Todd Harry Rundgren (born 22 June 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He first gained recognition as a member of the rock band Nazz before establishing a solo career. His work has encompassed a wide range of musical styles, including pop, rock, progressive rock, electronic music and soul. He was also a member of Utopia.
Rundgren was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Upper Darby Township. His father was of Swedish descent, while his mother had Austrian and German ancestry. He taught himself to play guitar and developed an early interest in music through his parents' record collection before becoming influenced by artists including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Ventures, the Yardbirds, and Philadelphia soul performers. At the age of 17, he formed his first band, Money.
After graduating from Upper Darby High School in 1966, Rundgren joined the blues rock group Woody's Truck Stop before leaving to form Nazz in 1967 with Carson Van Osten and other musicians. The band signed with SGC Records in 1968 and released three albums: "Nazz" (1968), "Nazz Nazz" (1969) and "Nazz III" (1971). Rundgren wrote songs including "Open My Eyes" and "Hello It's Me", and took an increasingly active role in arranging and producing the group's recordings. Internal disagreements led to his departure before the release of the latter two albums.
Following his departure from Nazz, Rundgren moved to New York and began working as a recording engineer and producer for Bearsville Records under Albert Grossman. Early production work included recordings by Great Speckled Bird, Jesse Winchester, the Band and the James Cotton Blues Band.
His solo debut, "Runt", was released in 1970 under the name Runt and included the US Top 40 single "We Gotta Get You a Woman". It was followed by "Runt. The Ballad of Todd Rundgren" (1971). During this period, he also produced the debut album by Halfnelson, the group that later became Sparks.
In 1972, Rundgren released "Something/Anything?", his first album credited to Todd Rundgren. Much of the album was recorded with Rundgren performing nearly all of the instruments himself. It included the singles "I Saw the Light" and "Hello It's Me", the latter becoming his highest-charting single in the United States. Other tracks from the album, including "Couldn't I Just Tell You", have been cited as influential within the power pop genre.
Rundgren's subsequent solo recordings became increasingly experimental. "A Wizard, a True Star" (1973) incorporated elements of progressive rock, psychedelia, jazz and soul. He followed it with the double album "Todd" (1974) and formed the progressive rock group Utopia, which released "Todd Rundgren's Utopia" (1974) and several further albums through the mid-1980s. Alongside his solo career, Rundgren continued to produce recordings for other artists, including "Straight Up" by Badfinger, "We're an American Band" by Grand Funk Railroad, "New York Dolls" by New York Dolls, "Bat Out of Hell" by Meat Loaf and "Skylarking" by XTC.
In the mid-1970s, Rundgren released "Initiation" (1975) and "Faithful" (1976), the latter combining original material with recreations of songs from 1966. After travelling through Asia, he established Utopia Sound Studios near Woodstock, New York. Utopia released the albums "Ra" (1977) and "Oops! Wrong Planet" (1977), while Rundgren's solo album "Hermit of Mink Hollow" (1978) featured the single "Can We Still Be Friends", which became one of his most widely recorded songs.
In 1978, Rundgren organised an interactive television concert that was broadcast simultaneously to multiple locations. During the early 1980s, he explored computer graphics, video production and digital technology. His music video for "Time Heals" was among the first shown on MTV. He also developed the Utopia Graphics System for the Apple II computer and co-developed the Flowfazer screensaver system.
On 13 August 1980, four masked intruders broke into Rundgren's home in Mink Hollow, tied up Rundgren and his pregnant partner, and robbed the property.
"The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect" (1982) included the single "Bang the Drum All Day", which later became widely used at sporting events, in advertising and in other media. It marked the end of Rundgren's association with Bearsville Records.
Rundgren signed with Warner Bros. Records and released the entirely vocal-based album "A Cappella" (1985). He also composed music for several episodes of the children's television series "Pee-wee's Playhouse". His albums "Nearly Human" (1989) and "2nd Wind" (1991) were recorded live with minimal overdubbing and incorporated elements of Philadelphia soul. During this period, he toured with Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band and married backing vocalist Michele Gray.
During the 1990s, Rundgren recorded interactive multimedia projects under the name TR-i. "No World Order" (1993) was designed for the Philips CD-i platform and allowed listeners to alter playback parameters. Its follow-up, "The Individualist" (1995), combined music with interactive video elements. In 1994, Rundgren composed the score for the film "Dumb and Dumber" and contributed "Can We Still Be Friends?" to its soundtrack.
He later released "With a Twist..." (1997), featuring bossa nova reinterpretations of his own songs, followed by "One Long Year" (2000) and the concept album "Liars" (2004). Rundgren also launched PatroNet, an early subscription-based online service through which fans could access works in progress and new recordings directly from the artist, bypassing traditional record labels.
Following the September 11 attacks, Rundgren composed the score for the documentary film "A Face to a Name". In 2006, he joined the New Cars alongside members of the Cars and toured with the group, releasing the live album "The New Cars: It's Alive".
Rundgren released "Todd Rundgren's Johnson", a collection of Robert Johnson songs, in 2011, followed by "(re)Production", which featured new recordings of songs he had originally produced for other artists. His 2017 album "White Knight" included collaborations with Trent Reznor, Robyn, Daryl Hall, Joe Walsh and Donald Fagen.
His memoir, "The Individualist: Digressions, Dreams, and Dissertations", was published in 2018. In 2019, he toured with Micky Dolenz, Jason Scheff, Christopher Cross and Joey Molland in a concert series celebrating the Beatles' 1968 self-titled album.
In 2020, Rundgren collaborated with Rivers Cuomo on the single "Down with the Ship" and released an English-language version of the Dutch song "Flappie". He reunited with Sparks in 2021 on the single "Your Fandango". His album "Space Force" was released in 2022. In 2024, he contributed additional vocals, alongside the Sunday Service Choir, to the track "My Soul" on the album "Vultures 2" by ¥$.
Rundgren has also been active as a producer, engineer, video director and software developer throughout his career. He has been associated with developments in music production, interactive media and digital distribution. In 2021, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Rundgren
Solo albums
Runt (1970)
Runt. The Ballad of Todd Rundgren (1971)
Something/Anything? (1972)
A Wizard, a True Star (1973)
Todd (1974)
Initiation (1975)
Faithful (1976)
Hermit of Mink Hollow (1978)
Healing (1981)
The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect (1982)
A Cappella (1985)
Nearly Human (1989)
2nd Wind (1991)
No World Order (1993, as TR-I)
The Individualist (1995, as TR-I)
With a Twist... (1997, remakes album)
One Long Year (2000)
Liars (2004)
Arena (2008)
Todd Rundgren's Johnson (2011, covers album)
(re)Production (2011, covers album)
State (2013)
Global (2015)
White Knight (2017)
Space Force (2022)
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…shrink me down again