The schoolboy cellist who gave Toto its start

William Royce Scaggs got his famous nickname from a classmate who wanted a “weird” name for him. It began as Bosley, then Boswell, then Bosworth, and finally shrank to Boz. He had started on cello at nine, but at St. Mark's School of Texas in Dallas a classmate named Steve Miller taught him guitar at twelve, and a friendship turned into a band.

The early years were restless. Scaggs sang for Miller's Marksmen, followed him to the University of Wisconsin–Madison and played blues in groups such as the Ardells. In 1963 he left school for music, and by 1965 he was in London's R&B scene, where a band came and went within months. He busked across Europe, reached Stockholm and recorded a first solo album, Boz, that failed commercially.

The breakthrough was a long time coming. After beginning his solo career in 1969 and spending a stretch in the Steve Miller Band, Scaggs released Silk Degrees in 1976. It peaked at number two on the Billboard 200 and produced “Lido Shuffle” and “Lowdown”. He hand-picked the players for it, including David Paich, David Hungate and Jeff Porcaro, who were already close friends.

Touring with Scaggs showed that trio how well they worked together, and Columbia offered the resulting group a contract without an audition. Paich later said Toto might not have happened as soon, or in the same way, without Silk Degrees. Scaggs went quiet for most of the 1980s, came back in 1988, opened the San Francisco club Slim's and kept recording, with Detour arriving in 2025. A record made with borrowed friends ended up launching a band, which says plenty about how generous a good session can be.