Editing Todd Rundgren (section)

==Early influences and Nazz==
[[File:From-upper-darby-1.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Rundgren's hometown, [[Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania]], in 2007]]
Todd Harry Rundgren{{sfn|Myers|2010|p=21}} was born in [[Philadelphia]]<ref name="Buckley2003">{{cite book|editor-last=Buckley|editor-first=Peter|first=Nicholas|last=Olivier|chapter=Todd Rundgren|title=The Rough Guide to Rock|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ctjc6UWCm4C&pg=PT902|year=2003|publisher=Rough Guides|isbn=978-1-84353-105-0|pages=[https://archive.org/details/roughguidetorock0003unse/page/902 902–903]|url=https://archive.org/details/roughguidetorock0003unse/page/902}}</ref><ref name="Tingen04"/> on June 22, 1948,{{sfn|Myers|2010|p=21}} the son of Ruth (née Fleck; April 29, 1922 – April 6, 2016) and Harry W. Rundgren (1917–1996). His father was of Swedish descent and his mother was of Austrian and German descent. He grew up in the bordering town of [[Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Jackson|first=Vincent|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=AC&p_theme=ac&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0FCC79166C5DF222&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |title=Article Archives |website=Nl.newsbank.com |date=August 6, 2003 |access-date=September 24, 2012}}</ref> and taught himself how to play guitar with little help.{{sfn|Myers|2010|p=17}} As a child, Rundgren was fascinated by his parents' small record collection, which consisted of [[show tunes]] and [[symphonic]] pieces, and especially by the operettas of [[Gilbert and Sullivan]].{{sfn|Myers|2010|p=22}} Later, he grew infatuated with the music of [[the Beatles]], [[the Rolling Stones]], [[the Ventures]], and [[the Yardbirds]], as well as the [[Philadelphia soul]] of [[Gamble & Huff]], [[the Delfonics]], and [[the O'Jays]].{{sfn|Myers|2010|p=23}} At the age of 17, he formed his first band, Money, with then-best friend and roommate Randy Reed and Reed's younger brother.{{sfn|Myers|2010|p=23}}

After graduating from [[Upper Darby High School]] in 1966, Rundgren moved to Philadelphia and began his career in Woody's Truck Stop, a blues rock group in the style of [[Paul Butterfield|Paul Butterfield Blues Band]].<ref name="woodyam"/> Rundgren stayed with the band for eight months, and in the process, they became the most popular group in Philadelphia.{{sfn|Myers|2010|p=26}} He and bassist [[Carson Van Osten]] left before they released the eponymous first album<ref name="woodyam">{{cite web|first=Bryan|last=Thomas |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/woodys-truck-stop-mw0000852086 |title=Woody's Truck Stop|publisher=[[AllMusic]] |date=n.d. |access-date=March 14, 2016}}</ref> to form the rock band [[Nazz]] in 1967. By then, Rundgren had lost interest in the blues and wanted to pursue a recording career with original songs in the style of newer records by the Beatles and [[the Who]].{{sfn|Myers|2010|p=17}} As a member of the Nazz, he learned his craft as a songwriter and vocal arranger, and was determined to equal the artistry of the Beatles.{{sfn|Myers|2010|pp=17, 27}}{{refn|group=nb|He said he was not enamored with the Beatles after ''[[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]]'' (1967) and thought they lost their "momentum".<ref name="puremusic"/>}}

{{listen
| filename     = Nazz - Open My Eyes.ogg
| title        = "Open My Eyes" (1967)
| description  = Excerpt from the debut record by Nazz.
}}

In 1968, after recording four demo discs, the Nazz were signed by [[Atlantic Records]] subsidiary Screen Gems Columbia (SGC). They were flown to Los Angeles to produce their first album at ID Sound studio.<ref name=OpenAnt>{{Cite AV media notes |title=Open Our Eyes: The Anthology |others=Nazz |year=2019 |first=Kieron |last=Tyler |type=Booklet |publisher=Purple Pyramid Records}}</ref> Rundgren had no prior production experience and remembered that the producer, [[Bill Traut]], "just whipped through the mixes in a day or two ... So I got it into my head, 'Well, he's gone now, so why don't we just mix it again, more like the way we want it?' Our engineer didn't mind if we went and just started diddling around on the board ... It was pretty much trial and error."{{sfn|Myers|2010|p=29}} He took an experimental approach to the recordings, employing techniques such as [[varispeed]] and [[flanging]], and despite having no formal training, scored music charts for string and horn arrangements.{{sfn|Myers|2010|p=32}} Engineer [[James Lowe (musician)|James Lowe]], who Rundgren recruited for his involvement with arranger [[Van Dyke Parks]], believed that Rundgren had become the de facto leader of Nazz, and that a producer's credit was wrongfully withheld from him.{{sfn|Myers|2010|p=30}}

Nazz gained minor recognition with their debut single, July 1968's "Open My Eyes" backed with "[[Hello It's Me]]", both songs penned by Rundgren. They subsequently released three albums: ''[[Nazz (album)|Nazz]]'' (October 1968), ''[[Nazz Nazz]]'' (April 1969), and ''[[Nazz III]]'' (1971).<ref name=Nazz>Sanctuary Records, liner notes for reissues of Nazz and Nazz Nazz/Nazz 3: The Fungo Bat Sessions (2006)</ref> In March 1968, New York singer-songwriter [[Laura Nyro]] released her second album, ''[[Eli and the Thirteenth Confession]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/eli-and-the-thirteenth-confession-mw0000651047|title=Eli and the Thirteenth Confession|last=Unterberger|first=Richie|author-link=Richie Unterberger|publisher=[[AllMusic]]}}</ref> When Rundgren heard the record, he was struck by "all the [[major seventh chord]]s and variations on [[augmented chord|augmented]] and [[suspended chord]]s", and it had an immediate impact on his songwriting, especially as he began to compose more on piano.{{sfn|Myers|2010|pp=27, 30–31}} He elaborated:

{{blockquote|I know for a fact that her influences were the more sophisticated side of [[Contemporary R&B|R&B]], like [[Jerry Ragovoy]] and [[Barry Mann|Mann]] & [[Cynthia Weil|Weil]] and [[Carole King]]. ... and she also had her own very original and very [[jazz]]-influenced way of seeing things. It was that extra layer that made her influential. A lot of those chords she got from other people. But beyond the elements of her composition, I always thought it was the way she played her own material that really sold it. ... 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. ... 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.<ref name="puremusic">{{cite web|url=http://www.puremusic.com/todd3.html|last=De Main|first=Bill|title=A Conversation with Todd Rundgren |website=Puremusic.com |year= 2004|access-date=October 26, 2011}}</ref>}}

The rest of the band struggled to accommodate his changing tastes, and tensions between all the band members had begun to build up in the interval between recording their first and second albums as a result of their shared living quarters.<ref name=OpenAnt/> Tensions further increased during the recording of Nazz's second album, as the other members bridled at the formerly unassuming Rundgren asserting complete control of the sessions as the producer.<ref name=OpenAnt/>{{sfn|Myers|2010|pp=31–32}} By the time ''Nazz Nazz'' was released, Rundgren and Van Osten had both left the Nazz, so the track selection was done without any input from them.<ref name=OpenAnt/> ''Nazz III'', which included leftover tracks from the ''Nazz Nazz'' sessions, was likewise released without Rundgren's involvement.{{sfn|Myers|2010|pp=31–32}}