Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
Arms of Her Majesty's Government
Incumbent Kenneth Clarke since 12 May 2010
Style	The Right Honourable
Appointer	The Sovereign on advice of the Prime Minister
Inaugural holder	The Lord Cowper
Formation	May 1707 of Kingdom of Great Britain

The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking after only the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign on the advice of the Prime Minister. Prior to the Union there were separate Lord Chancellors^[1] of England and Scotland.

The Lord Chancellor is a member of the Cabinet and, by law, is responsible for the efficient functioning and independence of the courts. Formerly he was also the presiding officer of the House of Lords, and the head of the judiciary in England and Wales, but the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 transferred these roles to the Lord Speaker and the Lord Chief Justice respectively. The current Lord Chancellor is Kenneth Clarke, who, as with his predecessor Jack Straw, is also Secretary of State for Justice. Clarke holds the position, as did Straw, while serving as a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons; Straw was the first Lord Chancellor since the 17th century not to be a peer. Straw's predecessor, Lord Falconer of Thoroton served as Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs before that post was superseded by the post of Secretary of State for Justice in 2007.

One of the Lord Chancellor's responsibilities is to act as the custodian of the Great Seal. A Lord Keeper of the Great Seal may be appointed instead of a Lord Chancellor. The two offices entail exactly the same duties; the only distinction is in the mode of appointment. Furthermore, the office of Lord Chancellor may be exercised by a committee of individuals known as "Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal", usually when there is a delay between an outgoing Chancellor and his replacement. The seal is then said to be "in commission". Since the 19th century, however, only Lord Chancellors have been appointed, the other offices having fallen into disuse.

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History[link]

The office of Lord Chancellor of England may trace its origins to the Carolingian monarchy, in which a Chancellor acted as the keeper of the royal seal. In England, the office dates at least as far back as the Norman Conquest (1066), and possibly earlier. Some give the first Chancellor of England as Angmendus, in 605. Other sources suggest that the first to appoint a Chancellor was Edward the Confessor, who is said to have adopted the practice of sealing documents instead of personally signing them. A clerk of Edward's, Regenbald, was named "chancellor" in some documents from Edward's reign.^[2] In any event, the office has been continuously occupied since the Norman Conquest.^{[citation needed]} The chancellor headed the writing office, or chancery.^[3]

Formerly, the Lord Chancellor was almost always a churchman, as during the Middle Ages the clergy were amongst the few literate men of the realm. The Lord Chancellor performed multiple functions—he was the Keeper of the Great Seal, the chief royal chaplain, and adviser in both spiritual and temporal matters. Thus, the position emerged as one of the most important ones in government. He was only outranked in government by the Justiciar (now obsolete).

Sir Thomas More, one of the most famous early Lord Chancellors, served and was executed under King Henry VIII.

As one of the King's ministers, the Lord Chancellor attended the Curia Regis, or Royal Court. If a bishop, the Lord Chancellor received a writ of summons; if an ecclesiastic of a lower degree, or if a layman, he attended without any summons. The Curia Regis would later evolve into Parliament, the Lord Chancellor becoming the prolocutor of its upper house, the House of Lords. As was confirmed by a statute passed during the reign of Henry VIII, a Lord Chancellor could preside over the House of Lords even if not a Lord himself.^{[citation needed]}

The Lord Chancellor's judicial duties also evolved through his role in the Curia Regis. Petitions for justice were normally addressed to the King and the Curia, but in 1280, Edward I instructed his justices to examine and deal with petitions themselves as the Court of King's Bench. Important petitions were to be sent to the Lord Chancellor for his decision; the more significant of these were also to be brought to the King's attention. By the reign of Edward III, this chancellery function developed into a separate tribunal for the Lord Chancellor. In this body, which became known as the High Court of Chancery, the Lord Chancellor would determine cases according to fairness (or "equity") instead of according to the strict principles of common law. The Lord Chancellor also became known as the "Keeper of the King's Conscience." Churchmen continued to dominate the Chancellorship until the 16th century. In 1529, after Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, who was Lord Chancellor and Archbishop of York, was dismissed for failing to procure the annulment of Henry VIII's first marriage, laymen tended to be more favoured for appointment to the office. Ecclesiastics made a brief return during the reign of Mary I, but thereafter, almost all Lord Chancellors have been laymen.

The office[link]

Formerly, when the office was held by ecclesiastics, a "Keeper of the Great Seal" acted in the Lord Chancellor's absence. Keepers were also appointed when the office of Lord Chancellor fell vacant, and discharged the duties of the office until an appropriate replacement could be found. When Elizabeth I became Queen, Parliament passed an Act providing that a Lord Keeper of the Great Seal would be entitled to "like place, pre-eminence, jurisdiction, execution of laws, and all other customs, commodities, and advantages" as a Lord Chancellor. The only difference between the two offices is the mode of appointment—a Lord Chancellor is appointed by formal letters patent, but a Lord Keeper is appointed by the delivery of the Great Seal into his custody.

Formerly, it was customary to appoint commoners to the office of Lord Keeper, and peers to the office of Lord Chancellor. A Lord Keeper who acquired a peerage dignity would subsequently be appointed Lord Chancellor. The last Lord Keeper was Robert Henley, who was created a Baron in 1760 and was appointed Lord Chancellor in 1761. Since then, commoners as well as peers have been appointed to the post of Lord Chancellor; however, until the 21st-century changes to the office, a commoner would normally have been created a peer shortly after his appointment.

It is also possible to put the office of Lord Chancellor into commission (that is to say, to entrust the office to a group of individuals rather than a single person). The individuals who exercise the office become known as "Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal." Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal have not been appointed since 1836.

Formerly, there were separate Chancellors of England, Scotland and Ireland. When the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland united to form the Kingdom of Great Britain under the Act of Union 1707 the offices of the Chancellor of England and the Lord Chancellor of Scotland were combined to form a single office of Lord Chancellor for the new state. Similar provision was not made when Great Britain and Ireland merged into the United Kingdom under the Act of Union 1800. Thus, the separate office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland continued to exist until the formation of the Irish Free State in 1922. The office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland was abolished, and its duties transferred to the Governor of Northern Ireland, and later the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Thus, the Lord Chancellor remains "Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain", and not "Lord High Chancellor of the United Kingdom."

Legislative functions[link]

The Lord Chancellor used to be the presiding officer of the House of Lords by right of prescription. The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 removed this function, leaving the choice of a presiding officer to the House of Lords itself. Ultimately, the Lords chose to elect a Lord Speaker, which title was already used in the Standing Orders.

Whenever the Sovereign appoints Lords Commissioners to perform certain actions on his or her behalf (for example, to formally declare in Parliament that the Royal Assent has been granted, or to prorogue or dissolve Parliament), the Lord Chancellor usually served as the principal or senior Lord Commissioner. The other Lords Commissioners, by convention, are members of the House of Lords who are Privy Counsellors (generally the leaders of the three main parties and the Convenor of the Crossbenches). In this role the Lord Chancellor wears Parliamentary Robes—a full-length scarlet wool gown decorated with miniver fur. The Lord Chancellor wears a tricorne hat, but the other Lords Commissioners wear bicorne hats. During the period that Jack Straw, an MP, was Lord Chancellor, he was officially named as one of the Lords Commissioners, but did not take part in the formal ceremonies of granting Royal Assent and proroguing Parliament. The Lord Speaker has been appointed a Lord Commissioner and does take part in the ceremonies. The role of principal Lord Commissioner during this period has been taken by the Leader of the House of Lords. (There was only one exception: when John Bercow was presented for Royal Approbation for the office of Speaker of the House of Commons in 2009, Straw was the principal Lord Commissioner, and the Lord Speaker was not in the Commission.) This precedent has continued under the current Lord Chancellor, Kenneth Clarke. It is unclear how these arrangements would change if a future Lord Chancellor were appointed from the House of Lords.

Executive functions[link]

The Lord Chancellor is a member of the Privy Council and of the Cabinet. The office he heads was known as the Lord Chancellor's Office between 1885 and 1971 and the Lord Chancellor's Department between 1971 and 2003. In 2003 the Department was renamed the Department for Constitutional Affairs and the Lord Chancellor was appointed Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs. In 2007 this post was renamed Secretary of State for Justice and the department became the Ministry of Justice.

The Department headed by the Lord Chancellor has many responsibilities, such as the administration of the courts. Furthermore, the Lord Chancellor has a role in appointing many judges in the courts of England and Wales. Senior judges (Justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, Lords Justices of Appeal and the Heads of the Divisions of the High Court) are officially appointed by the Sovereign on the advice of the Lord Chancellor, but since 2005 the Lord Chancellor has been advised by an independent Judicial Appointments Commission and can only choose whether to accept or reject its recommendations. Similarly the Lord Chancellor no longer determines which barristers are to be raised to the rank of Queen's Counsel but merely supervises the process of selection by an independent panel.

Custody of the Great Seal of the Realm is entrusted to the Lord Chancellor. Documents to which the Great Seal is affixed include letters patent, writs and royal proclamations. The sealing is actually performed under the supervision of the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery (who holds the additional office of Permanent Secretary to the Lord Chancellor). The Lord Chancellor does not maintain custody of the Great Seal of Scotland (which is kept by the First Minister of Scotland) or of the Great Seal of Northern Ireland (which is kept by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland).

Former judicial functions[link]

The judicial functions of the Lord Chancellor (as opposed to his role in the administration of the court system) were removed by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005.

Formerly, the Lord Chancellor performed several different judicial roles. He sat as a Judge in the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords (the highest domestic Court in the United Kingdom), and was a member of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (the senior tribunal of the British Empire (except for the United Kingdom) and, latterly, parts of the Commonwealth). He was the President of the Supreme Court of England and Wales, and therefore supervised the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the High Court of Justice of England and Wales and the Crown Court of England and Wales. He was also, ex officio, a judge in the Court of Appeal and the President of the Chancery Division. In modern times, these judicial functions were exercised very sparingly. The functions in relation to the House of Lords and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council were usually delegated to the Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary. The task of presiding over the Chancery Division was delegated to the Vice-Chancellor, a senior judge (now known as the Chancellor of the High Court). Most Lord Chancellors by the end of the twentieth century gave judgments only in cases reaching the House of Lords. The last Lord Chancellor to preside as a Judge was Lord Irvine of Lairg, who did so as a member of the Judicial Committee of the House of Lords. However, concerns were already being expressed, including by the judiciary, at the propriety of a Cabinet Minister sitting as a professional Judge, and his successor, Lord Falconer, never performed such a role, even before his right to do so was abolished.

Formerly, when peers had the right to be tried for felonies or for high treason by other peers in the House of Lords (instead of commoners on juries), the Lord High Steward, instead of the Lord Chancellor, would preside. This also occurred in impeachment trials. (The office of Lord High Steward has generally remained vacant since 1421. Whenever a peer was to be tried in the House of Lords, a Lord High Steward would be appointed pro hac vice [for this occasion]). In many cases, the Lord Chancellor would merely be elevated to the office of Lord High Steward temporarily. Trials of peers in the House of Lords were abolished in 1948, and impeachment is obsolete, so this is unlikely to occur again.

At the beginning of the legal year, the Lord Chancellor officiates at a ceremony in Westminster Abbey in front of all the judges. The ceremony is followed by a reception known as the Lord Chancellor's breakfast which is held in Westminster Hall.

From 1867 to 1875, the Lord Chancellor was the highest court officer for Canada until the creation of the Supreme Court of Canada and the office of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.

Ecclesiastical functions[link]

The Lord Chancellor performs various functions relating to the established Church of England. He appoints clergymen in such of the ecclesiastical livings under the patronage of the Crown as are officially listed as being worth less than £20 per annum. Furthermore, he exercises the same prerogative in regard to the less valuable livings in the Duchy of Cornwall when there is no Duke of Cornwall, or when the Duke of Cornwall is a minor. (The heir-apparent to the Crown, if he is the Sovereign's eldest son, is automatically Duke of Cornwall.) Finally, the Lord Chancellor is in some cases the patron of an ecclesiastical living in his own right. Thus, in total, he appoints clergymen in over four hundred parishes and twelve cathedral canonries.

By law, the Lord Chancellor must be consulted before appointments may be made to certain ecclesiastical courts. Judges of Consistory Courts, the Arches Court of Canterbury, the Chancery Court of York and the Court of Ecclesiastical Causes Reserved are appointed only after consultation with the Lord Chancellor.

The Lord Chancellor is, ex officio, one of the thirty-three Church Commissioners, who manage the assets of the Church of England.

Formerly, Roman Catholics were thought to be ineligible for the office of Lord Chancellor, as the office entailed functions relating to the Church of England. Most legal restrictions on Roman Catholics were lifted by the Catholic Relief Act 1829, which, however, provides, "nothing herein contained shall ... enable any Person, otherwise than as he is now by Law enabled, to hold or enjoy the Office of Lord High Chancellor, Lord Keeper or Lord Commissioner of the Great Seal". The words "as he is now by Law enabled", however, caused considerable doubt, as it was unclear if Roman Catholics were disqualified from holding the office in the first place. For the removal of all doubt, Parliament passed an Act in 1974, declaring that there was never any impediment to the appointment of a Roman Catholic. The Act nevertheless provided that, if a Roman Catholic were appointed to the office, then the Sovereign may temporarily transfer the Lord Chancellor's ecclesiastical functions to the Prime Minister or another minister.

Other functions[link]

Under the Regency Act 1937, the Lord Chancellor is one of the five persons who participate in determining the capacity of the Sovereign to discharge his or her royal duties—the other individuals so empowered are the Sovereign's spouse, the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales and the Master of the Rolls. If any three or more of these individuals, based on evidence that, as required by statute, shall include evidence provided by physicians, determine and declare by an instrument in writing, lodged with the Privy Council, that the Sovereign suffers from a mental or physical infirmity that prevents him or her from personally discharging the duties of Head of State, the royal functions are transferred to a Regent, who discharges them in the name and on behalf of the monarch.

The Lord Chancellor is also the Keeper of the Queen's Conscience. As such, the Lord Chancellor was once also the chief judge of the Court of Chancery in London, dispensing equity to soften the harshness of the law.

The Lord Chancellor acts as the Visitor of many universities, colleges, schools, hospitals and other charitable organisations throughout the United Kingdom. When the rules of the organisation do not designate a Visitor, or when a vacancy in the office arises, the Sovereign serves as Visitor, but delegates the functions to the Lord Chancellor. Furthermore, some organisations explicitly provide that the Lord Chancellor is to act as Visitor; these bodies include St. George's Chapel, Windsor, the Royal Institution, Newcastle University and three colleges of the University of Oxford (namely St. Antony's College, Worcester College, and University College).

The power to appoint members of certain organisations is vested in the Lord Chancellor. These organisations include the governing bodies of Harrow School, Rugby School and Charterhouse School.

Precedence and privileges[link]

The Lord High Chancellor outranks all other Great Officers of State, with the exception of the Lord High Steward, which has generally been vacant since the 15th century. Under modern conventions, the office of Lord High Steward is only filled on the day of a new monarch's coronation; thus, at all other times, the Lord Chancellor remains the highest ranking Great Officer. The importance of the office is reflected by the Treason Act 1351, which makes it high treason to slay the Lord Chancellor. A Lord High Treasurer would be entitled to the same protection—but the office is now held in commission—as would a judge whilst actually in court, determining a case.

The Lord Chancellor's position in the modern order of precedence is an extremely high one; generally, he is outranked only by the Royal Family and high ecclesiastics. In England, the Lord Chancellor precedes all non-royal individuals except the Archbishop of Canterbury. In Scotland, he precedes all non-royal individuals except the Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Although Lord Chancellor "of Great Britain", he maintains a position in the order of precedence in Northern Ireland; there, he outranks all non-royal individuals with the exception of the Anglican and Roman Catholic Archbishops of Armagh, the Anglican and Roman Catholic Archbishops of Dublin and the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. Throughout the United Kingdom, the Lord Chancellor technically outranks the Prime Minister, although the latter generally possesses more power. The precedence of a Lord Keeper of the Great Seal is equivalent to that of a Lord Chancellor. The precedence of Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal is much lower (see United Kingdom order of precedence).

The Lord Chancellor is entitled to an annual emolument of £227,736 and to an annual pension of £106,868. The Lord Chancellor's salary is higher than that of any other public official, including even the Prime Minister, although sometimes the officeholder may voluntarily decide to receive a reduced salary.

Reform[link]

In the early 21st century the combined executive, legislative and judicial functions of the historical office of Lord Chancellor began to be viewed as untenable, as it infringed on the idea of the separation of powers as put forward by Montesquieu (where no one should reside in any more than one of the three branches of government; the Lord Chancellor stood in all three). It was also considered as possibly inconsistent with the European Convention on Human Rights. At the same time, proposals by the Blair Government simply to abolish the office met with opposition from those who felt that such an official is necessary to speak on the judiciary's behalf in the Cabinet, as well as from those who opposed the sudden abolition of such an ancient office. In 2003, Tony Blair chose his close friend and former flatmate Lord Falconer of Thoroton to be Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs. At the same time, he announced his intention to abolish the office of Lord Chancellor and to make many other constitutional reforms. After much surprise and confusion, it became clear that the ancient office of Lord Chancellor could not be abolished without an Act of Parliament. Lord Falconer of Thoroton duly appeared in the House of Lords to preside from the Woolsack on the next day. The Lord Chancellor's Department, however, was renamed the Department for Constitutional Affairs.

Jack Straw, the previous Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain and Secretary of State for Justice.

In January 2004, the Department of Constitutional Affairs published a concordat, outlining the division of authority between Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice and which was intended as the basis of reform.^[4] The Government introduced the Constitutional Reform Bill in the House of Lords in February 2004. The Bill sought to abolish the office of Lord Chancellor, and to transfer his functions to other officials: legislative functions to a Speaker of the House of Lords, executive functions to the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and judicial functions to the Lord Chief Justice. The Bill also made other constitutional reforms, such as transferring the judicial duties of the House of Lords to a Supreme Court.

In March 2004, however, the Lords upset the Government's plans by sending the bill to a Select Committee. Although initially seen as a move to kill the bill, the Government and Opposition agreed to permit the Bill to proceed through the parliamentary process, subject to any amendments made by the Committee. On 13 July 2004, the House amended the Constitutional Reform Bill such that the title of Lord Chancellor would be retained, although the Government's other proposed reforms were left intact. Then, in November 2004, the Government introduced an amendment in the Lords which wholly removed references to the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, changing them to ones about the Lord Chancellor, with the positions of Secretary of State and Lord Chancellor envisaged as being held by the same person. The final Constitutional Reform Act received royal assent on 24 March 2005 and the major transfers of the historical functions of the Lord Chancellor to others (such as the Lord Chief Justice and Lord Speaker) were complete by mid-2006. However the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs retained his place as a member of the Cabinet and certain special statutory functions.

Unlike the responsibilities of other Secretaries of State, which can be transferred from one department to another by an order-in-council, several functions of the Lord Chancellor are linked to the office of Lord Chancellor as a matter of statute law, even after the adoption of the Constitutional Reform Act. Those "protected functions" of the Lord Chancellor can only be transferred to other ministers by Act of Parliament.^[5]

In May 2007, the Department of Constitutional Affairs ceased to exist, and its functions were transferred to a newly created Ministry of Justice, which also took charge of certain responsibilities that were transferred to it from the Home Office. Lord Falconer, the Lord Chancellor, while retaining that title and office, was appointed the first Secretary of State for Justice.

In the past, if a person who was not a peer was to be appointed to the office of Lord Chancellor, he would be raised to the peerage upon receiving the appointment, though provision was made in 1539 for non-peers who hold the Great Offices of State to sit in between the benches in the House.^[6] With enactment of the Constitutional Reform Act, 2005 and the subsequent separation of the roles of Lord Chancellor and Speaker of the House of Lords, it is no longer necessary for the Lord Chancellor to be a peer.^[7] In June 2007, Jack Straw, an MP, was appointed as Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, thus becoming the first Lord Chancellor to be a member of the House of Commons, rather than the House of Lords or its predecessor, the Curia Regis, since Sir Christopher Hatton in 1578.^[8][9]

Fictional depictions[link]

The most celebrated fictional depiction of a Lord Chancellor occurs in Iolanthe, the comic opera by W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. The Lord Chancellor is the central character in the work but is identified only by his title. The action concerns a group of fairies who become romantically involved with members of the House of Lords. The Lord Chancellor, who serves as guardian to wards of the Court of Chancery, is worried, because he has developed feelings for a ward of court. The character sings a patter song, "The Nightmare Song", about his mental anguish caused by unrequited love. In dialogue, the Lord Chancellor, in another reference to his romantic dilemma, complains "ah, my Lords, it is indeed painful to have to sit upon a Woolsack stuffed with such thorns as these!"

William H. Rehnquist, late Chief Justice of the United States, was inspired to add four golden stripes to the sleeves of his judicial robes after seeing the costume of the Lord Chancellor in a production of Iolanthe. The current Chief Justice, John G. Roberts Jr., has not continued the practice.

A fictional Lord Chancellor also appears in Charles Dickens' novel Bleak House (also identified only by title), presiding over the interminable chancery case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce.

King Hilary and the Beggarman, a children's poem by A.A. Milne, relates the story of a fictional Lord High Chancellor, "Proud Lord Willoughby", who is dismissed for refusing to obey his king.

See also[link]

• List of Lord Chancellors and Lord Keepers
• List of Lord Chancellors of Scotland
• Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal
• Alienation Office

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Campbell, John (1878), Lives of the Lord Chancellors and Keepers of the Great Seal of England From the Earliest Times Till the Reign of Qeen Victoria, 7th ed. London: John Murray.
• Davies, M. (2003). Companion to the Standing Orders and guide to the Proceedings of the Lords, 19th ed.
• Department for Constitutional Affairs. (2003). "Constitutional Reform: Reforming the Office of the Lord Chancellor"
• House of Lords. (2003–2004). Bill 30 (Constitutional Reform Bill).
• "Lord High Chancellor" (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed. London: Cambridge University Press.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lord Chancellors

v t e Ministry of Justice of the United Kingdom Headquarters: 102 Petty France, Westminster Ministers Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor 2 Ministers of State 4 Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State Executive agencies HM Courts and Tribunals Service National Offender Management Service (HM Prison Service National Probation Service) The National Archives Office of the Public Guardian Significant non-departmental public bodies Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council Civil Justice Council Criminal Cases Review Commission Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority Independent Monitoring Board Information Commissioner's Office Judicial Appointments Commission Law Commission Legal Services Board Legal Services Commission Parole Board for England and Wales Sentencing Council Youth Justice Board Significant former agencies HM Courts Service Tribunals Service Sentencing Guidelines Council

v t e Great Officers of State of England and Scotland England Lord High Steward · Lord High Chancellor (of Great Britain) · Lord High Treasurer · Lord President of the Council · Lord Privy Seal · Lord Great Chamberlain · Lord High Constable · Earl Marshal · Lord High Admiral Scotland Lord High Chancellor · Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland · Chamberlain of Scotland · Lord High Treasurer of Scotland · Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland · Lord Clerk Register · Lord Advocate · Lord Justice Clerk · Lord Justice General · Lord Lyon King of Arms Italics indicate officers that are in commission, purely ceremonial or defunct

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Todd Rundgren
Rundgren on March 25, 2009 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Background information
Birth name	Todd Harry Rundgren
Born	(1948-06-22) 22 June 1948 (age 64) Upper Darby, Pennsylvania United States
Genres	Rock, progressive rock, soft rock, power pop, pop rock, hard rock, blue-eyed soul, comedy rock, rap, proto-punk
Occupations	Musician Songwriter Musician Producer video director recording engineer computer programmer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, saxophone, theremin
Years active	1967–present
Labels	Ampex, Bearsville, Warner Bros.
Associated acts	Nazz, Utopia, The New Cars, Meat Loaf, Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band, Edgar Winter, David Sanborn, Mark Klingman, Daryl Hall, Hello People
Website	www.tr-i.com

Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and record producer. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972,^[1] Todd Rundgren's career has produced a diverse range of recordings as solo artist, and during the seventies and eighties with the band Utopia. He has also been prolific as a producer and engineer on the recorded work of other musicians.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Rundgren engineered and/or produced many notable albums for other acts, including Straight Up by Badfinger, Stage Fright by The Band, We're an American Band by Grand Funk Railroad, Bat Out of Hell by Meat Loaf, and Skylarking by XTC. In the 1980s and 1990s his interest in video and computers led to Rundgren's "Time Heals" being the eighth video played on MTV, and "Change Myself" was animated by Rundgren^[2] on commercially available Amiga Computers.

His best-known songs include "Hello It's Me" and "I Saw the Light" which have heavy rotation on classic rock radio stations, and "Bang the Drum All Day" featured in many sports arenas, commercials, and movie trailers. Although lesser known, "Couldn't I Just Tell You" has had a major influence on artists in the power pop musical genre.^[3]

Early career[link]

Rundgren was born in Upper Darby, on the edge of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He began his career in Woody's Truck Stop, a Philadelphia-based group based on the model of Paul Butterfield Blues Band. However, Rundgren and bassist Carson Van Osten left the band to form the garage rock group Nazz in 1967 with Thom Mooney (drums) and Robert "Stewkey" Antoni (vocals and keyboards). The group gained minor recognition with the Rundgren-penned songs "Open My Eyes" and "Hello It's Me". (He later recorded a solo, uptempo version of "Hello It's Me"; it became one of his signature songs.) Nazz released three albums during this time—Nazz (1968), Nazz Nazz (1969), and Nazz III (1971). ^[4] "Open My Eyes" gained belated recognition thanks to its inclusion in Nuggets (1972), the genre-defining anthology of American 1960s garage punk and psychedelia compiled by musician Lenny Kaye. The group's second LP was originally intended as double album (titled Fungo Bat), but instead a truncated version was released as Nazz Nazz in April 1969. Rundgren and Van Osten left the band shortly after. Under Stewkey's leadership the band continued (with new members) until 1970, and their label released a third LP Nazz III on which most of Rundgren's vocals on the unreleased songs from the Fungo Bat sessions were replaced by Stewkey's.

Rundgren's distinctive style was informed by a wide variety of musical influences—British pop-rock (notably Pink Floyd, The Beatles, The Who, The Yardbirds, Cream and The Move), the intricate vocal harmonies of The Beach Boys, classic American rock'n'roll, Broadway musicals, the operettas of Gilbert & Sullivan and American soul and R&B, but as his music evolved he demonstrated an increasing interest in other genres as well, such as hard rock and experimental music.^{[citation needed]}

Particularly during the early years of his career, Rundgren's songwriting was heavily influenced by the music of singer-songwriter Laura Nyro:

"I knew her fairly well. I met her right after Eli and the Thirteenth Confession. I actually had arranged a meeting, just because I was so infatuated with her and I wanted to meet the person who had produced all this music. We got along, and we were kind of friendly, and actually, after I met her the first time, she asked me if I wanted to be her band leader. But the Nazz had just signed a record contract and I couldn't skip out on the band, even though it was incredibly tempting."^[5]

Rundgren's debut solo album Runt (1970) includes the strongly Nyro-influenced "Baby Let’s Swing", which was written about her and mentions her by name.

Nazz manager Michael Friedman who had joined Albert Grossman management brought Rundgren to the firm where he became both a solo artist and producer for many artists in the Grossman stable.

Solo work[link]

Rundgren playing in concert during his early years

After leaving the Nazz in 1969, Rundgren relocated temporarily to New York and began working as a producer for other groups. He also apparently considered working as a computer programmer.^[6] Ultimately, he became one of the first artists signed to the Bearsville Records label established by Albert Grossman, and in 1970 he formed the 'band' Runt, consisting of himself, Hunt Sales on drums, and his brother Tony Sales on bass (the Sales brothers are the sons of US comedian Soupy Sales and went on to play with Iggy Pop, David Bowie, and Tin Machine). Rundgren himself wrote, produced, sang and played guitars, keyboards and other instruments. Whether Runt is best described as a band or simply as a pseudonym for Rundgren as a solo artist is unclear—for the album Runt (1970) the group appeared to be a bona-fide trio, but on their second album Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren (1971), Hunt Sales plays only on two tracks and is replaced by N.D. Smart on the rest of the album. Furthermore, only Rundgren is pictured on the covers of both albums, and both albums have been subsequently reissued with the same titles and cover art, but bearing the artist credit "Todd Rundgren". Whether a solo project or a band, Runt had a #20 hit in the U.S. with "We Gotta Get You a Woman" in 1970, and two other Runt songs placed in the lower reaches of the Hot 100.

By 1972, the Runt persona/band identity had been abandoned, and Rundgren's next project, the ambitious double LP Something/Anything? (1972) was credited simply to Rundgren, who wrote, played, sang, engineered, and produced everything on three of the four sides of the album. Something/Anything? featured the top 20 U.S. hits "I Saw The Light" (#16; not to be confused with the Hank Williams song of the same name), and a remake of the Nazz near-hit "Hello It's Me", which reached #5 in the U.S. and is Rundgren's biggest hit. The former song featured Rundgren on all vocals and instruments. On his ensuing concert tour, his backing band was the Hello People, whose own album he later produced.

Changing style[link]

Although he opposed the use of drugs during his days with Nazz, in the early 1970s Rundgren changed his views and began experimenting with various mind-altering substances including marijuana, LSD and the stimulant Ritalin and this had a marked effect both on the style of his music and his productivity:

"It (Ritalin) caused me to crank out songs at an incredible pace. 'I Saw the Light' took me all of 20 minutes. You can see why, too, the rhymes are just moon/June/spoon kind of stuff..."^[7]

Speaking of the effect on A Wizard, A True Star, Rundgren commented:

"With drugs I could suddenly abstract my thought processes in a certain way, and I wanted to see if I could put them on a record. A lot of people recognised it as the dynamics of a psychedelic trip—it was almost like painting with your head."^[7]

Though he often revisited the classic popular song format, during the early 1970s Rundgren's music began to incorporate elements of progressive rock. 1973's transitional A Wizard, a True Star marked the beginning of this trend, which came to fruition with his next two solo albums Todd (1974) and Initiation (1975) and the early recordings under the aegis of his new group project Utopia.

A Wizard, A True Star, which was sequenced as a continuous medley, featured a wildly eclectic range of songs set in dazzling arrangements and production, with Rundgren experimenting with the synthesiser and exploiting virtually every studio effect and technique then available. Backing musicians included renowned horn players Michael Brecker and Randy Brecker, guitarist Rick Derringer and several other musicians who subsequently joined the original incarnation of Utopia. Although it featured predominantly original material (including the anthemic "Just One Victory", which became a concert favorite), the album set a pattern followed on subsequent solo albums, with Rundgren recording cover versions of his favorite songs—in this case, "Never Never Land", from the Broadway musical version of Peter Pan, and a medley of soul classics, including a unique version of the Capitols' "Cool Jerk" played in the 7/8 time signature. The album was also notable for its extended running time—over 55 minutes in length, compared to around 40–45 minutes for a typical pop-rock LP of the period. This reflected Rundgren's skills as a mastering engineer, since this extended running time took the album close to the practical maximum for an LP. Due to the inherent physical limitations of the vinyl LP medium, on records with running times over 45 minutes there is an unfavorable trade-off between duration and the audio quality and volume. On the album cover, packed with his handwritten notes, he advised listeners to crank up their Victrolas accordingly.

Todd (1974) continued in this vein and featured similarly diverse material. Alongside originals such as "A Dream Goes On Forever" and "Heavy Metal Kids", both of which became concert staples, Rundgren also satirised his chosen profession with the song "An Elpees' Worth of Tunes" and revisited his teenage obsession with the music of Gilbert & Sullivan in a rendition of "The Lord Chancellor's Nightmare Song" (from Iolanthe).

By contrast, Rundgren's work with Utopia (see below) and his next solo album took him decisively into progressive rock. Initiation (1975) addressed cosmic themes, showed a strong interest in spirituality (particularly Far Eastern religion and philosophy), and displayed the musical influence of psychedelic rock, as well as the avant-garde jazz fusion of contemporary acts such as the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Frank Zappa. Once again the original LP issue saw Rundgren pushing the medium to its physical limits, with the side-long suite "A Treatise on Cosmic Fire" clocking in at over 35 minutes.

When touring, Rundgren presented the music in a lavish stage setting that echoed the ambitious space-themed shows of acts like Parliament/Funkadelic and he adopted an outlandish space-rock image on stage, including multi-coloured dyed hair. In this period he regularly played the eye-catching psychedelic Gibson SG (known as "Sunny") which Eric Clapton had played in Cream. After he had stopped using it ca. 1968, Clapton gave the guitar to George Harrison, who subsequently 'loaned' it to British singer Jackie Lomax. In 1972, after meeting at a recording session, Lomax sold the guitar to Rundgren for $500 with an option to buy it back, which he never took up.^[8] Rundgren played it extensively during the early years of Utopia before retiring the instrument, which he eventually auctioned off; he now owns a reproduction.^[9]

NME—September 1974^[10]

His 1976 album Faithful marked a return to the pop/rock genre, featuring one side of original songs and one side of covers of significant songs from 1966, including the Yardbirds' "Happening Ten Years Time Ago" (the B-side of that Yardbirds single gave Nazz its name) and a nearly identical re-creation of the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations". Faithful was followed by Hermit of Mink Hollow (1978); this included the hit ballad "Can We Still Be Friends" (covered a year later by Robert Palmer), which reached #29 in the U.S. (Palmer's version reached #52) and was accompanied by an innovative self-produced music video, and the album became the second most successful of his career (after Something? Anything!), reaching #36 in the U.S. During 1978 Rundgren undertook an American tour playing at smaller venues including The Bottom Line in New York and the Roxy in Los Angeles; this resulted in the double live album Back to the Bars, which featured a mixture of material from his solo work and Utopia, performed with backing musicians including Utopia, Edgar Winter, Spencer Davis, Daryl Hall and John Oates and Stevie Nicks.

Rundgren performing in 1978

Subsequent solo releases included the album-long concept work Healing (1981) and the New Wave-tinged The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect (1982) which included a cover of The Small Faces hit "Tin Soldier". The latter album also marked the end of Rundgren's tenure with Bearsville Records. He then signed with Warner Bros. Records who issued his next album, A Cappella (1985), which was recorded using Rundgren's multi-tracked voice, accompanied by arrangements constructed entirely from programmed vocal samples. "Bang the Drum All Day", from The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect was a minor chart hit which has become more prominent in subsequent years, having been adopted as an unofficial theme by several professional sports franchises, notably the Green Bay Packers, and becoming popular on radio, where it was often featured on Friday afternoons."Bang..." was also used prominently in a Carnival Cruises television advertising campaign. It is now considered one of Rundgren's most popular songs.^[11] In 1986, Rundgren scored four episodes of the popular children's television show Pee Wee's Playhouse.

Nearly Human (1989) and 2nd Wind (1991) were both recorded live—the former in the studio, the latter in a theater before a live audience, which was instructed to remain silent. 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. 2nd Wind also included several excerpts from Rundgren's musical Up Against It, which was adapted from the screenplay (originally titled "Prick Up Your Ears") that British playwright Joe Orton had originally offered to The Beatles for their never-made follow-up to Help!. 2nd Wind was Rundgren's last release through a major label and all his subsequent recordings have been self-released.

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 next few years saw Rundgren recording under the pseudonym TR-i ("Todd Rundgren interactive") for two albums. The first of these, 1993's No World Order, consisted of hundreds of seconds-long snippets of music that could be combined in various ways to suit the listener. Initially targeted for the Philips CD-i platform, No World Order featured interactive controls for tempo, mood, and other parameters, along with pre-programmed mixes by Rundgren himself, Bob Clearmountain, Don Was, and Jerry Harrison. The disc was also released for PC and Macintosh and in two versions on standard audio CD, the continuous mix disc No World Order and, later, the more song-oriented No World Order Lite. The music itself was quite a departure from Rundgren's previous work, with a dance/techno feel and much rapping by Rundgren. The follow-up, 1995's 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, an album of bossa-nova covers of his older material. His Patronet work, which trickled out to subscribers over more than a year, was released in 2000 as One Long Year. In 2004, Rundgren released Liars, a concept album about "paucity of truth" that features a mixture of his older and newer sounds.

In early 2008, Rundgren launched his official Myspace page. Later that year, he released the rock album Arena. In concert, he had been performing the album in full and in sequence before its release.

Rundgren released the live compilation album, For Lack of Honest Work, in 2010. The album was advertised as a collection of bootleg recordings that were approved by Rundgren himself.

April 2011 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 2011 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."

Utopia[link]

Utopia, touring to support the Ra album at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia; 1977, L to R: Roger Powell, Rundgren, Kasim Sulton

Rundgren's back-up band for A Wizard, a True Star evolved into the first version of Utopia, a larger prog-rock ensemble, which included multiple keyboards, synthesizers and brass and featured a character completely disguised in a silver suit, "M. Frog Labat" (Jean-Yves Labat de Rossi) on synthesizers, who also put out his own electronics/keyboards-based solo album. This incarnation premiered on 1974's Todd Rundgren's Utopia, which was book-ended by the 14-minute "Utopia Theme" (recorded live in concert) and the 30-minute suite "The Ikon", which occupied the whole of Side 2 of the album. Like Wizard, the album also showcased Rundgren's skills as a recording and mastering engineer, clocking in at over 30 minutes per side.

A slightly altered version of this group performed on the eclectic 1975 live album Another Live. It featured three new extended progressive tracks (which appear only on this LP), a version of "Heavy Metal Kids" (from Todd) and covers of "Something's Coming" (from "West Side Story") and "Do Ya" by The Move. By the time this album was recorded the Utopia lineup included keyboard player/trumpeter/vocalist Roger Powell and drummer John "Willie" Wilcox.

In 1976 Siegler left Utopia and was replaced by Kasim Sulton (bass, keyboards, vocals), who had previously played with New York singer-poetess Cherry Vanilla. This formidable ensemble was widely regarded as one of the best live acts of its day—all four members were highly accomplished on their main instrument as well as being able to play multiple other instruments, and all four could sing lead vocals.

After 1977's prog-rock fusion homage, Ra, Utopia moved toward a more concise pop-oriented style with 1977's Oops! Wrong Planet, which included "Love Is the Answer", later a hit for England Dan & John Ford Coley, followed by the more successful Adventures In Utopia in 1980, which spawned the hits "Road to Utopia", "Set Me Free" and "Caravan". During that year Utopia also acted as the backing band for the Rundgren-produced Shaun Cassidy solo album Wasp.

Other releases include Deface the Music (also 1980), an uncanny Beatles homage that borders on parody; the more politicised Swing to the Right (1982), incorporating more new wave elements; their pop-referenced, self-titled album Utopia (1982), as well as Oblivion (1984), which showed a cynical side of Utopia, sporting a black cover; 1985's P.O.V. includes "Mated", later a staple of Rundgren solo tours. Rundgren eventually disbanded Utopia in the mid-80s; they released Trivia (1986) as their "swan song" effort. However, in 1992 a brief tour of Japan reunited the Rundgren/Powell/Sulton/Wilcox lineup, and "Redux '92: Live In Japan" was released on Rhino Records.

Eventually, the compilation Oblivion, P.O.V. and Some Trivia was released in 1996, an effort by Rhino Records to re-release selections from the Todd/Utopia discography. In addition, many Utopia concerts from the mid-1970s onwards were taped (e.g. their 1975 London debut, recorded by BBC Radio) and these were widely bootlegged by fans, although some have since gained an official release and can now be obtained as commercial digital downloads from iTunes.

Production, video and other work[link]

In addition to his own recordings, Rundgren has engineered and/or produced albums for many notable acts. Sparked by his dissatisfaction with the sound quality of the Nazz albums, Rundgren learned how to engineer and master his own records and since 1970 he has overseen production of all his solo recordings and those by Utopia. His earliest outside credits were as producer on a long-unreleased Janis Joplin track (recorded with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band) and as recording engineer for the LP Stage Fright by The Band. Other notable production credits include Halfnelson (first incarnation of Sparks), New York Dolls, Badfinger, Grand Funk Railroad, Hall & Oates, Ian and Sylvia (on their "Great Speckled Bird" album), Meat Loaf, Patti Smith, Shaun Cassidy, The Tubes, Tom Robinson Band, XTC, Bad Religion, John Sloman, Cheap Trick, Hello People, Hiroshi Takano, Bourgeois Tagg, Dragon (aka Hunter), 12 Rods, The Pursuit of Happiness, The Psychedelic Furs, Steve Hillage, The American Dream, and many others. The difficult XTC sessions produced the album Skylarking, now considered a high point for band and producer despite its acrimonious origin. Rundgren's production of Meat Loaf's Bat out of Hell (on which he also played lead guitar) helped that album become one of the top selling LPs released in the 1970s. The industry regard for Rundgren's production work has been a lofty one: Jim Steinman, with whom Rundgren worked on Bat Out of Hell, has said in interviews that "Todd Rundgren is a genius and I don't use that word a lot."^[12]

Rundgren has long been on the cutting edge of music and video technologies. His music video for the song "Time Heals" was among the first videos aired on MTV, and a video he produced for RCA, accompanied by Gustav Holst's The Planets, was used as a demo for their videodisc players. His experience with computer graphics dates back to 1981, when he developed one of the first computer paint programs, dubbed the Utopia Graphics System; it ran on an Apple II with Apple's digitizer tablet.^[13] He is also the co-developer of the computer screensaver system Flowfazer.

In the 1990s, 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; he also used the system for videos from No World Order (songs "Fascist Christ" and "Property"). 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. Most of Rundgren's Toaster work is available on the video compilation The Desktop Collection.

Rundgren composed music for the 1986 TV series Pee-wee's Playhouse and Crime Story as well as the movies "Undercover" (a/k/a "Under Cover") (1987), and Dumb and Dumber (1994), plus background cues for several other TV shows. He hosted a syndicated radio show called "The Difference" in the early 1990s.

In 1986 he sang a duet with Bonnie Tyler: Loving You's a Dirty Job but Somebody's Gotta Do It, released (also as a single) on Bonnie's album Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire.

As the Internet gained mass acceptance in the mid-1990s 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. The songs from Rundgren's first Patronet run were later released as the album One Long Year. 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 2007, the PatroNet.com website offers the following message: "PatroNet is undergoing a major software revision and is not accepting memberships at this time.")

Rundgren produced the 1999 debut album for the band Splender, entitled "Halfway to the Sky."

In the summer of 2001, Rundgren joined artists such as Alan Parsons, The Who's John Entwistle, Heart's Ann Wilson and Ambrosia's David Pack for the successful "A Walk Down Abbey Road" tour, in which the musicians played their own hits alongside Beatles favorites. The also did a short tour of Japan in Winter of 2001. John Entwistle's guitarist/vocalist, Godfrey Townsend acted as musical director for the tours and stayed on for the following year's "sequel" tour which included Todd and Parsons returning, with a slightly changed lineup which featured Jack Bruce of Cream, Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad, Christopher Cross and Eric Carmen. Godfrey also brought drummer/vocalist Steve Murphy on board for "A Walk Down Abbey Road's" 2002 Summer tour.

In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks Rundgren created the score for the film 'A Face to a Name', directed by Douglas Sloan (filmmaker). 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 2002.^[14]

Rundgren toured the US and Europe in 2004 with Joe Jackson and the string quartet Ethel, appearing on Late Night with Conan O'Brien performing their collaborative cover of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". (video)

In 2009, Rundgren produced Cause I Sez So by the New York Dolls. In October, in one of the last concerts at the famed Wachovia Spectrum, Rundgren and Philadelphia area musicians The Hooters and Hall & Oates headlined a concert titled "Last Call". Tickets were as low as $6.00, the deep discount reflected ticket prices in 1967 when the Spectrum first staged concerts.

The year also included a lecture at DePauw University in Indiana, in which he discussed "Music, Technology and Risk-Taking."

In late-October to early-November 2010, Rundgren was the IU Class of 1963 Wells Scholars Professor at Indiana University. He taught a course with IU Professor Glenn Gass entitled The Ballad of Todd Rundgren.

The New Cars[link]

In late 2005, rumors began circulating that the influential Boston-based band The Cars were planning to re-form despite bass player Benjamin Orr's death and the oft-mentioned refusal of former lead singer Ric Ocasek to even consider any reunion. Soon the rumors mentioned that Rundgren had joined Elliot Easton and Greg Hawkes in rehearsals for a possible new Cars lineup. Initial speculation pointed to The New Cars being fleshed out with Clem Burke of Blondie and Art Alexakis of Everclear. Eventually it was revealed that The New Cars were to complete their lineup with veteran bass player and former Rundgren bandmate 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 2006, the new lineup played a few private shows for industry professionals, played live on The Tonight Show and made other media appearances before commencing a 2006 summer tour with the re-formed Blondie.

Rundgren has referred to the project as "an opportunity ... for me to pay my bills, play to a larger audience, work with musicians I know and like, and ideally have some fun for a year."

The New Cars' first single, "Not Tonight," was released on March 20, 2006. A portion of the song is featured on a promotional teaser for the band online. A live album/greatest hits collection, The New Cars: It's Alive, was released in June, 2006. The album includes classic Cars songs (and two Rundgren hits) recorded live plus three new studio tracks.

Touring, 2009–2012[link]

Rundgren, (with Tony Levin, right) at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto, September 4, 2006.

In April 2009, Rundgren discussed his career during an Ubben Lecture at Indiana's DePauw University. In September 2009, Rundgren assembled a very limited-engagement tour with Jesse Gress, Kasim Sulton, Prairie Prince, Greg Hawkes, Bobby Strickland, and Roger Powell (and his wife Michele as costume designer and back-up singer for the concerts finale'), covering his 1973 album, "A Wizard, A True Star." The shows included a complete, start-to-finish rendition of the album, with multiple costume changes and theatrical props to accent the songs. The opening band for the shows was Utopia, with Roger Powell, Kasim Sulton, and Prairie Prince.

In December 2009, Rundgren once again took the AWATS Live show on the road with four shows in California. Roger Powell returned to his real job in the computer/software industry and was replaced by Ralph Schuckett, who played keyboards on the studio recording of the original album.

The AWATS show has had two European dates as well; playing in London, England at the Hammersmith Apollo on February 6, 2010, and the Paradiso in Amsterdam, Holland on February 8, 2010.^[15] Rundgren opened the London and Amsterdam shows by showcasing his new project, entitled 'Todd Rundgren's Johnson'; consisting of Rundgren, Jesse Gress (guitar), Prairie Prince (drums) and Kasim Sulton (bass) reworking Robert Johnson songs.

In January 2010 Rundgren gave his first ever concert performance in Australia as a participant in the Rogue's Gallery show, produced by Hal Willner for the 2010 Sydney Festival. In October 2010 Rundgren returned for a three-date tour of Australia performing his 'Johnson' project, with concerts at The Basement, Sydney, the Great Southern Blues Festival at Bateman's Bay and the Corner Hotel in Melbourne. The band consisted of Todd, guitarist Jesse Gress, Australian bassplayer Damien Steele Scott and Australian drummer Mick Skelton.

A Photographic Journal of each American show was created by rock photographer J Bloomrosen.^[16][17]

In October 2010, Rundgren was selected as the Class of 1963 Wells Scholars Professor at Indiana University (Bloomington). In that capacity, he taught two weeks of a four-week, one-credit hour honors seminar designed for 22 Wells Scholars (HON-H300: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren). Co-teaching the class was IU Professor of Music Glenn Gass—whose relationship with Rundgren helped make the professorship possible—and IU Distinguished Professor of Sociology Bernice Pescosolido, who was instrumental in helping to plan the course.^[18]

In September 2010, Rundgren performed his "Todd" and "Healing" albums live for the first time ever in Akron, OH and followed that up with five more of the album concerts in Muskegon MI, Indianapolis IN, St. Louis MO, Glenside PA, and Morristown NJ. A large LED display and lasers were on display throughout the shows with Rundgren and the band dressed in extravagant costumes. Rundgren brought out his SG Gibson "The Fool" replica guitar and also performed a few songs on the piano. The band consisted of Jesse Gress, Greg Hawkes, Prairie Prince, Bobby Strickland, and Kasim Sulton. Led by Choir Master Dirk Hillyer, local choirs from near each venue joined the band during parts of the "Healing" album set which added a brand new element to the music for fans that had only heard it by listening to the album. The shows closed with the song, "Sons Of 1984" which included fan participation even after the band left the stage. In March 2011, Rundgren took the "Todd" and "Healing" albums live concerts back on the road for a mini-tour and included stops in Hartford CT, Boston MA, Red Bank NJ, Toledo OH, and Columbus OH.

In January 2011, a reunion of the most of the members of the 1974 Utopia personnel (Rundgren, Klingman, Shuckett, Siegler, and Ellman) was held for two nights in New York City, with proceeds to defray medical treatment for Klingman who was battling with cancer. Material was drawn from the 1972–1975 catalogs of Rundgren and Todd Rundgren's Utopia. Both shows sold out in just three days which may have influenced the idea for a full tour that took place in November 2011 as "Todd Rundgren's Utopia". The original plan for the tour included Moogy Klingman but his health condition worsened during rehearsals and he died before the 12 concert tour was finished.

In September of 2011, for the first time ever with a symphony orchestra, Todd performed two concerts in the Netherlands backed by the Dutch Metropole Orchestra. On June 1st and 2nd of 2012, Todd will perform in two concerts accompanied by the Rockford Symphony Orchestra at the historic Coronado Performing Arts Center in Rockford, IL. The concerts will be Rundgren's first ever symphonic shows in North America.

Rundgren will tour with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band for the third time and for the first time in 13 years, in the summer of 2012.

Personal life[link]

Rundgren's son, Rex (born 1980), is a baseball player (Infield position) for the Somerset Patriots of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball.^[19][20]

For the first nine years of her life, Liv Rundgren Tyler (born Liv Rundgren) was raised by Rundgren and her mother, Bebe Buell, as though Rundgren was Liv's father. At Liv's birth, Buell had claimed that Rundgren was Liv's biological father. At age nine, Liv Tyler discovered that she was Steven Tyler's daughter.^[21][22][23]

In popular culture[link]

• Rundgren also composed and recorded theme music for the American pilot for cult UK sci-fi comedy Red Dwarf, though it never aired.
• On the day Mark David Chapman shot and killed John Lennon, he left an eight-track tape of Rundgren's album Runt. The Ballad of Todd Rundgren, along with other artifacts, in his New York hotel room in an orderly semicircle on the hotel dresser. Some^[who?] have speculated that the album Healing (Todd Rundgren album) was recorded partly as a therapeutic exercise in reaction to Mark David Chapman's obsession with Rundgren's music (see sleeve notes to the CD remaster, Castle Music, 1999), though Rundgren himself says he didn't learn of Chapman's obsession with him until years later, when books about Chapman were published.^{[citation needed]} More information about Chapman's obsession with Rundgren is provided in the chapter "God and Todd" in Jack Jones' biography of Mark Chapman Let Me Take You Down (1999).
• The pilot episode of "That '70s Show" (That '70s Pilot)), featured a plot line involving the main characters sneaking away to go to a Todd Rundgren concert.

Discography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Todd Rundgren

William Martyn-Green (22 April 1899 – 8 February 1975), better known as Martyn Green, was an English actor and singer. He is best known for his work as principal comedian in the Gilbert & Sullivan comic operas, which he performed and recorded with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and other troupes.

After army service in World War I, Green studied singing and began to perform in musical theatre. In 1922, he joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company playing in the chorus and in a variety of smaller roles, while understudying, and often substituting for, the company's principal comedian. Beginning in 1931, he was regularly given the roles of Major-General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance and Robin Oakapple in Ruddigore. In 1934, Green became the principal comedian, playing all the famous Gilbert and Sullivan patter roles, including Sir Joseph in H.M.S. Pinafore, the Major-General in Pirates, Bunthorne in Patience, the Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe, Ko-Ko in The Mikado, Jack Point in The Yeomen of the Guard and the Duke of Plaza Toro in The Gondoliers, among others.

At the beginning of World War II, Green left the D'Oyly Carte organisation and acted in other companies. In 1941, he joined the Royal Air Force, serving until 1945. He soon rejoined D'Oyly Carte and continued as the principal comedian until 1951. He then left the company again and moved to New York City, where he continued his career in Broadway musicals, plays, television, recordings and films. In 1959, his left leg was crushed in a garage elevator and had to be amputated below the knee. Greatly determined, Green was soon acting and directing again using a prosthetic limb. He continued to act and direct for the rest of his life and had film roles in A Lovely Way to Die (1968) and The Iceman Cometh (1973).

Life and career[link]

Martyn Green was born in London. His father, William Green, a singer, was his first singing teacher.^[1][2] He had a sister, Julia. Green was educated at Latymer Upper School. He served in the army during World War I, and was wounded in his left leg by shrapnel.^[3] After the war, he entered the Royal College of Music in 1919, studying singing with Gustave Garcia.^[4] Green was married three times, first to Ethel Beatrice Andrews, then to Joyce Mary Fentem and later to Yvonne Chauveau, a model 22 years his junior.^[4][5] He had a daughter from the first marriage, Pamela, who married Geoffrey John Farrer Brain in 1950.^[6] His grandchildren are Joanna Elizabeth Brain (b. 1953) and Philippa Carol Brain (b. 1956).^[7]

Green's first stage appearance was in Nottingham in 1919 in the chorus of A Southern Maid.^[1] After he left the Royal College in 1921, he first joined a touring company, where he played Paul Petrov in Sybil^[4] and decided that Martyn Green would be his stage name. He also appeared in the provinces in the revue Shuffle Along.^[3] His first appearance in London was at the London Palladium in Thirty Minutes of Melody in September 1921.

Pre-war D'Oyly Carte years[link]

Green joined D'Oyly Carte's "New Company" (its second touring company) in 1922 as a chorus member and occasional principal. His first role was Luiz in The Gondoliers the same year.^[1] In July 1923 he was made understudy to Frank Steward, the New Company's principal comic baritone.^[2] While taking on some smaller roles on a regular basis, such as Antonio in The Gondoliers, the Associate and then Counsel in Trial by Jury, he also had the opportunity to perform many of the patter roles, as Steward's understudy, playing the Learned Judge in Trial, Sir Joseph Porter in H.M.S. Pinafore, the Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe, Ko-Ko in The Mikado, and the Duke of Plaza-Toro in The Gondoliers. In 1924, he added the roles of Mr. Cox in Cox and Box and First Citizen in The Yeomen of the Guard to his regular repertory and soon added Pish-Tush in The Mikado.^[3]

In 1925, Green was promoted to the main repertory company, becoming the understudy to the long-time leading comedian Henry Lytton.^[2] There, he also regularly played the roles of Cox, the Associate, Major Murgatroyd in Patience, and Luiz (and sometimes Antonio). Beginning in 1927, he added the role of the Usher in Trial by Jury. On occasion, he substituted for Lytton as Major-General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance and also filled in from time to time as Florian in Princess Ida, Giuseppe in The Gondoliers and Counsel in Trial. By the 1928–30 seasons, in addition to singing these smaller baritone roles, Green had a chance to fill in for Lytton from time to time in all the patter roles, including General Stanley, Bunthorne in Patience, the Lord Chancellor, Ko-Ko, Robin Oakapple in Ruddigore, Jack Point in Yeomen and the Duke of Plaza-Toro. He sang the part of Mr. Cox in a 1929 BBC radio broadcast.^[3]

In 1931, Lytton was injured in a car accident in which D'Oyly Carte principal contralto Bertha Lewis received fatal injuries. Green took over Lytton's nine patter roles until Lytton's return about two months later.^[2] Afterwards, two of the roles – Major-General Stanley in Pirates and Robin Oakapple in Ruddigore – were assigned to Green permanently in 1932.^[8] He also began substituting more frequently for Lytton in the role of Jack Point. In 1934, Lytton's retirement left Green as the principal comedian of the D'Oyly Carte company, playing all of the comic roles in their repertory over the next five years.^[3] Green gained enthusiastic notices for, among other things, his excellent diction and comedic stage movement, despite the World War I injury to his left knee.^[2] Green finally added John Wellington Wells in The Sorcerer to his long list of roles when the company revived that work in 1938, and he appeared in the film version of The Mikado in the role of Ko-Ko in 1939.^[1]

War and later D'Oyly Carte years[link]

In September 1939, at the outbreak of World War II, the British government ordered all theatres to close indefinitely. Rupert D'Oyly Carte cancelled the company's entire autumn tour and terminated the contracts of all of his performers.^[9] Green immediately arranged for an engagement with Charles B. Cochran to appear in the Noel Gay revue Lights Up at the Savoy Theatre. On Christmas Day 1939, the D'Oyly Carte resumed performing,^[10] and since Green was not available,^[9] they engaged Grahame Clifford to play Green's roles. After the Cochran review, Green appeared with other companies,^[4] including touring with Sylvia Cecil in variety halls in their act, "Words with Music," which included Gilbert and Sullivan songs. He then joined the Royal Air Force, serving as an instructor and administrator from 1941 to 1945.^[3] Green returned to the company in 1946 as principal comedian for another five years. During this time, he recorded most of the patter roles in the earliest D'Oyly Carte LP recordings.^[3] For a generation of Gilbert & Sullivan fans, his performances in those recordings were considered definitive. Billboard wrote, during the company's 1948 U.S. tour, that his performance of Jack Point "is another triumph. ... His Jack Point is a G. and S. portrait to be cherished."^[11]

In 1949, soon after Bridget D'Oyly Carte inherited the company, she appointed Eleanor Evans (known in the company as "Snookie") as Stage Director and Director of Productions to replace Anna Bethell (Mrs. Sydney Granville).^[12] The choice of the temperamental Snookie, a former chorister with the company and wife of the company's longtime principal bass Darrell Fancourt, was a highly unpopular one and contributed to a wave of defections from the company, including Green's departure in 1951. He wrote:

I had heard there was some possibility of [the selection of Evans] happening and ... told Miss Carte that I thought she was making a great psychological error. During Anna Bethell's regime (Mrs. Sydney Granville), there had been growing signs of discontent and suggestions of favouritism being shown to some of the members of the chorus in respect to passing over existing understudies, selections for small parts, and so on.... But to appoint not only a woman who had for fifteen years worked in the chorus alongside several who were now principals, but the wife of one of the main principals, seemed to me to be a psychological error of the first magnitude. I felt that ... she would, rightly or wrongly, be accused of that very same favouritism. My views made no impression on Miss Carte, but time was to prove that I was right. Discontent grew, changes were constantly taking place, and criticism became rampant. Nor did it stop at the methods of production; it went so far as to suggest a complete lack of knowledge, evidenced ... by constant self-contradiction. There were other accusations levelled against her, of a more serious nature.... [Those] in control ... apparently assumed in the first place that the performers are little more than automatons and are completely devoid of brains or the ability to think for themselves. Production is done to a plan that takes no consideration of the individual, his personality or his histrionic ability – a stereotyped plan that results in a clockwork performance devoid of spontaneity.^[13]

Historian Tony Joseph wrote: "It was the largest single exodus of performers in D'Oyly Carte history, and that was why the sense of sadness that hovered over the season was so marked.... August 1951 was the end of an era."^[12]

After D'Oyly Carte[link]

After leaving the D'Oyly Carte company, Green appeared as George Grossmith in the film The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan (filmed in the summer of 1952, but released in 1953).^[14] He then travelled to America, together with Ella Halman and Radley Flynn, to tour in Gilbert and Sullivan operas for S. M. Chartock. He remained in America, settling in New York City, where he continued his career in musicals, plays, television, recording and films.^[3] Apart from his many appearances on Broadway in Gilbert and Sullivan roles up to 1952, his Broadway appearances in the 1950s include Chang in Shangri-La (1956), Lionel Croy in Child of Fortune (1956), and Kreton in A Visit to a Small Planet, by Gore Vidal (1957-58). In 1954, he appeared with Ginger Rogers in a "Producers' Showcase" television presentation of Red Peppers and two other plays from Tonight at 8:30, directed by Otto Preminger.^[15] He also played in a number of TV musicals, such as The Stingiest Man in Town as Bob Cratchit (1956).

In 1959, Green's left leg was crushed in a garage elevator and had to be amputated below the knee. An ambulance intern from India, Dr. P. Shamsuddin, borrowed a pocket knife from a police officer to perform the operation without anesthesia.^[16] Green sued the garage company, but the case was dismissed. According to Time Magazine, he was operating the elevator himself because he didn't trust the garage attendants to park his M.G. sports car.^[17] Eight months later, using a prosthetic limb, he appeared as W. S. Gilbert in the musical Knights of Song in St. Louis. In 1960 he directed Groucho Marx, Helen Traubel, Stanley Holloway and Robert Rounseville in a Bell Telephone Hour television condensed production of The Mikado.^[3] He also continued to perform on Broadway, as Colonel Melkett in Black Comedy (1967), Justinus (the innkeeper) and Chaucer in Canterbury Tales (1969), Colonel Sir Francis Chesney in Charley's Aunt (1970), and Col. Elbourne in The Incomparable Max (1971). He also worked in summer stock during the rest of his life.

Green also continued frequently to direct and produce Gilbert and Sullivan productions, and worked with various touring companies and in summer stock. His film roles included Finchley in A Lovely Way to Die (1968), and the Captain in The Iceman Cometh (1973).^[3] Green last appeared on stage in Chicago in December 1974 in British play, The Sea. His final performance in any medium was in The National Radio Theater's 1974 production of Mathry Beacon by Giles Cooper.^[18] After this, he returned to his Hollywood home (where he had lived since 1973) and was soon hospitalized.

Green died of a blood infection on 8 February 1975 at the age of 75.^[6]

Recordings and books[link]

In addition to his D'Oyly Carte recordings, Green made four additional Gilbert and Sullivan recordings: Martyn Green's Gilbert & Sullivan (Columbia, 1953), The Mikado (Allegro-Royale, 1954), Martyn Green Sings the Gilbert & Sullivan Song Book (MGM, 1962), and The Pirates of Penzance (RCA-Victor, 1966). He appeared on the 1956 soundtrack recording of The Stingiest Man in Town^[19] and the 1969 cast album of Canterbury Tales.^[20] He did work for radio and television in America including an adaptation of the Major-General's Song for Campbell's Soup.^[3] In 1956, Green recorded selections from A Treasury of Ribaldry (edited by Louis Untermeyer, published by Hanover House).^[21] He also recorded songs and stories for children, for example, with Julie Andrews (and music by Moondog) in 1957, "Songs of Sense & Nonsense - Tell It Again,^[22] and a recording called Arabian Nights' Entertainment.^[23]

Green wrote two books: an autobiography, Here's a How-de-do in 1952, and an annotated songbook, Martyn Green's Treasury of Gilbert & Sullivan (New York, Simon & Schuster) in 1961. There are two editions of Here's a How-de-do. The American edition (New York, W. W. Norton & Co., 275 pp.) is somewhat more candid and expansive in dealing with D'Oyly Carte personalities and situations than its British counterpart (London, Max Reinhardt, 210 pp.). He also wrote an introduction to Leslie Ayre's 1972 "The Gilbert & Sullivan Companion", in which he commented wryly that the Gilbert and Sullivan operas "have been translated into many languages, including American and Australian...."

Green's papers are housed at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center in the Mugar Memorial Library at Boston University.

Filmography[link]

• The Mikado (1939) .... Ko-Ko
• The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan (1953) .... George Grossmith
• Suspense: The Adventure of the Black Baronet .... Dr. John H. Watson (Sherlock Holmes's friend) (TV movie, 1953 CBS)
• Studio One: The Gathering Night (1 episode, 1953)
• Kraft Television Theatre (2 TV movies):
  • The Adventures of the Kind Mr. Smith (1953)
  • You Touched Me! (1954)
• The Motorola Television Hour: Black Chiffon .... Robert (TV movie, 1954)
• Producers' Showcase: Tonight at 8:30 .... (segment Red Peppers) (TV movie, 1954)
• The Elgin Hour: Sting of Death .... Mr. Hargrove (TV movie, 1955)
• Hallmark Hall of Fame: Alice in Wonderland .... White Rabbit (TV movie, 1955)
• The Alcoa Hour: The Stingiest Man in Town .... Bob Cratchit (TV movie, 1956)
• The United States Steel Hour: Who's Earnest? .... Chasuble (TV movie, 1957)
• Pinocchio (1957) (TV) .... Fox
• Shirley Temple's Storybook: Dick Whittington and His Cat .... Mr. Fitzwarren (TV movie, 1958)
• True Story .... Harry Kent (1 episode, August 15, 1959)
• The Bell Telephone Hour: The Mikado (1960) .... Director (starring Groucho Marx)
• The Defenders: Die Laughing .... Dr. Fisher (1 episode, 1964)
• The Trials of O'Brien: Notes on a Spanish Prisoner .... Judge Briscoe (1 episode, 1965)
• The Jackie Gleason Show: The Honeymooners: Poor People in Paris .... Major-Domo (1 episode, 1966)
• A Lovely Way to Die (1968) .... Finchley
• The Iceman Cometh (1973) .... Cecil Lewis
• ABC Afterschool Specials: Cyrano (1974) (TV) (voice) .... Comte de Guiche

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Ayre, Leslie (1972). The Gilbert & Sullivan Companion. London: W.H. Allen & Co Ltd.  Introduction by Martyn Green.
• Green, Martyn (1952). Here's a How-de-do. London: Max Reinhardt.  British Edition
• Green, Martyn (1952). Here's a How-de-do. New York: W. W. Norton & Co.  American Edition (contains information not found in the British edition).
• Green, Martyn (1961). Martyn Green's Treasury of Gilbert & Sullivan. New York: Simon & Schuster.  (Includes Green's annotations to the libretti of eleven G&S shows as well as his introductions to them and several song selections from each show, often in lower keys than the originals.)
• Joseph, Tony (1994). D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, 1875-1982: An Unofficial History. London: Bunthorne Books.  ISBN 0-9507992-1-1
• Rollins, Cyril; R. John Witts (1961). The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in Gilbert and Sullivan Operas. London: Michael Joseph, Ltd. 
• Wilson, Robin; Frederic Lloyd (1984). Gilbert & Sullivan – The Official D'Oyly Carte Picture History. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. ISBN 0-394-54113-8. 

External links[link]

• Martyn Green's Solo Recital Discs at The Gilbert & Sullivan Discography
• Martyn Green at the Internet Movie Database
• Martyn Green at the IBDB database
• Description of 1939 film of The Mikado
• YouTube video of "I Am So Proud" from the 1939 film, with Green as Ko-Ko, Sydney Granville as Pooh-Bah and Gregory Stroud as Pish-Tush