Moogy Klingman, Songwriter and Original Member of Utopia, Dies at 61

By DOUGLAS MARTIN


If pop music, at its best, can be called a series of evanescent but magically eternal moments, Moogy Klingman lived the concept. He jammed with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, produced a rare album featuring Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and other superstars, and helped write the song that Bette Midler made her theme, “Friends.”

He was best known for his association with Todd Rundgren, the singer, songwriter and producer. It was Mr. Rundgren who announced that Mr. Klingman, an original member of his band Utopia, died on Nov. 15 in Manhattan. He was 61.

Mr. Klingman lived most of his life out of the limelight, though he and his groups, most recently the Peaceniks, had long been part of the New York music scene.

As Mr. Klingman’s health declined, starting with bladder cancer, Mr. Rundgren summoned him and the other original members of Utopia to play a series of concerts. They had not played together in more than 30 years. They are continuing their tour to help pay Mr. Klingman’s medical expenses. Information on survivors was not available.

Mr. Klingman produced and played keyboards on “Buckets of Rain,” Ms. Midler’s duet with Bob Dylan of the Dylan song for her 1976 Atlantic album, “Songs for the New Depression.” “Friends,” also known as “(You Got to Have) Friends,” a song Mr. Klingman wrote with Buzzy Linhart, was a hit for Ms. Midler in 1973.

Original compositions included on Mr. Klingman’s own first album, “Moogy” (Capitol, 1972), were later recorded by Carly Simon, Johnny Winter, James Cotton and Thelma Houston.

Mark Klingman was born on Sept. 7, 1950; sources differ on whether he was born in New York City or Great Neck, N.Y. His nickname from childhood, Moogy, had nothing to do with the Moog synthesizers he played.

As a youth Mr. Klingman developed a distinctive style of piano playing informed by boogie-woogie and jazz, and by the time he was 16 he was spending more time in Greenwich Village than in high school. He formed a rock group and sat in with top musicians, including Hendrix.

In 1968 he played on the soundtrack for the Jane Fonda science fiction film “Barbarella.” He met Mr. Rundgren outside the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village that same year.

Mr. Rundgren and Mr. Klingman built a recording studio, Secret Sound, in Mr. Rundgren’s Manhattan loft. When Mr. Rundgren formed Utopia in 1973, he used members of Mr. Klingman’s band, Moogy and the Rhythm Kings, as the core.

Mr. Rundgren was scheduled to produce a “super session” in 1969 involving Mr. Clapton, Mr. Beck, Dr. John, Linda Ronstadt and other musicians. But after Mr. Rundgren’s manager refused the payment offered, Mr. Klingman, at 18, took on the project and found himself supervising his musical idols. The effort led to a single album, “Summit Meeting,” and a double album, “Music From Free Creek,” both released in England in the 1970s. The musicians used pseudonyms on the album. Mr. Clapton was “King Cool” and Mr. Beck “A. N. Other.”

In a 2001 interview with the magazine Heavy Metal Mayhem, Mr. Klingman said he had approached the sessions dreading that someone would say, “Who are you, Sonny, to tell us what to do?” No one did. “I knew when to back off,” he said.

Ouch; just last Friday the 18th, four days after he died, was to have been his live Toddcast with his old group, the early Utopia. Of his Rundgren output, I especially liked side 2 of Another Live, one of the 2 lps they were going to do in their entirety on the broadcast. He got too ill to continue the mini-tour just 2 weeks ago.

trivia: Todd, moogy, etc. were the very first band ever to do a live FM stereo broadcast concert. I still have the beat up cassette hanging around somewhere.

and what a name for an electric keyboard player, huh? RIP, Moogy Klingman!

edited to add: thanks for posting GD! After I decided not to get the toddcast last week (very remote Todd prog, unlike the pop, soul and psychedelic elements of the rest of his output which I revere), I hadn't been on any of the Rundgren sites to have heard this news.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2011-11-24 01:01 by winter.

thanks for this - Moogy was a friend - i've written about him a great deal, interviewed him, etc- a true character on top of being a first class keyboardist - wonderful guy, gone way too soon (all of the Utopia guys are class acts)