Todd Rundgren

Todd Rundgren made history as one of the most innovative, eclectic, unclassifiable rock artists to emerge in the 20th century. Born in Philadelphia in 1948, he found fame with psych-pop rockers the Nazz in the late ’60s before starting his solo career with 1970’s Runt. Philly soul was a primary influence, but across dozens of solo albums, he dipped into hard rock, prog, pure pop, electronic music, jazz-rock fusion, and more, helping to birth power pop along the way. The dazzlingly multitalented Rundgren sometimes played, engineered, and produced everything on those albums himself, crafting standards like “Hello It’s Me” and “I Saw the Light.” But in the mid-’70s he started the truly collaborative Utopia, starting out in art-rock territory but ultimately adopting a hooky New Wave feel. As if all the above weren’t enough, Rundgren has maintained a fabulously successful production career, overseeing classic albums by the New York Dolls, Grand Funk Railroad, Meat Loaf, XTC, The Psychedelic Furs, and many others.