Todd Rundgren

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Todd Rundgren

Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948 in Upper Darby , Philadelphia ) is an American musician , lyricist and record producer . He is the founder of the bands Nazz and Utopia .

Life

With his first band Nazz , Rundgren had only mediocre success. It was not until the late 1960s that their first single moved into the American top 100 . At this point, Rundgren had already left the group to sign a solo contract with the Warner Music record label . He was given complete freedom in the studio and produced his first project Runt . Since he got along very well with the studio technology, he was subsequently offered to work as a music producer .

Rundgren has produced albums for Badfinger , Paul Butterfield , Grand Funk Railroad , Hall & Oates , Meat Loaf , New York Dolls , Patti Smith , Jim Steinman , The Band , The Tubes , XTC and many more. His greatest success as a music producer was the production of the Meat Loaf album Bat out of Hell , which is still considered one of the most successful music albums in the history of rock music. His 1972 double album Something / Anything? was voted number 172 of the best albums of all time in a poll by the music magazine Rolling Stone .

From various studio contacts, Rundgren put together a studio musician band in 1974, the group Utopia . With up to three synthesizers , two drummers and several guitarists he realized his progressive rock project. What remained from this time were keyboardist Roger Powell, who worked with David Bowie , among others , drummer Willie Wilcox and bassist Kasim Sulton. With this Utopia line-up, various albums were recorded, some of which were commercially successful.

Between 1978 and 1985 Rundgren created four studio albums one after the other, which were recorded without the support of other musicians, including Hermit of Mink Hollow , with whom he had success in 1978. A song from the album entitled Can We Still Be Friends was later covered by Rod Stewart , Robert Palmer and Mandy Moore, among others .

A special feature was Rundgren's 1993 interactive CD No World Order . It contained over 1000 sound snippets that the listener could put together to create finished songs. Rundgren toured the United States from radio station to radio station to mix his pieces live and then let the respective station broadcast.

In 1995 and 1996 Rundgren hosted a weekly radio show called The Difference with Todd Rundgren , which was adopted by 35 radio stations in the United States.

In 2005 he founded the group The New Cars together with former members of the band The Cars . In 2015 Rundgren released the album Runddans in collaboration with Emil Nikolaisen and Hans-Peter Lindstrøm .

Private life

From 1972 to 1977 Todd Rundgren was the Playboy - Playmate Bebe Buell dating. After Bebe Buell broke up with him and then was expecting a child from Steven Tyler , she turned back to Todd Rundgren, who was considered the official father of Liv Tyler at the time . It wasn't until she was late that Liv Tyler found out who her real father was.

After that, Todd Rundgren lived with Karen Darvin, Bruce Springsteen's former girlfriend, with whom he has two sons. He currently lives in Hawaii with his wife Michele and their son.

Solo discography

  • Runt (1970) (Single: We Gotta Get You a Woman)
  • Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren (1971) (Singles: Be Nice to Me, A Long Time, a Long Way to Go)
  • Something / Anything? (1972) (Singles: Hello It's Me [Original recording by Nazz, 1968], I Saw the Light)
  • A Wizard, a True Star (1973) (with Sometimes I Don't Know What to Feel (Single), Just One Victory)
  • Todd (1974) (Single: A Dream Goes on Forever)
  • Initiation (1975) (Single: Real Man)
  • Faithful (1976) (Singles: Good Vibrations)
  • Hermit of Mink Hollow (1978) (Singles: Can We Still Be Friends, You Cried Wolf)
  • Back to the Bars (1978) (live double album)
  • Healing (1981) (Singles: Time Heals)
  • The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect (1983) (Singles: Hideaway, Bang the Drum All Day)
  • A Cappella (1985)
  • Nearly Human (1989) (Singles: The Want of a Nail, Parallel Lines)
  • 2nd Wind (1991)
  • No World Order (1993) (On the interactive CD-ROM , the listener can remix the songs)
  • The Individualist (1995) (the expanded CD contains a video game )
  • With a Twist (1997) (remakes of previous songs)
  • One Long Year (2000)
  • Liars (2004)
  • Arena (2008)
  • (re) Production (2011) (interpretation of songs from albums from previous years that Rundgren produced for other musicians)
  • State (2013)
  • Global (2015)
  • White Knight (2017)

Music DVDs (selection)

  • "Todd Rundgren Liars Live"
  • "The Desktop Collection"
  • "Todd Rundgren Live in San Francisco"
  • "The popular tortured Artist Effect - Videosyncracy"

Music DVDs "Utopia" (selection)

  • "Utopia - Live at the Royal Oak"
  • "Utopia - Live in Boston 1982"

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joe Levy (Ed.): Rolling Stone. The 500 best albums of all time. (Original edition: Rolling Stone. The 500 Greatest Albums of all Time . Wenner Media 2005). Translation: Karin Hofmann. Wiesbaden: White Star Verlag, 2011, p. 143

literature

  • Stambler, Irwin: The Encyclopedia Of Pop, Rock And Soul . 3rd revised edition, New York City, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989, pp. 592f - ISBN 0-312-02573-4

Web links

Commons : Todd Rundgren  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Rundgren, Todd
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rundgren, Todd Harry (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American musician, lyricist, and producer
DATE OF BIRTH June 22, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH Upper Darby , Philadelphia