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Todd Rundgren -dob 6.22.1948- is a multi-talented American musician, singer-songwriter and record producer who still tours on a limited basis, up-to and including earlier this year.
Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind -absolutely adored by critics- and supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972, Rundgren went on to produce a diverse range of recordings as solo artist and during the 70s/80s with the band Utopia.
He has also been successful as a producer and engineer on the recorded work of other musicians. Todd Rundgren engineered and/or produced Stage Fright by The Band, We're an American Band by Grand Funk Railroad, Bat Out of Hell by Meat Loaf (now ranked as the 5th biggest-selling album of all time), and then later Skylarking by new-wavers XTC in 1986.
As a musician, best-known hits include Hello It's Me -written when he was just 16- I Saw the Light which still enjoys heavy rotation on classic rock/adult contemporary radio stations, Just One Victory is long a concert favorite, and Bang the Drum All Day has become an anthem in many American sports arenas, commercials, and movie trailers.
It always surprised me when I first moved to California in 1990, nobody really seemed to know much of him... more significant back east, perhaps; but I always thought of Rundgren as a towering talent, and an incredible composer. You couldn't ask for more originality, wildly experimental actually... a true genius.
He was also a pioneer of the "power pop" genre in the early 70s along with Badfinger and Raspberries... great stuff, despite the WTF stage act and sailor pants, lol.
And a feature unique to Burt Sugarman's Midnight Special show was actual live performances, not lip synching... but Todd here makes light of the fact that although he's singing live, it's to a taped musical track... albeit one he himself played all instruments on:
Billy Swan (dob 12 May 1942) is a multi-talented American musician, songwriter and singer, best known for the 1974 #1 single I Can Help.Born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Swan learned drums, piano and guitar at a very young age, then immediately took to writing songs.
The first big break came in 1962 when Clyde McPhatter recorded Lover Please, a song written by Swan. McPhatter's version quickly became a #7 pop hit.Swan moved to Memphis and for a time worked on Elvis Presley's Graceland estate.
He then moved to Nashville, which enabled him to write hit country songs for numerous artists, including Conway Twitty, Waylon Jennings, and Mel Tillis. In 1969, Swan first took on the role of record producer, producing Tony Joe White's Top Ten hit Polk Salad Annie.
Billy Swan also played bass guitar for Kris Kristofferson, and then signed a solo recording deal with Monument Records. His first album included the song I Can Help, a rockabilly number that topped both the Billboard Hot 100 and country charts in 1974, going-on to become a major international hit.
Swan recorded it in two takes -without overdubs- with an RMI organ that Kristofferson and singer Rita Coolidge had bought for him as a wedding gift.
Here Billy and the band perform their then #1 hit on The Midnight Special... I've adored this tune since the day it hit the radio, and a great live version here, a little more honky-tonk... they didn't lip-synch on these, a feature unique to that show:
Billy Swan, I can help, 1974, 1975, Midnight Special, Clyde McPhatter, Lover Please, Oldies, rock n roll oldies, Saturday Night Oldies, TGIF, video, youtube, xxx, Billy Swan, I can help, 1974
