Todd Rundgren Biography
Todd Rundgren(Full name: Todd Harry Rundgren)is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Utopia.
Todd is known for his sophisticated and often-unorthodox music, flamboyant stage outfits, and his later experiments with interactive entertainment.
He also produced music videos, pioneered forms of multimedia, and was an early adopter and promoter of various computer technologies, such as using the Internet as a means of music distribution in the late 1990s.
Rundgren began his professional career in the mid-1960s, forming the psychedelic band Nazz in 1967. Two years later, he left Nazz to pursue a solo career and immediately scored his first US top 40 hits with “We Gotta Get You a Woman” (1970). Rundgren best-known songs include “Hello It’s Me” and “I Saw the Light” from Something/Anything? (1972), which get frequent air time on classic rock radio stations, and the 1983 single “Bang the Drum All Day”, which is featured in many sports arenas, commercials, and movie trailers.
Although lesser-known, “Couldn’t I Just Tell You” (1972) was influential to many artists in the power pop genre. His 1973 album A Wizard, a True Star remains an influence on later generations of “bedroom” musicians.
Rundgren organized the first interactive television concert in 1978, designed the first color graphics tablet in 1980, and created the first interactive album, No World Order, in 1994. Additionally, he was one of the first acts to be prominent as both an artist and producer.
His notable production credits include Badfinger’s Straight Up (1971), Grand Funk Railroad’s We’re An American Band (1973), the New York Dolls’ New York Dolls (1973), Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell (1977) and XTC’s Skylarking
Todd Rundgren Age
Todd Harry Rundgren is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Utopia. He was on June 22. 1948. Todd Rundgren 71 years old as of 2019.
Todd Rundgren Family
Harry Rundgren was born in Philadelphia to Harry Rundgren(father) and Ruth Rundgren(mother).
He grew up in the bordering town of Upper Darby and mostly taught himself how to play guitar. As a child, Rundgren was fascinated by his parent’s small record collection, which consisted of show tunes and symphonic pieces, and especially by the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan.
Later, he grew infatuated with the music of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Ventures, and the Yardbirds, as well as the Philadelphia soul of Gamble & Huff, the Delfonics, and The O’Jays. At the age of 17, he formed his first band, called “Money”, with a then-best friend and roommate Randy Reed and Reed’s younger brother.
Todd Rundgren Wife |Todd Rundgren Bebe Buell
He married his’s wife Michele Gray in 1998. Gray had been a dancer with The Tubes and had performed with Rundgren as a backup singer on the tour for his album Nearly Human which led to a number of appearances on the David Letterman Show as one of The World’s Most Dangerous Backup Singers. Together, they have a son, named Rebop.
In 1972, he began a relationship with model Bebe Buell. During a break in their relationship, Buell had a brief relationship with Steven Tyler, which resulted in an unplanned pregnancy. On July 1. 1977, Buell gave birth to Liv Tyler. She initially claimed that Todd Rundgren was the biological father and named the child Liv Rundgren.
Rundgren had a long-term relationship with Karen Darvin, with whom he had two sons, Rex (born 1980) and Randy (born 1985). Rex was a minor league baseball player “infielder” for nine seasons.
As of 2012, Tyler maintains a close relationship with Rundgren. “I’m so grateful to him, I have so much love for him. You know, when he holds me it feels like Daddy. And he’s very protective and strong.”
Todd Rundgren Net Worth
Rundgren is an American musician and producer. He co-founded the group, Nazz, in the late 60s, and the band enjoyed a series of minor successes throughout the late 60s and early 70s.
When he decided to leave the band, the manager of Nazz invited him to sign with his management company as a solo artist, and he released his debut album, “Runt”, one year later, in 1970. Todd Rundgren has an estimated Net Worth of net worth $12 Million dollars as of 2019.
Todd Rundgren Songs
Hello, It’s Me Something/Anything? · 1972
I Saw the Light Something/Anything? · 1972
Can We Still Be Friends Hermit of Mink Hollow · 1978
Bang the Drum All Day The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect · 1982
We, Gotta, Get You a Woman Runt · 1970
A Dream Goes On Forever Back to the Bars · 1978
Love Is the Answer With a Twist… · 1997
Couldn’t I Just Tell You Something/Anything? · 1972
Just One Victory A Wizard, a True Star · 1973
It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference Something/Anything? · 1972
Love of the Common Man Faithful · 1976
Real Man Initiation · 1975
International Feel A Wizard, a True Star · 1973
Time Heals Healing · 1981
Open My Eyes Nazz · 1968
Sometimes I Don’t Know What to Feel A Wizard, a True Star · 1973
Izzat Love? Todd · 1974
All the Children Sing Hermit of Mink Hollow · 1978
Tiny Demons Healing · 1981
Sons of 1984 Todd · 1974
Don’t You Ever Learn Back to the Bars · 1978
Change Myself 2nd Wind · 1991
Black Maria Something/Anything? · 1972
Cold Morning Light Something/Anything? · 1972
Pretending to Care A Cappella · 1985
Lord Chancellor’s Nightmare Song Todd · 1974
Compassion Healing · 1981
Wolfman Jack Something/Anything? · 1972
The Verb “To Love” Faithful · 1976
Zen Archer A Wizard, a True Star · 1973
I Think You Know Todd · 1974
Never Never Land A Wizard, a True Star · 1973
Todd Rundgren Setlists
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Todd Rundgren Utopia
In contrast to Todd, Rundgren’s work with Utopia and his next solo album took him decisively into progressive rock. Initiation (1975) addressed cosmic themes, showed a strong interest in spirituality (particularly Far Eastern religion and philosophy), and displayed the musical influence of psychedelic rock, as well as the avant-garde jazz fusion of contemporary acts such as the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Frank Zappa.
Once again the original LP issue saw Rundgren pushing the medium to its physical limits, with the side-long suite “A Treatise on Cosmic Fire” clocking in at over 35 minutes.
The 1976 album Faithful saw Rundgren marking his tenth year as a professional musician by return to the pop/rock genre, featuring one side of original songs and one side of covers of significant songs from 1966, including The Yardbirds’ “Happenings Ten Years Time Ago” (the B-side of that Yardbirds single gave Nazz its name) and a nearly identical recreation of The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations”.
In the latter half of the 1970s, Rundgren moved to Woodstock, New York, where Bearsville Records established a studio under Rundgren’s direction. He bought a home nearby and a property adjoining the studio was taken over as accommodation for artists who used the studio.
The Woodstock complex became Rundgren’s base until his eventual relocation to the Hawaiian island of Kauai in the 1990s. That move was in part prompted by a violent home invasion at Woodstock in the late 1970s, in which Rundgren and girlfriend (who was pregnant at the time) were tied up while the house was ransacked by a group of armed men.
According to Rundgren’s account, the men appeared to believe that he possessed a large quantity of cocaine (which he never used); although the family was unharmed, the men stole some valuable items including a custom-made Alembic bass guitar.
Todd recovered it years later after Alembic staff spotted it for sale on eBay and it was returned to him but was by then so badly damaged that it could not be restored.
When touring, Rundgren presented the music in a lavish stage setting that echoed the ambitious space-themed shows of acts like Parliament/Funkadelic and he adopted an outlandish space-rock image on stage, including multi-colored dyed hair.
After the prog-rock fusion homage, Ra (1977), Utopia moved toward a more concise pop-oriented style with Oops! Wrong Planet (1977), which included “Love Is the Answer”, later a hit for England Dan & John Ford Coley, followed by the more successful Adventures in Utopia in 1980, which spawned the hits “Road to Utopia”, “Set Me Free” and “Caravan”. During that year, Utopia also acted as the backing band for the Rundgren-produced Shaun Cassidy solo album Wasp. Rundgren disbanded Utopia in the mid-1980s.
Faithful was followed by Hermit of Mink Hollow (1978); this included the hit ballad “Can We Still Be Friends” (covered a year later by Robert Palmer), which reached No. 29 in the United States (Palmer’s version reached No. 52) and was accompanied by an innovative self-produced music video, and the album became the second most successful of his career (after Something/Anything?), reaching No. 36 in the United States.
During 1978, Rundgren undertook an American tour playing at smaller venues including The Bottom Line in New York and The Roxy in Los Angeles; this resulted in the double live album Back to the Bars, which featured a mixture of material from his solo work and Utopia, performed with backing musicians including Utopia, Edgar Winter, Spencer Davis, Daryl Hall, and John Oates and Stevie Nicks.
During 1977 and 1978, Rundgren attempted to tour with a true quadraphonic sound system, however, it proved ultimately unworkable – despite successfully delivering high-quality sound in a concert setting – due to the enormous technical requirements involved.
Since most concert arenas of the day were ill-equipped to host large towers of sound equipment in the rear of the halls, the speakers often had to be hung from the ceiling rigging.
This installation could take up to two days to complete, meaning that it was necessary to send two separate sound systems, each with its own, complete set-up crew, out on the road, so that they could “leapfrog” and allow Rundgren to play dates on consecutive days, which would have otherwise been impossible.
The system featured a then-new technology called “signal analysis”, which required white and pink noise to be pumped through the speakers, in order to set the active equalizers so as to minimize feedback and distortion.
The pink and white noise analysis had to be performed twice: once with the hall empty, and then again with the audience present, which many concertgoers found annoying. Additionally, Rundgren’s insistence on personally overseeing the acoustic set-up of the system left him exhausted and unable to continue, and he pulled the plug on the experiment.
During the mid-to-late 1970s, Rundgren regularly played the eye-catching psychedelic Gibson SG (known variously as “Sunny” or “The Fool”), which Eric Clapton had played in Cream. After he had stopped using it ca. 1968, Clapton gave the guitar to George Harrison, who subsequently ‘loaned’ it to British singer Jackie Lomax.
In 1972, after meeting at a recording session, Lomax sold the guitar to Rundgren for $500 with an option to buy it back, which he never took up. Rundgren played it extensively during the early years of Utopia before retiring the instrument for a short time in the mid to late 1970s, which in that time he had the guitar restored having a lacquer finish applied to protect the paint and replaced the talpiece and bridge to stabilize tuning, bringing the guitar back out on tour during 1980 Deface the Music tour and using it on and off throughout the 1980s until 1993 when he permanently retired the guitar, eventually auctioning it off in 1999; he now uses a reproduction given to him in 1988 by a Japanese fan.
Todd Rundgren Website
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Todd Rundgren Tour
Todd Rundgren 2019-2020 Events
Fri, Oct 11 8:00 PM Boston, MA Berklee Performance Center
Tue, Oct 15 8:00 PM Glenside, PA Keswick Theatre
Sat, Feb 15 Miami, FL Port Miami
Todd Rundgren “I Saw the Light”
“I Saw the Light” is the opening track from Todd Rundgren’s 1972 Something/Anything? double album.
In the liner notes to Something/Anything?, Rundgren states that he intended the song to be the hit of the album, and copied the Motown tradition of putting hit songs at the beginning of albums.
The song peaked at #15 in Canada, #16 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and at #12 on the Easy Listening chart. Billboard ranked it as the No. 88 song for 1972. On the U.S. Cash Box Top 100, it reached number 11.
Overseas, it went to #36 on the UK Singles Chart in 1973. However, in the US at least, Something/Anything? actually contained a bigger hit than “I Saw the Light”, as the album’s third single “Hello It’s Me” climbed to #5.
Todd Rundgren Something/Anything
Something/Anything? is the third album by American musician Todd Rundgren, released in February 1972. It was his first double album and was recorded in late 1971 in Los Angeles, New York City, and Bearsville Studios, Woodstock.
Three-quarters of the album was recorded in the studio with Rundgren playing all instruments and singing all vocals, as well as being the producer. The final quarter contained a number of tracks recorded live in the studio without any overdubs, save for a short snippet of archive recordings from the 1960s.
Rundgren had become confident enough at other instruments beyond his standard guitar and keyboards that he had tackled in earlier releases, and this, coupled with a general dissatisfaction with other studio musicians, led him to temporarily relocate to Los Angeles in an attempt to record an entire album single-handedly.
After he had created significantly more material than would fit on a standard LP, an earthquake struck LA. He decided to head back to New York for some live sessions, with the help of Moogy Klingman, to lighten the mood. The final sessions were in Bearsville, where the remainder of the recording and mixing took place, and this created enough material for a double album.
The album peaked at number 29 on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold three years after its release. A single taken from the album, “Hello It’s Me”, was a top-five hit in the US in late 1972, and it contained a further hit, “I Saw the Light”.
Something/Anything? later attracted critical acclaim as one of the most significant records of the 1970s. In 2003, the album was ranked number 173 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
After Something/Anything, Rundgren moved away from the straightforward pop ballads present on this album to more experimental territory and progressive rock in later releases, beginning with the following A Wizard, A True Star (1973).
Todd Rundgren “Love Is the Answer”
“Love Is the Answer” is a song written by Todd Rundgren for his band Utopia. It is the closing track on their 1977 album Oops! Wrong Planet.
Although Utopia’s version did not reach the music charts, a cover version by England Dan & John Ford Coley reached number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in May 1979 and spent two weeks atop the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.
John Ford Coley was quoted as saying: “Of all the songs we released as singles, that was my favorite. The song, first of all, had a classical base, and the middle had a gospel section which I loved.”
The song has been covered several times by Christian artists. Sheila Walsh recorded it in 1988 for her album Say So, and performed it on her very first The 700 Club appearance as co-hostess.
Bill Cantos and Justo Almario covered it in 1995 for the album Who Are You. Cindy Morgan covered it in 2000 for her greatest hits album, Best So Far. Bob Carlisle and Bryan Duncan recorded a gospel blues version in 2001.
Filipino singer Gary Valenciano also covered the song on his 2001 album, Revive. In 2004, Glen Campbell recorded the song as the title track of the album Love Is the Answer: 24 Songs of Faith, Hope, and Love. Christian contemporary band Circle of Friends covered it on their 2012 album Chosen & Beloved, pairing it with the old hymn “Tell Me the Story of Jesus”.
Todd Rundgren Books
The Individualist: Digressions, Dreams & Dissertations
Music for the Eye: Digital Apparitions
Books by Todd Rundgren