ABOUT
Todd Rundgren (b. June 22, 1948) is a highly acclaimed, influential, and pioneering singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer who first became famous during the late 1960s as a co-founder of the rock band, Nazz. As a solo artist, he peaked commercially during the 1970s, but his output during that period is only a small sampling of this prolific and eclectic artist's body of work that covers a wide variety of genres ranging from power pop, blue-eyed soul, and soft rock to art/progressive rock and electronic music.
Born Todd Harry Rundgren in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, he began his long and multi-faceted career in 1966 as a member of the blues rock group, Woody's Truck Stop. In 1967, he co-founded Nazz, a psychedelic/garage rock band that had several minor hits through 1970. In 1973, he formed the progressive rock band, Utopia, which has at times served as a platform for some of his more experimental compositions. The band had a Top 40 hit in 1980 with "Set Me Free."
Rundgren made his solo debut on the Pop/Rock charts in 1970 with "We Gotta Get You A Woman," a Top 20 hit credited to Runt, a short-lived band consisting mainly of himself and brothers Hunt and Tony Sales. Two minor hits credited to Runt-Todd Rundgren followed in 1971: "Be Nice To Me" and "A Long Time, A Long Way To Go." Rundgren had another Top 20 hit in 1972 with "I Saw The Light" and a Top 5 hit in 1973 with his best known song, "Hello It's Me," the latter of which is a more up-tempo version of a minor hit by Nazz that had previously charted twice (in 1969 and 1970). More hits followed through 1983 that also included "A Dream Goes On Forever" (1974), "Real Man" (1975), a cover of The Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" (1976), "Can We Still Be Friends" (1978), and the lovably goofy "Bang The Drum All Day" (1983). At the height of his commercial fame, Rundgren made a big splash with his critically-acclaimed 1972 double album, "Something/Anything?," which includes "Hello It's Me" and "I Saw The Light." Produced and recorded single-handedly by Rundgren, it was ranked by Rolling Stone in 2003 at #173 in its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Rundgren is a celebrated music producer as well as a highly skilled audio engineer who is often the first to adopt the latest cutting edge technologies. In addition to his own recordings, he has also produced and/or engineered numerous recordings for other bands and artists that include such top albums as The Band's "Stage Fright" (1970), Grand Funk's "We're An American Band" (1973), Meat Loaf's "Bat Out Of Hell" (1977), and XTC's "Skylarking" (1986).
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SONGS
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Runt (Todd Rundgren)
Todd Rundgren
- Hello It's Me 1973
(This song was previously a hit for the Nazz (1970).) - I Saw The Light 1972
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