TOTO, TOO; CAPE GIRARDEAU NATIVE TONY SPINNER TO TOUR WITH GRAMMY-WINNING BAND

Tony Spinner has spent most of his career fronting his band in small clubs like Broussard's in Cape Girardeau, one of his favorite stops and not just because Cape Girardeau is his home town. But venues a trifle larger in more exotic locales await the guitarist later this month.

The multiple Grammy-winning band Toto has hired Spinner to play rhythm guitar and sing background vocals for its upcoming tour of Europe and Japan. They open with four dates in Warsaw, Poland, beginning Feb. 21. Toto will spend the rest of the month and March hopscotching across Europe, with shows in Paris, Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, Zurich, Brussels and elsewhere before returning to the U.S. April 4.

The band best known for the hits "Hold the Line," "Rosanna," and "Africa" already has sold out some of the shows on a tour that will promote its newest album, "Mind Fields."

A week after returning to America, Toto flies to Tokyo to begin the Japanese leg of the tour, which ends April 24.

Spinner is not familiar with most of the arenas he'll be playing in but recognizes a few of the names from famous concerts played there by his heroes, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin.

Toto and lead guitarist Steve Lukather won seven Grammys in 1982 and always has been considered a musician's band, but Spinner admits, "I wasn't a Toto fan." His heroes tend toward guitar-slingers like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Albert King and Jimmy Page.

His own bands have recorded three CDs: "Saturn Blues," "My '64," and "Crossroad Sessions." He also played on the tribute albums "Hats Off to Stevie Ray" and "Fit for A. King," the latter dedicated to Albert King.

Spinner's first taste of big-time rock 'n' roll occurred last spring when former Mr. Big guitarist Paul Gilbert hired him for a Japanese tour. American pop-rock is very popular in Japan. Even one-hit bands like Mr. Big, which recorded "To Be With You," have followings.

"As soon as we got off the plane people were mobbing him," Spinner said. "They were mobbing me a little bit." He liked it.

Spinner plays on Gilbert's next album, "Flying Dog," to be released in the spring.

Now it's difficult for him to go back to playing bars.

"It's the same thing I've always done on a bigger scale," said the 1981 Central High School graduate, who got his start playing in high school bands here.

Playing rock 'n' roll in small Midwestern clubs has always been an uneasy fit for the liquid-fingered Spinner. If the musicians in the audience invariably appreciated his talent, often others complained that his music wasn't danceable enough.

"I liked what I played and I played what I wanted," he said.

The situation will be different with Toto because the audience is sure to be composed of people who like what they do.

Spinner heard that Toto was looking for a background singer through the music industry grapevine. He phoned Martin Cole, Toto's manager, and was amazed when Cole returned the call.

When he flew to Los Angeles last month to audition, he only knew three of their songs and was fuzzy on the lyrics. They had him sing for 10 minutes. They'd already heard his guitar-playing on the Tony Spinner Band CDs he'd sent on ahead.

Though Spinner views himself as a guitar player who also can sing, in the mold of Hendrix or Beck, Toto was most interested in his high vocal range. And they liked what they heard.

He has spent the past three weeks in L.A. rehearsing with the band, which still has its original lineup except for the drummer. Simon Phillips, who has played with the likes of The Who and Jeff Beck, is the percussionist now.

Spinner and his wife, Sonya, were in Cape Girardeau earlier this week visiting his parents, Louis and Irene Spinner, and his sister, Tana Howard.

They have been married for 10 years and live on a Jonesboro, Ark., farm with cats, cows and other animals. She is the Domestic Violence Task Force Coordinator for Craighead County.

When Spinner moved to Jonesboro to join a band, she was living a few doors down the street.

"She was the first girl I met who liked me for me, not because I was in a band," Spinner said. "And she was intelligent."

She'll miss him during the tour but adds, "I'm glad he has the opportunity to further his career."

Sonya has another reason to be glad her husband is playing arenas now instead of bars. She always had trouble sleeping until he arrived home from a job.

"I worried myself to death with him driving home with all these people who had been drinking," she said.

Learning to play the guitar transformed Tony Spinner from a high school student who lacked self-confidence into a musician who has been known to make jaws drop with his playing.

Playing with Toto should be good for his career but standing in the background and singing harmony is not yet his rock 'n' roll dream come true.

"I'm a guitar player first," he says. "I want to stand out front and play guitar."