Utopia (band)

Utopia
Utopia, 1977. L-R: Roger Powell, Willie Wilcox, Todd Rundgren and Kasim Sulton.
Utopia, 1977. L-R: Roger Powell, Willie Wilcox, Todd Rundgren and Kasim Sulton.
Background information
Also known asTodd Rundgren's Utopia (1973–1976, 2011, 2018)
OriginNew York City, United States
Genres
Years active
  • 1973–1986
  • 1992
  • 2011
  • 2018
LabelsBearsville, Network, Passport, Epic, Rhino
Past membersTodd Rundgren
Jean Yves "M. Frog" Labat
David Mason
Hunt Sales
Tony Sales
Mark "Moogy" Klingman
Ralph Schuckett
Kevin Ellman
John Siegler
Roger Powell
John "Willie" Wilcox
Kasim Sulton
Doug Howard
Jesse Gress
Gil Assayas

Utopia was an American rock band formed in 1973 by Todd Rundgren. During its first three years, the group was a progressive rock band with a somewhat fluid membership known as Todd Rundgren's Utopia. Most of the members in this early incarnation also played on Rundgren's solo albums of the period up to 1975. By 1976, the group was known simply as Utopia and featured a stable quartet of Rundgren, Kasim Sulton, Roger Powell and John "Willie" Wilcox. This version of the group gradually abandoned progressive rock for more straightforward rock and pop.

In 1980, they had a top 40 hit with "Set Me Free". Though often thought of as a Rundgren-oriented project, all four members of Utopia wrote, sang, produced and performed on their albums; "Set Me Free", for example, was written and sung by Sulton. The group broke up in 1986, but reunited briefly in 1992. In 2011 the earlier prog-rock incarnation known as Todd Rundgren's Utopia was revived for a series of live shows. In 2018 Rundgren, Sulton, and Wilcox reunited for a tour with new keyboardist Gil Assayas under the name Todd Rundgren's Utopia.[citation needed]