What Is Todd Rundgren's Net Worth?
Todd Rundgren is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and producer who has a net worth of $12 million. Todd Rundgren co-founded the group Nazz in 1967, and the band enjoyed a series of minor successes throughout the late '60s and early '70s. Todd released his debut solo album, "Runt," in 1970, and he has followed it with 20+ more as of this writing, including "Something/Anything?" (1972), "Faithful" (1976), "Hermit of Mink Hollow" (1978), "Nearly Human" (1989), "No World Order" (1993), "Liars" (2004), and "White Knight" (2017). Rundgren is known for the songs "We Gotta Get You a Woman," "I Saw the Light," "Hello It's Me," "Good Vibrations," "Can We Still Be Friends," and "Bang the Drum All Day," and he is credited as a composer on the films "Cold Feet" (1983) "Under Cover" (1987), and "Dumb and Dumber" (1994) and the television series "Crime Story" (1986) and "Pee-wee's Playhouse" (1986). Todd has also released several albums with his progressive rock group, Utopia, and he has produced albums such as Grand Funk Railroad's "We're an American Band (1973), Hall & Oates' "War Babies" (1974), Meat Loaf's "Bat Out of Hell" (1977), and Cheap Trick's "Next Position Please" (1983). Rundgren published the memoir "The Individualist: Digressions, Dreams, and Dissertations" in 2018, and in 2021, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Early Life
Todd Rundgren was born Todd Harry Rundgren on June 22, 1948, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His mother, Ruth, was of German and Austrian descent, and his father, Harry, was of Swedish heritage. Rundgren grew up in Upper Darby, and as a child, he loved his parents' record collection. Todd taught himself to play guitar, and he enjoyed listening to bands such as the Beatles, the O'Jays, the Yardbirds, and the Rolling Stones. When Rundgren was 17, he formed the band Money with his best friend Randy Reed and Randy's younger brother. Todd attended Upper Darby High School, and after graduating in 1966, he moved back to Philadelphia and joined the blues rock group Woody's Truck Stop. He spent eight months with the group, and they became Philadelphia's most popular band. Rundgren and bassist Carson Van Osten left Woody's Truck Stop to form a rock band, Nazz, which signed with the Atlantic Records imprint Screen Gems Columbia in 1968.
Career
Nazz released the albums "Nazz" (1968), "Nazz Nazz" (1969), and "Nazz III" (1971), and the singles "Open My Eyes" and "Hello It's Me" made it onto the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart. Todd left Nazz to pursue a solo career, and he moved to New York City in 1969. He released his debut solo album, "Runt," in June 1970, and it reached #185 on the "Billboard" 200 chart. Rundgren had a hit with the single "We Gotta Get You a Woman," which reached #20 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart and the Canadian Singles Chart and #21 on the "Cashbox" chart. Todd followed his successful solo debut with "Runt. The Ballad of Todd Rundgren" (1971), "Something/Anything?" (1972), "A Wizard, a True Star" (1973), "Todd" (1974), "Initiation" (1975), "Faithful" (1976), and "Hermit of Mink Hollow" (1978). "Something/Anything?" reached #29 on the "Billboard" 200 chart, and "Hermit of Mink Hollow" reached #11 in Australia. In the '70s, he released singles such as "I Saw the Light," "Hello It's Me," "Good Vibrations," and "Can We Still Be Friends," and "Hello It's Me" reached #5 on the "Billboard" 200 chart and #2 on the "Cashbox" chart.
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Rundgren released the albums "Healing" (1981), "The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect" (1982), "A Cappella" (1985), and "Nearly Human" (1989) in the '80s, and in 1983, he released the single "Bang the Drum All Day," which has since been used by the NFL teams the Green Bay Packers, Cincinnati Bengals, Indianapolis Colts, and St. Louis Rams to celebrate touchdowns. The song was also referenced by Michael Scott on the NBC sitcom "The Office" in the season two episode "The Fight," though the lyrics were changed to "I don't want to work, I just wanna bang on this mug all day." In the '70s and '80s, Todd also recorded 10 studio albums with his progressive rock group Utopia, including "Todd Rundgren's Utopia" (1974), "Oops! Wrong Planet" (1977), and "P.O.V." (1985), and the 1980 single "Set Me Free" reached #27 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart. In the '90s, Rundgren released the albums "2nd Wind" (1991), "No World Order" (1993), "The Individualist" (1995), "Up Against It" (1997), and "With a Twist…" (1997), and after the September 11th terrorist attacks, he scored the 2002 documentary short "A Face to a Name," which "captures a moment in time during 9/11 by documenting the phenomenon of the Bellevue Hospital's 'wall of prayers.'"
In 2005, Todd joined The New Cars, which also included Greg Hawkes and Elliot Easton of the Cars as well as drummer Prairie Prince and vocalist/bassist Kasim Sulton. Rundgren said the project was "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." In 2011, he released "Todd Rundgren's Johnson," an album of Robert Johnson covers, and a few months later, he followed it with "(re)Production," which featured covers of songs he had produced for other artists. On the 2017 album "White Knight," Todd collaborated with artists such as Daryl Hall, Donald Fagen, Joe Walsh, Trent Reznor, John Boutté, and Joe Satriani. In 2019, Rundgren toured with Micky Dolenz, Christopher Cross, Jason Scheff, and Joey Molland on the "It Was Fifty Years Ago Today – A Tribute to the Beatles' 'White Album'" tour, and in 2022, he released the album "Space Force."
Personal Life
In 1972, Todd began dating model Bebe Buell. When they were on a break, Buell briefly dated Steven Tyler, and on July 1, 1977, she gave birth to a daughter she named Liv. Bebe originally said that Todd was Liv's biological father and named her Liv Rundgren. The couple spilt up not long after Liv's birth, and when she was 11 years old, she found out that Steven Tyler was actually her biological father. In 2012, Liv Tyler spoke to "Wonderland" magazine about her relationship with Todd, stating, "I'm so grateful to him, I have so much love for him. You know, when he holds me it feels like Daddy. And he's very protective and strong."
Rundgren welcomed two sons, Rex and Randy, with Karen Darvin in the '80s, and he has a son named Rebop with his wife, Michele Gray. Michele was a backup singer on Todd's tour for his 1989 album "Nearly Human," and the couple married on June 22, 1998.
Awards and Nominations
In 1984, Rundgren earned a Grammy nomination for Best Music Video, Short Form for "Videosyncracy" and in 1995, he won a BMI Film Music Award for his work as a composer on "Dumb and Dumber." That year the UC Berkeley Popular Culture Society honored Todd with a Berkeley Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2017, he received honorary doctorates from the Berklee College of Music and DePauw University.
