some ridiculous stat about how many Grammy winners he played on in the early 80s

Off the top of my head:
Toto IV
Michael Jackson - Thriller
Christopher Cross - Sailing
George Benson - Give Me the Night
Al Jarreau - Breakin' Away
James Ingram - One Hundred Ways

He literally played with everyone - pretty much any R&B or Yacht Rock album from 1978-1985 features him somewhere...

[blm]

4. Steve was one of Eddie Van Halen's guitar gods.

They used to play together at a hole in the wall place in the valley that musicians would frequent when in town. There were times Eddie would drop to his knees in front of Steve.

Good times back in the day.