Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Exhibit

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum opens spotlight exhibit on Todd Rundgren
CLEVELAND (August 31, 2009) - The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum will open its latest spotlight exhibit focused on Todd Rundgren’s career, which spans more than four decades. This highlight exhibit case will be unveiled on Friday, September 4 and located in the Ahmet M. Ertegun Main Exhibit Hall.

This exhibit will feature nearly 40 artifacts culled from Rundgren’s vast career as a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer, as well as his innovative works integrating music and technology. It will highlight his first Top 20 single through his work with Utopia, Ringo’s All Starr Band, the New Cars, his production work for artists including Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Patti Smith, the New York Dolls, the Psychedelic Furs and Meat Loaf, his 60th birthday celebration, which debuted his album Arena, to his upcoming performances of the 1973 album A Wizard/A True Star in its entirety.

Highlights of the exhibit include:

· "Star Fever,” a Patti Smith poem included in first issues of A Wizard/A True Star, c. 1973.
· No World Order CD-ROM, the first interactive record album ever released, 1993
· "Mammon,” hand written lyrics from the Liars album, 2004.
· Todd Rundgren Back to the Bars Stage Outfit , c. 1978
· Utopia Promotional Ad and Backstage Passes, c. 1975
· New Cars All-Access Pass, 2007

Philadelphia native Todd Rundgren first began developing his musical skills as a teenager. Spending the late ‘60s as a founding member of the psychedelic pop group Nazz, his first solo Top 20 hit was “We Gotta Get You a Woman.” But it was the 1972 album Something / Anything?, on which he played all instruments, sang all vocal parts and acted as his own producer that catapulted Rundgren into stardom and set the stage for his parallel career as an innovative and record producer. Something / Anything? featured “Hello It’s Me,” which reached Number Five. His next two albums, A Wizard / A True Star (1973) and Todd (1974), ultimately led to the formation of the band Utopia in 1974. Utopia’s longest-standing members were Roger Powell, Kasim Sulton and Willie Wilcox and they continued recording and touring through 1992. Rundgren’s 1983 album, The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect included the hit “Bang the Drum All Day.” No World Order (1993) was the world’s first interactive record album and was also the first commercially available music that could be downloaded.

Rundgren has strong ties to the Cleveland area and to the iconic Agora music venue franchise. Throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s, Todd Rundgren and Utopia played more concerts in the Cleveland area than in any other city in the United States. Carrying on the tradition, Rundgren is debuting his limited series of live performances of A Wizard / A True Star at the Akron Civic Theater on September 6 and 7, the first time this album has been performed in its entirety.

About the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc. is the nonprofit organization that exists to educate visitors, fans and scholars from around the world about the history and continuing significance of rock and roll music. It carries out this mission both through its operation of a world-class museum that collects, preserves, exhibits and interprets this art form and through its library and archives as well as its educational programs.

The Museum is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. On Wednesdays (and Saturdays through Labor Day), the Museum is open until 9 p.m. Museum admission is $22 for adults, $18 for adult residents of Greater Cleveland, $17 for seniors (65+), $13 for youth (9-12), children under 8 and Museum Members are always free, for information or to join the membership program call 216.515.8425. For general inquiries, please call 216.781.ROCK or visit http://www.rockhall.com.