Rundgren was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Ruth (nee Fleck; April 29, 1922 - April 6, 2016) and Harry W. Rundgren (1917-1996). He grew up in Upper Darby. His father was of half Swedish and half Austrian descent, and his mother was mostly of German descent. Todd was a 1966 graduate of Upper Darby High School.

Although he had originally intended to concentrate on production rather than his own music, in 1970 Todd formed the 'band' Runt, consisting of himself, teenagers Hunt Sales on drums, and his brother Tony Sales on bass (the Sales brothers, sons of US comedian Soupy Sales, were in a short lived band called Tony and the Tigers and went on to play with Iggy Pop, David Bowie, and Tin Machine). Rundgren himself wrote, produced, sang and played guitars, keyboards and other instruments. Whether Runt is best described as a band or simply as a pseudonym for Rundgren as a solo artist is unclear--for the album Runt (1970) the group appeared to be a bona fide trio, but on their second album Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren (1971), Hunt Sales plays only on two tracks and is replaced by N. D. Smart on the rest of the album. Furthermore, only Rundgren is pictured on the covers of both albums, and both albums have been subsequently reissued with the same titles and cover art, but bearing the artist credit "Todd Rundgren". Whether a solo project or a band, Runt had a No. 20 hit in the United States with "We Gotta Get You a Woman" in 1970, and two other Runt songs placed in the lower reaches of the Hot 100. By this time, Rundgren had effectively moved his base to Los Angeles. As he prepared for his second solo album, he was introduced to aspiring L.A. band Halfnelson, led by brothers Ron Mael and Russell Mael and guitarist Earle Mankey. After attending an elaborate, self-staged 'showcase' performance by the group at their L.A. rehearsal space, Rundgren became intrigued by their music and agreed to produce their debut album, originally released as Halfnelson and later retitled Sparks. The brothers later credited Rundgren as being instrumental in launching their career and in 2010 Russell Mael commented that when reviewing the album in 2008 they were still "... really happy with the way it sounded. There's nothing there that really sounds 'of an era' because it didn't exactly sound 'of an era' at the time." By 1972, the Runt persona/band identity had been abandoned, and Rundgren's next project, the ambitious double LP Something/Anything? (1972) was credited simply to Rundgren, who wrote, played, sang, engineered, and produced everything on three of the four sides of the album. Something/Anything? featured the Top 20 U.S. hits "I Saw the Light" (#16; not to be confused with the Hank Williams song of the same name), and a remake of the Nazz near-hit "Hello It's Me", which reached No. 5 in the United States and is Rundgren's biggest hit. The former song featured Rundgren on all vocals and instruments. On his ensuing concert tour, his backing band was the Hello People, whose own album he later produced. CANNOTANSWER

When Todd Rundgren abandoned his Persona what happened ?

wrote, played, sang, engineered, and produced everything on three of the four sides of the album. Something/Anything?