"Miss Sun" is a 1980 hit for

Boz Scaggs William Royce "Boz" Scaggs (born June 8, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. An early bandmate of Steve Miller in The Ardells and the Steve Miller Band, he began his solo career in 1969, though he lacked a major hit until h ...

first recorded in 1977 by

David Paich David Frank Paich (born June 25, 1954) is an American musician, best known as the co-founder, principal songwriter, keyboardist and singer of the rock band Toto since 1977. He wrote or co-wrote much of Toto's original material, including the ba ...

along with

David Hungate William David Hungate (born August 5, 1948) is an American bass guitarist noted as a member of the Los Angeles pop-rock band Toto from 1976 to 1982 and again from 2014 to 2015, and the son of judge William L. Hungate. Along with most of his T ...

Steve Lukather Steven Lee Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to a stea ...

and

Jeff Porcaro Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro (; April 1, 1954 – August 5, 1992) was an American drummer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his work with the rock band Toto but is one of the most recorded session musicians in history, working on ...

Background

The four musicians were working as session musicians on Scaggs' ''

Down Two Then Left ''Down Two Then Left'' is the eighth album by singer Boz Scaggs, released in 1977. The album peaked at No. 11 on the ''Billboard'' 200. Track listing All tracks composed by Boz Scaggs; except where indicated. Side One #"Still Falling for You" ...

'' album. They also worked on the self-titled album by

Lisa Dalbello Lisa Dal Bello (born 22 May 1959), also known as Dalbello, is a Canadian musician. She released three albums in the pop and pop/rock genre in her late teens, from 1977 through 1981 under her full name. In 1984, she re-emerged as Dalbello, wit ...

which was produced by

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian musician, composer, arranger, record producer and music executive who chaired Verve Records from 2012 to 2016. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His music career spans mor ...

. Dalbello - with whom Porcaro had formed a relationship - was invited to vocalize on the "Miss Sun" track, one of several demos which Lukather, Hungate, Paich and Porcaro cut at Davlen Studios. These demos led to the four musicians being signed to Columbia - Scaggs' label - as the nucleus of the group Toto. "Miss Sun" was never featured on an original Toto album - the demo track was released on ''

Toto XX ''Toto XX: 1977-1997'' is a compilation album by Toto to celebrate their 20th anniversary. The album features rare original demos, outtakes, previously unreleased recordings and live tracks from the band's 20-year career. The first single releas ...

'' in 1998 - but in 1980 Scaggs cut the song with

Bill Schnee William S. Schnee (born July 4, 1947) is an American musician, music producer, and audio engineer. Schnee has been nominated 11 times for the Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical Grammy Award and worked on a multitude of other Grammy nominated an ...

producing and Hungate, Lukather, Paich and Porcaro providing backing: Dalbello chanced to then be in Los Angeles and was invited to replicate her vocal contribution to the original demo. Scaggs' version of "Miss Sun" (on which the single releases alone credit the songwriting to both Paich and Scaggs) was the only previously unreleased track on Scaggs' 1980 compilation album '' Hits!'' which would punctuate Scaggs' career as a regular album artist, his subsequent releases being spaced several years apart. As a single, "Miss Sun" peaked at #14 in February 1981 and #13 Adult Contemporary. ''Billboard'' ranked it No. 99 in its year-end survey for 1981. The

Average White Band The Average White Band (also known as AWB) are a Scottish funk and R&B band that had a series of soul and disco hits between 1974 and 1980. They are best known for their million-selling instrumental track " Pick Up the Pieces", and their album ...

also cut the song a few months earlier for their 1980 album 'Shine' (produced by David Foster) but it was left off the initial release and not added until years later as a bonus track.

Personnel

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

Moog bass The Moog Taurus is a foot-operated analog synthesizer designed and manufactured by Moog Music, originally conceived as a part of the Constellation series of synthesizers. The initial Taurus I was manufactured from 1975 to 1981; a less popular re ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Steve Porcaro Steven Maxwell Porcaro (born September 2, 1957) is an American keyboardist, songwriter, and film composer, known as one of the founding members of the rock band Toto and the last surviving Porcaro brother (after the deaths of Jeff in 1992 and M ...

synthesizers A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

1977 songs 1980 singles Boz Scaggs songs Toto (band) songs Songs written by David Paich Songs written by Jeff Porcaro Songs written by Steve Lukather {{1970s-song-stub