Todd Rundgren is a famous American singer, songwriter and record producer. The peak of the artist's popularity was in the 1970s of the XX century.
The beginning of the creative path of Todd Rundgren
The musician was born on June 22, 1948 in Pennsylvania (USA). From early childhood, he dreamed of becoming a musician. As soon as he gained the opportunity to independently manage his life, he took an active part in various musical groups.
He started with the band Woody's Truck Stop, with which he participated in the recording of several songs. And also in a number of small concerts. Performances took place mainly in clubs in Philadelphia. The main style of the band was the blues. Over time, the young man got bored with it. He wanted to experiment, so he decided to try himself in other genres.
In 1967, Todd created his own group, which he decided to call Nuzz. Here Rundgren tried out pop rock, which became a very popular genre in the late 1960s. The group gained relative popularity, some of its songs fell into various thematic charts. These singles include Open My Eyes.
The song Hello It's Me became famous only a few years later, when Todd wrote a faster arrangement and re-released it. Then the track hit the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and became a real hit. In three years, the band released three albums, which had little success with listeners.
After the breakup of Nazz
Todd did not manage to get the rapid popularity that would be enough for a successful start of his solo career. Therefore, he had to earn extra money by writing songs for other artists. Rundgren wrote music and lyrics, but this was not enough to realize his potential.
The turning point was in 1970, when Todd created a new project, Runt. Many are still in no hurry to call this association a full-fledged musical band. The leader of the group was Rundgren. He wrote lyrics and arrangements, came up with ideas for future songs, looked for ways to organize a concert or find a way to a major label.
The other two members, brothers Hunt and Tony Sales, only played two instruments, drums and bass, respectively. Todd played all the other necessary instruments - keyboards, guitars, etc. It was not for nothing that the band's soloist was called a multi-instrumentalist. If a track needed an unusual instrument, Todd learned to play it and recorded his parts.
The debut album became the same name with their name. The song We Gotta Get You A Woman became a real hit. She got into the rotation of many radio stations in the USA and Great Britain, firmly entrenched herself in the top of the Billboard Hot 100. Most importantly, she increased interest in the work of the band.
After the release of the release, Norman Smart joined the guys, who actively participated in the recording of the second disc. Album Runt. The Ballad of Todd Rundgren was released in 1971. Critics and listeners equally well received the release, although it is still unclear what Runt is - a group or one person. For some unknown reason, all the covers featured Rundgren's name and photographs exclusively. The rest of the participants were not mentioned.
Smooth flow from group to solo career
A year after the second disc, the quartet broke up. It happened quite quietly, without much noise in the press and among the "fans". Connoisseurs of creativity just in one day instead of the band's album received a new release from Todd Rundgren.
Record Something / Anything? became completely independent. The author himself wrote all the lyrics and arrangements, mastered the album. He was an author, performer and producer. The album conquered with a combination of genres around a single whole.
There was soul music, and rhythm and blues, and classic rock. Critics unanimously compared the release with the compositions of The Beatles and Carol King. The release sounds like updated records from the mid-1960s. This appealed to listeners who did not accept the new fashion in the musical culture of the 1970s.
The producer and singer became popular due to two factors - he loved experiments and watched new fashion trends. Therefore, his albums have always combined experimental compositions, incomprehensible to the mass listener, and modern pop-rock songs. For example, one of the popular trends of the mid-1970s was progressive rock.
Todd managed to "catch the wave" and immediately released A Wizard, a Truestar - a disc that is almost completely performed in this popular genre. To consolidate his popularity among the "fans" of progressive rock, he released two more full-fledged releases: Todd (1974) and Initiation (1975).
Experiments in the work of Todd Rundgren
Despite the fact that the author strives to make the sound as close as possible to the listener, he actively experiments with themes. In his poems one can hear philosophical discussions about the cosmos, the psychology of man and his soul. The lyrics are literally overflowing with philosophy.
This, on the one hand, frightened off the mass listener, on the other hand, it attracted a new, more selective audience. Creativity is characterized by echoes of psychedelics, which can often be heard at that time in Pink Floyd. Separately, the musician worked on "live" performances. He reworked the arrangements, adapting them for one continuous concert. As a result, listeners were completely immersed in the atmosphere of the albums.
Then the performer began to release albums that, with their style, refer the listener to his early work. In parallel, recordings of concert performances were released on physical media, which were also popular in the USA and Europe. For a while, he took the pseudonym TR-i. And his work became more progressive - they used new technologies, created various mixes and a new popular tempo of music.
In 1997, Todd started using his name again and released several new releases under it. To date, the musician's discography includes more than two dozen releases. He is one of the most prolific musicians who started his career in the 1960s.
