Kasim Sulton (born December 8, 1955) is an American bass guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist. Best known for his work with Utopia,[1] Sulton sang lead on 1980's "Set Me Free," Utopia's only top 40 hit in the United States. As a solo artist, Sulton hit the Canadian top 40 in 1982 with "Don't Break My Heart".
Sulton has been a frequent collaborator, bassist and singer on many of Todd Rundgren's projects and solo tours.[2]
Biography
Sulton attended and graduated in 1973 from Susan E. Wagner High School in Staten Island, New York. He married his high school sweetheart, Laurie Rampulla, and had three children with her. She died of cancer in 2011.[3][4]
Sulton started his musical career playing piano and vocals for Cherry Vanilla and guitar for Brooklyn-based band Sleepy Hollow[5] before gaining a place in Utopia in 1976. During his time with Utopia, they recorded nine albums and toured extensively until disbanding in 1986, with occasional reunions to the present.
Sulton was the bassist and sang background vocals on the breakout Meat Loaf album Bat Out of Hell. He and Thommy Price collaborated on an album, Lights On, which Sulton co-wrote. The song "No T.V. No Phone" was featured in the comedy film The Allnighter (1987), starring Susanna Hoffs.
Sulton recorded a solo album on September 4, 2002, entitled Quid Pro Quo. The album was released on Sphere Sound Records, and Sulton played all but two instruments on the album. He later released another solo album, "3" the fall of 2014, which featured Todd Rundgren on "Clocks All Stopped."
Sulton sang background vocals on Meat Loaf's album Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell, joining his backing band, Neverland Express, touring for three years on the Everything Louder Tour. He also recorded on Meat Loaf's album Welcome to the Neighborhood, arranging and singing background vocals on most of the tracks. He went on to become Music director for Meat Loaf, rehearsing Meat Loaf's band, Neverland Express, in preparation for touring. The Very Best of Meat Loaf album was released with three new tracks, one of which, "Is Nothing Sacred", was later re-recorded as a duet with Patti Russo and produced by Sulton, with the track reaching No. 15 on the UK charts. Sulton also produced the Meat Loaf album Storytellers, and toured with the band on the Night of the Proms Tour in Europe and the "Meat Loaf Just Havin' Fun for the Summer" and "Winter" Tour in the United States and Europe, where he and Patti Russo both served as opening acts. He also toured on Meat Loaf's "Couldn't Have Said It Better" tour where he played a short solo acoustic set to open the concert at most venues. One of Meat Loaf's shows on this tour was filmed for the DVD Bat Out of Hell: Live with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Kasim also toured on the 2005 "Hair of the Dog" Tour and the 2006–2007 "Bat Out of Hell III" tour, and he is featured as bassist/backing vocalist on the album. In summer 2008, he rejoined Meat Loaf for The Casa de Carne Tour.
Sulton played bass in the pit orchestra for the Twyla Tharp-choreographed musical based on Billy Joel music called Movin' Out on Broadway.
After a brief stint with the reunited band Scandal in 2004, Sulton joined The New Cars in 2005, replacing original Cars bassist and co-lead vocalist Benjamin Orr, who died of cancer in 2000. The band also included original Cars band members Elliot Easton and Greg Hawkes as well as Todd Rundgren and Prairie Prince from Journey and The Tubes. An album, It's Alive!, was followed by a tour in 2006, with Sulton singing lead on The Cars' hit "Drive".
Sulton continues to appear live playing bass, keyboards, and guitar on most Todd Rundgren tours, including the 2008–09 "Arena" gigs, 2009–10 performances of the classic album A Wizard, a True Star (1973) in the United States and Europe, and 2010 "TR's Johnson" shows. He was in the band for the six show "Todd/Healing Albums Live" tour that began Labor Day Weekend of 2010 in Akron, Ohio, and played a solo show before the premiere. He also played in the second run of "Todd/Healing Albums Live", a five-show tour that began on 25 March 2011 in Hartford, Connecticut.[6]
In 2012, he joined the classic hard rock band Blue Öyster Cult; he remained its bassist until 2017.
In September 2015, Sulton, along with legendary songwriter Paul Williams, led a global virtual songwriting collaboration at Hookist.com.[7] The mission was to write the 1st ever crowd-sourced anthem to be performed at FacingAddiction.org's concert and rally on The National Mall on 4 October 2015, headlined by Steven Tyler, Sheryl Crow and Joe Walsh among others.[8] The theme of the song was "Celebrate Recovery" and the goal was to reduce the stigma associated with addiction. Sulton, Williams and Dr. Mehmet Oz opened the show and led 10,000 people in a singalong of "Voice Of Change" at the base of the Washington Monument.[9] Sulton also led a singalong of the song on The Dr. Oz Show which quickly went viral.[10]
A new Kasim Sulton solo album, recorded through 2019 and 2020, was released in 2021 by Deko Records. It includes contributions from notable musicians from Kasim's past and present including Prairie Prince, Mickey Curry, Keith Scott, Gil Assayas, Phil Thornalley and John Siegler.
Todd Harry Rundgren is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Utopia. He is known for his sophisticated and often unorthodox music, his occasionally lavish stage shows, and his later experiments with interactive art. He also produced music videos and was an early adopter and promoter of various computer technologies, such as using the Internet as a means of music distribution in the late 1990s.
Bat Out of Hell is the 1977 debut album by American rock singer Meat Loaf and composer Jim Steinman. The album was developed from a musical, Neverland, a futuristic rock version of Peter Pan, which Steinman wrote for a workshop in 1974. It was recorded during 1975–1976 at various studios, including Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, New York, produced by Todd Rundgren, and released in October 1977 by Cleveland International/Epic Records. Bat Out of Hell spawned two Meat Loaf sequel albums: Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell (1993) and Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose (2006).
"Paradise by the Dashboard Light" is a song written by Jim Steinman. It was released in 1977 on the album Bat Out of Hell, with vocals by the American musician Meat Loaf alongside Ellen Foley. An uncommonly long song for a single, it has become a staple of classic rock radio and has been described as the "greatest rock duet".
Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell is the sixth studio album by American rock singer Meat Loaf and was written and produced by Jim Steinman. It was released in September 1993, sixteen years after Meat Loaf's first solo album Bat Out of Hell. The album reached number 1 in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. Five tracks were released as singles, including "I'd Do Anything for Love ", which reached number 1 in 28 countries.
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.
Gregory A. Hawkes is an American musician who is best known as the keyboardist and founding member of the American new wave band The Cars. Hawkes is credited with helping popularize new wave and synth-pop in American popular music as a member of The Cars. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest keyboardists of all time.
Couldn't Have Said It Better is the eighth studio album by Meat Loaf, released in the UK on April 21, 2003. For only the third time in his career, he released an album without any songs written by Jim Steinman. Meat Loaf claimed that Couldn't Have Said It Better was "the most perfect album [he] did since Bat Out of Hell".
Bat out of Hell: Live with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is a live album released by singer Meat Loaf in 2004 on the Mercury and Sanctuary labels.
The New Cars were a band formed in 2005 by two of the original members of the 1970s/1980s new wave band the Cars. The band was composed of original Cars members Elliot Easton and Greg Hawkes, along with vocalist/guitarist Todd Rundgren, bassist/vocalist Kasim Sulton, and drummer Prairie Prince. The band performed the Cars' songs, some new material, and selections from Rundgren's career.
Swing to the Right is the sixth studio album by Utopia. It followed the Beatles parody-homage Deface the Music. Swing to the Right moves into hard-edged commentary on corporate raiders, warmongers, political villains, and despicable music industry moguls. There is little in the way of progressive rock on this album, which is limited to its title track.
Back to the Bars is a live album by rock musician Todd Rundgren, which was released as a double LP in 1978.
Bearsville Sound Studio was a recording studio founded by Albert Grossman in the Bearsville section of Woodstock, New York.
"Bat Out of Hell" is a song written by Jim Steinman, for the 1977 album Bat Out of Hell and performed by Meat Loaf. In Australia, the song was picked as the second single from the album in May 1978, accompanied by a music video. In January 1979, the song was released as a single in the UK and other European countries, and re-released in 1993.
Utopia is the second of two self-titled albums by the rock group Utopia. It was released in 1982. It was also their only album for Network Records.
Ra is the second studio album and third release by Utopia on Bearsville Records, released in 1977. Band leader Todd Rundgren planned on releasing the LP in 1976 on his own label, Ethereal Records, as the new four-piece line up was not signed to Bearsville. Replete with an elaborate $250,000 stage show featuring a 22-foot-tall (6.7 m) pyramid and golden sphinx which took 18 months of prep, Ra was Rundgren's most ambitious live undertaking.
This article is a discography of American rock musician Todd Rundgren.
"Good Girls Go to Heaven (Bad Girls Go Everywhere)" is a song written by Jim Steinman. The song was first performed by Megumi Shiina as "Kanashimi Wa Tsudzukanai" (悲しみは続かない, lit. "Sadness Doesn't Last") and used as the opening to the 1986 Japanese TV Drama "Kono Ko Dare no Ko?". It was first performed in English by Pandora's Box on their album Original Sin (1989). Group member Holly Sherwood performed lead vocals.
Doug Howard is an American bassist, vocalist and songwriter. He is best known for his work as a performing/recording musician and occasional co-writer with groups, and artists such as Touch, Stun Leer, Todd Rundgren, Utopia and The Edgar Winter Group. He also played the role as the singing narrator "Songster" in the 1987 live production of the Masters of the Universe Power Tour based upon the Mattel He-Man series action figures. Howard is also the managing partner of Lodestar Entertainment, LLC, a music and video licensing, and publishing company based in New York. He is the paternal grandson of American songwriter Joseph E. Howard.
John "Willie" Wilcox is an American drummer, vocalist, producer, recording engineer, sound designer, composer, and senior audio director. He is best known for being a member of the band Utopia. He also has been the senior audio director for Bally Technologies and Scientific Games in Las Vegas, Nevada from 2010 to 2020.
Disco Jets is a tongue in cheek project organized and recorded by Todd Rundgren and Utopia shortly after recording Rundgren's Faithful LP and including most of the musicians from those sessions. It's an instrumental recording humorously parodying 1976's US Bicentennial celebrations, disco music, science fiction films and the CB radio fads. It was released in 2001, 25 years after its recording, as part of the Todd Archive Series Vol. 4 - "Todd Rundgren Demos and Lost Albums" 2-CD set on Rhino Entertainment/Crown Japan. It was reissued in 2012 as a standalone CD import on Esoteric Recordings and in 2015 on Cherry Red. It was also released as a limited edition vinyl that was manufactured exclusively by Cherry Red for Record Store Day, only appearing in record shops from Saturday 16 April.
↑ "Archived copy". www.richbillay.com. Archived from the original on 19 August 2018. Retrieved 25 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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