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John "Willie" Wilcox (born September 21, 1951, in Trenton, New Jersey) 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 was also the senior audio director for Bally Technologies and Scientific Games in Las Vegas, Nevada from 2010 to 2020.
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Born in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1951, Willie was first inspired by his father, a trombone and bass player. Willie would watch his dad playing concerts in the park, and fondly remembers the feeling of going up on stage after the band's performance and watching all the musicians packing up their instruments.
He would go on to study drums and percussion as a teenager in Glens Falls, NY at Freddy's, a local drum store. He worked in the drum store cleaning and repairing drum kits, studying, and eventually teaching. Here, he attended drum clinics with Max Roach, Gene Krupa, Joe Morello, and Mel Taylor of the Ventures. Teo Macero, producer of many of the Miles Davis records, lived in Glens Falls and had an Italian restaurant there called “Maceros.” Teo would often invite many large bands to play in his restaurant, often as favors while on their way to Montreal from New York. Willie would sit in the front row as a 16-year-old kid watching Count Basie, Woody Herman, Duke Ellington, Max Roach, and Gene Krupa playing live. Willie would play as part of the intermission entertainment between the band's sets playing drums, along with Freddie Hubbard and John Coltrane records on a large stereo system behind the bar. At the restaurant, Willie got to meet with many members of the band, further cementing Willie's career path into the drumming world.
After Willie graduated high school, he won a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music, performing a percussion piece with a resident pianist and composer Dr. Maurice Whitney. They performed a piece by the French composer Darius Milhaud titled: “Concerto for percussion and small orchestra.” It featured timpani, marimba, suspended bass drum, triangles, ratchets, and multiple percussion instruments. This was a piece that was normally performed by college graduates as their final performance piece for graduation at schools like Juilliard and Manhattan School of Music.
Willie completed a year at the Berklee College of Music, and quickly transferred to the Manhattan School of Music in NYC. While in New York Willie studied drums with legendary jazz drum instructor Jim Blackley. While attending college, he played at the playboy club and the big band mountain circuit, playing live shows in the Catskills for the classic acts.
During his last year at the Manhattan School of Music, Willie auditioned for the Daryl Hall and John Oates band. They were preparing to tour their new record “Abandon Luncheonette” featuring the hit song “She’s Gone”. The audition went well, and he went on to tour extensively with Daryl and John, opening for artists like Lou Reed, The Bee Gees, and Dr. John. This would be the beginning of his rock music drumming career. The next landmark opportunity brought the recording of the record “War Babies” with Hall and Oates. This was Willie's first meeting with Todd Rundgren, who would become a lifelong musical collaboration with Willie in the band “Utopia.”
Willie took a gig with Bette Midler playing the show “Clams on The Half Shell”, and performed on Broadway for six months at the Minskoff Theatre. This was a big band performance and also starred vibes player “Lionel Hampton”, as well as bass player Gerald Jemott, Aretha Franklin's long-time bass player. Just after this six-month period, Willie was asked to join “Utopia” with Todd Rundgren. This collaboration would go on to last 25 years, recording some 25 records, and participating in multiple U.S. and world tours. During this time period, Willie also played drums on albums for Meat Loaf ”Bat Out of Hell,” Todd Rundgren solo records, Shaun Cassidy, and Steve Hillage. Other live and studio projects also included Mick Jagger and Ringo Starr.
Willie had a significant songwriting career composing and producing songs with artists like Luther Vandross, The Pointer Sisters, Natalie Cole, Kylie Minogue, Hall and Oates, Meat Loaf, Manny Pacquiao and scoring a #1 hit with dance artist Stacy Q, “We Connect.” He would continue his production and composing career at NBC Universal Television writing theme songs for shows like Jim Cramer's “Mad Money.” He spent the next 10 years as the senior audio director at Bally Technologies and Scientific Games, where he produced and remixed all the original tracks from Michael Jackson's hits for the Michael Jackson games in 5.1 surround sound.
Throughout his career with Utopia, Wilcox has been photographed playing multiple drumsets by companies such as Sonor, Yamaha Recording Series, Leedy, and Ludwig.
Wilcox's most memorable drum set was an electronic percussion configuration built on a motorcycle's frame. Its first incarnation, built in 1979, was simply known as the "Motorcycle" and consisted of Pearl Syncussion pads, a synthesized kick drum made from a Remo practice pad and a PAiA synthesizer, Zildijan acoustic cymbals mounted on the handlebars, and an acoustic snare drum in case the Syncussions went out. [1] The unit also contained fog machines and working headlights, and was mounted on a spinning base. Offstage technicians controlled these elements during Wilcox's drum solo. [2] Wilcox played the Motorcycle on the tour for Utopia's Adventures in Utopia album, including an appearance on The Mike Douglas Show . The original Motorcycle made its last appearance in the music video for the Utopia song "Crybaby" from the Oblivion album in 1984. [3]
The second incarnation of the motorcycle drum set was known as the "Trapparatus". Built in 1985, and designed by Wilcox and Rick Downey (the then-drummer for Blue Öyster Cult), it consisted of Clavia ddrum electronic pads and sample modules, as well as Sabian acoustic cymbals. The ddrum modules contained samples of Wilcox's Sonor drums, as well as some samples of Simmons electronic sounds. [4] The Trapparatus was played on the tour for Utopia's 1985 album POV. According to Utopia keyboardist Roger Powell, the Trapparatus was destroyed in 1986 when a warehouse containing most of Utopia's touring equipment was set ablaze by arsonists. [5]
For the 2018 Utopia reunion, Wilcox announced that he was returning to the Ludwig Drum Company, and played a turquoise sparkle kit on the tour. This kit appears with the band on their July 2018 performance on the Jimmy Kimmel Show .
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 bands Nazz and 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.
"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 American musicians Meat Loaf and 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".
Bearsville Records was founded in 1970 by Albert Grossman. The label closed in 1984, two years before Grossman's death. Sally Grossman, Albert Grossman’s widow, was running Bearsville Records from 2010 until her death in March 2021, at the age of 81.
Initiation is the sixth album by American musician Todd Rundgren, released May 23, 1975 on Bearsville Records. With this album, Rundgren fully embraced the synthesized prog sound he had begun exploring in more depth in his work with his band Utopia. However, unlike Utopia, in which Rundgren had limited himself to playing guitar, much of the synthesizers on Initiation were played and programmed by Rundgren himself.
Hermit of Mink Hollow is the eighth album by American musician Todd Rundgren, released May 1978 on Bearsville Records. All of the instruments and vocals were performed by Rundgren. He intended the songs on the album to be performed on piano with minimal arrangements, apart from the bass, drums and voices, and for the material to showcase his newly refined singing ability.
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.
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.
Kasim Sulton is an American bass guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist. Best known for his work with Utopia, 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".
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 an independent residential recording studio founded by Albert Grossman in the Bearsville section of Woodstock, New York. From the late 1960s through the early 2000s, the studios were the site of notable recordings by numerous artists including Todd Rundgren, Meat Loaf, Tesla, R.E.M., Jeff Buckley, Dave Matthews Band, Phish and others.
Another Live is a live album by the progressive rock band Utopia. It was recorded in August 1975 and released in 1975 on Bearsville.
War Babies is the third studio album by American pop music duo Daryl Hall & John Oates. The album was released in October 1974, by Atlantic Records. It was their last of three albums for Atlantic Records before moving to RCA Records. The album was produced by Todd Rundgren. Rundgren and other members of Utopia, his then-recently-formed prog-rock band, perform on the record.
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.
Todd Rundgren's Utopia is the debut album by the American rock band Utopia, released in October 1974 on Bearsville Records. The band was formed in 1973 by musician, songwriter, and producer Todd Rundgren who decided to expand his musical style by moving from pop-oriented rock towards progressive rock. He assembled a six-piece group that featured three keyboardists and toured as a live act. Most of the album was recorded in the studio except "Utopia", the opening track, which was recorded live in concert April 25th, 1974.
This article is a discography of American rock musician Todd Rundgren.
Oblivion is an album by the rock group Utopia, released in January 1984.
POV is the ninth and final studio album by the rock group Utopia, released in January 1985. It peaked at #161 on the Billboard 200 charts. Except for a live 1992 reunion album, this was the last album released by Utopia, and Rundgren's final studio work under the Utopia banner.
Trivia is a compilation album by the rock group Utopia, released in 1986. It consists of tracks from their albums Utopia, Oblivion and POV, as well as two new tracks, "Fix Your Gaze" and "Monument".
Redux '92: Live in Japan is an album by the rock band Utopia recorded live on May 10, 1992 at Gotanda Kani Hoken Hall, Tokyo, Japan and released in early 1993. It captures the band's reunion six years after it had disbanded in 1986. The album ostensibly consists of the "best of" as selected by the members Todd Rundgren, Roger Powell, Kasim Sulton, and John "Willie" Wilcox. A companion video of the same performance was released on DVD and VHS tape.
Oblivion, POV & Some Trivia is a Rhino Records compilation album by Utopia. It includes all of the tracks from the original Utopia albums Oblivion and P.O.V., and the song "Man of Action," which was originally the b-side to the U.K. single "Mated" and a bonus track on the cassette and CD versions of P.O.V.. It also includes the non-regular-album tracks, "Fix Your Gaze" and "Monument" from the compilation album Trivia.
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