Music

Todd Rundgren

The Prophet Bar - Main Street
Wed May 27 7pm Ages: family friendly
Todd Rundgren

About Todd Rundgren

The 25th solo studio album of his career, "GLOBAL", scheduled for release on April 7 in

North America and April 6 in the rest of the world, is a stunning contemporary fusion of

styles - rock, soul and EDM - which continues the tradition of boundary-breaking works

from this visionary genius. Todd’s preternatural gift of melding the bold and the

accessible is the hallmark of “GLOBAL” ’s finely crafted tracks.

Todd will be embarking on what will eventually be a world tour in support of the release,

beginning in the USA from April 10 - June 10, and continuing in the UK/Europe in

September/October. The stage production will be unlike anything Rundgren has

mounted in the past: the singer/guitarist will be joined on stage by just two female

vocalists and a DJ/keyboardist, and while Todd is keeping the details under wraps, he is

promising that the show will be a “video and lighting spectacle to behold”.

During the tour, on April 18, 2015, Todd will be performing at the University of Arkansas

Clinton School of Public Service, as part of Todd’s Spirit of Harmony Foundation's

Symposium on the Moral Imperative of Music Education (for more information about the

organization, visit www.spiritofharmony.org).

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Todd Rundgren began playing guitar as a teenager,

going on to front The Nazz, the quintessential 60s psychedelic pop group. In 1969, he

left the band to pursue a solo career, recording his debut album “Runt”, but it was

1972's seminal “Something / Anything?” (on which he played all the instruments, sang

all the vocal parts, and acted as his own producer) that catapulted Todd into the

limelight, prompting the media to dub him "Rock's New Wunderkind." This was followed

by such landmark albums as “A Wizard, A True Star”, “Todd”, and “The Hermit Of Mink

Hollow”. In 1974, Todd formed Utopia, who were on the cutting edge of progressive rock

in the 70s, and developed into a very tidy power pop outfit in the 80s (as evidenced by

such early MTV hits as "Set Me Free" and "Feet Don't Fail Me Now").

As a songwriter, video pioneer, producer, recording artist, computer software developer,

conceptualist, and interactive artist, Todd Rundgren has made a lasting impact on both

the form and content of popular music. Among his myriad of hits are "Hello It's Me", "I

Saw the Light", "Can We Still be Friends", "We Gotta Get You A Woman", "Open My

Eyes", and "Bang the Drum" (the latter a mainstay on ESPN and in television

commercials).

Rundgren's prolific producer's discography includes such classics as Skylarking by

XTC, We're an American Band by Grand Funk Railroad, War Babies by Hall & Oates,

Wave by Patti Smith, and Meat Loaf's auspicious debut Bat Out of Hell (the fifth best

selling album of all time with some 42 million sales). Sealing his reputation as rock's

renaissance man, Rundgren composed all the music and lyrics for Joe Papp's 1989 Off-
Broadway production of Joe Orton's “Up Against It” (the screenplay commissioned by

The Beatles for what was meant to have been their third motion picture), as well as the

score for “Dumb And Dumber” and a number of television series, including “Pee Wee's

Playhouse” and “Crime Story”. He is also internationally acknowledged as the Godfather

of the marriage of music and multimedia.

Few artists have been as fearless and groundbreaking - nor possess such an expansive

and exceptional body of work - as Todd Rundgren has throughout his career.

Videos

Todd Rundgren on Gilbert & Sullivan

video:Todd Rundgren on Gilbert & Sullivan

Todd Rundgren talks to Mark Powell of Esoteric Antenna about his latest album, "State"

video:Todd Rundgren talks to Mark Powell of Esoteric Antenna about his latest album,

1988 - Todd Rundgren 'Lip Service' Lecture

video:1988 - Todd Rundgren 'Lip Service' Lecture
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