Through it all, this multi-instrumentalist has maintained a prolific sideline career as a producer; he must also be regarded as a pioneer of rock video, interactive CD, and Web-based music. In he formed the Nazz [see entry], which, contrary to then-prevailing West Coast psychedelic trends, tried to replicate the look of Swinging London in its clothes, Mod haircuts, and Beatles-ish pop sound.

On it he played nearly all the instruments, overdubbed scores of vocals, and managed to cover pop bases from Motown to Hendrix, from the Beach Boys to the Beatles. Utopia was a more democratic band, in which Rundgren shared songwriting and lead vocals with other members from on: Roger Powell, Kasim Sulton, and Willie Wilcox.

Despite some excellent music, the quartet never placed a single in the Top 40 or saw any of its 11 albums go gold. By that time Rundgren had taken a strong interest in the emerging field of rock video. By he had built his own computer-video studio in Woodstock, New York, and was making technically advanced surrealistic videotapes. In Rundgren embarked on a one-man tour, playing sets that were solo-acoustic as well as those in which he was backed by taped band arrangements, with his computer-graphic videos being shown also.

Add Comment. A Treatise on Cosmic Fire 2. Born To Synthesize 3. Eastern Intrigue 4. Fair Warning 5. Initiation 6. Real Man 7. The Death of Rock 'N' Roll 8. Each song on these albums was recorded as a complete single take with no later overdubbing. Both albums marked, in part, a return to his Philly soul roots. Rundgren was an early adopter of the NewTek Video Toaster and made several videos with it. The first, for "Change Myself" from 2nd Wind , was widely distributed as a demo reel for the Toaster.

Later, he set up a company to produce 3D animation using the Toaster; this company's first demo, "Theology" a look at religious architecture through the ages featuring music by former Utopia bandmate Roger Powell also became a widely circulated item among Toaster users. After a long absence from touring, Rundgren hit the road with Nearly Human—2nd Wind band, which included brass and a trio of slinky backup singers one of whom, Michele Gray, Rundgren married.

He also toured during this period with Ringo Starr 's All-Starr band. The mid s saw Rundgren recording under the pseudonym TR-i "Todd Rundgren interactive" for two albums. The first of these, 's No World Order , consisted of hundreds of seconds-long snippets of music, that could be combined in various ways to suit the listener. The follow-up, The Individualist , featured interactive video content, that could be viewed or in one case, played; it was a simple video game along with the music, which was more rock-oriented than No World Order.

Rundgren returned to recording under his own name for With a Twist His Patronet work, which trickled out to subscribers over more than a year, was released in as One Long Year. In , Rundgren released Liars , a concept album about "paucity of truth", that features a mixture of his older and newer sounds.

As the Internet gained mass acceptance, Rundgren, along with longtime manager Eric Gardner and Apple digital music exec Kelli Richards, started Patronet , which offered fans patrons access to his works-in-progress and new unreleased tracks in exchange for a subscription fee, cutting out record labels.

Since then, Rundgren has severed his connections with major record labels and continues to offer new music direct to subscribers via his website, although he also continues to record and release CDs through independent labels.

However, as of November , the PatroNet. The film depicted the many photographs of NY's missing, that were displayed on Bellevue Hospital's 'wall of prayers' following the attacks. The film was part of a special screening at the Woodstock Film Festival in In late , the Boston -based band The Cars were planning to re-form despite bassist Benjamin Orr 's death and lack of interest on the part of former lead singer Ric Ocasek.

Eventually the group completed their lineup with former Rundgren bassist Kasim Sulton and studio drummer Prairie Prince of The Tubes , who had played on XTC 's Rundgren-produced Skylarking and who has recorded and toured with Rundgren.

In early , the new lineup played a few private shows for industry professionals, played live on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and made other media appearances before commencing a summer tour with the re-formed Blondie.

Rundgren referred to the project as "an opportunity The album includes classic Cars songs and two Rundgren hits recorded live plus three new studio tracks "Not Tonight", "Warm" and "More". April saw the release of Todd Rundgren's Johnson , a collection of Robert Johnson covers, which had been recorded more than a year earlier. On another release, scheduled for September 13, a further album of covers entitled re Production sees him performing tracks he had previously produced for other acts, including Grand Funk Railroad 's " Walk Like a Man " and XTC 's "Dear God".

The book contains chapters, each one page long, and each consisting of three paragraphs. He said that "I realized that I have to do this or somebody else will do it. Since then, he said, "my life has been a lot more boring He began a course through uncharted musical territory, becoming a pioneer not only in electronic music and prog rock, but in music video, computer software, and Internet music delivery as well. But once the technology came down to where I could afford it, then I went digital.

According to biographer Myers, Rundgren himself came to inspire "a generation of self-contained geniuses like Prince Ironically, some of his innovations would come to liberate the recording artist in such a way as to lessen the perceived value, or need, for a record producer at all. Rundgren's production work for other artists were largely one-off affairs.

In cases where the act's songs were unfinished, he would complete them and decline a writer's credit. And at times we were having a good time. After he had stopped using it ca. In , Rundgren 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, , Buell gave birth to Liv Tyler.

Buell initially claimed that Todd Rundgren was the biological father and named the child Liv Rundgren. Shortly after Liv's birth, Rundgren and Buell ended their romantic relationship, but Rundgren remained committed to Liv.

At age eight, Liv learned that her biological father was Steven Tyler. Todd basically decided when I was born that I needed a father so he signed my birth certificate. He knew that there was a chance that I might not be his, but…" He paid to put her through private school, and she visited him several times a year. You know, when he holds me it feels like Daddy. And he's very protective and strong. Rundgren had a long-term relationship with Karen Darvin, with whom he had two sons, Rex born and Randy born Rex was a minor league baseball player infielder for nine seasons.

In , Rundgren married Michele Gray. In the book A Wizard, a True Star , it is stated that he diagnosed himself with attention-deficit disorder. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

With this album, Rundgren fully embraced the synthesized prog sound he had begun exploring in more depth in his work with his band Utopia.

However, unlike Utopia, in which Rundgren had limited himself to playing guitar, most of the synthesizers on Initiation were played and programmed by Rundgren himself. The album's original inner sleeve included a note which stated: "Technical note: Due to the amount of music on this disc over one hour , two points must be emphasized.

Firstly, if your needle is worn or damaged, it will ruin the disc immediately. Secondly, if the sound does seem not loud enough on your system, try re-recording the music onto tape. A world of vinyl at your fingertips. Find a store. Side A 1. How About A Little Fanfare? I Think You Know 3. The Spark Of Life 4.

Initiation is the sixth album by American musician Todd Rundgren, released May 23, on Bearsville scorenabmespocapp.reidrexlicilimalindisctextdersticon.co this album, Rundgren fully embraced the synthesized prog sound he had begun exploring in more depth in his work with his band scorenabmespocapp.reidrexlicilimalindisctextdersticon.cor, unlike Utopia, in which Rundgren had limited himself to playing guitar, most of the synthesizers on Initiation were played and programmed.