Biography
Keyboardist and synthesizer specialist Roger Powell maintained a lengthy association with Todd Rundgren’s progressive and new wave ensemble Utopia while also releasing multiple solo projects and contributing to prominent 1970s rock artists. His first solo effort, the 1973 album Cosmic Furnace, received limited attention, yet it prompted an invitation from Rundgren to join the newly assembled Utopia. Powell’s initial appearance with the group came on the 1975 live release Another Live, which opened the door to further sessions on Rundgren’s own records—Initiation from 1975, Faithful from 1976, and the 1978 concert set Back to the Bars—as well as the 1977 prog-leaning Utopia album RA.
As musical tastes turned sharply toward the close of the decade, Utopia pivoted from expansive prog statements to concise new wave arrangements, a direction first heard on the second 1977 release Oops! Wrong Planet, which spotlighted Powell’s restrained vocal on the track “Windows.” During 1978 he also appeared on Meat Loaf’s multimillion-selling Bat Out of Hell—produced by Rundgren with Utopia serving as the backing band—and joined David Bowie’s touring ensemble, documented on the live album Stage that same year and on the 1979 studio release Lodger. Around this period Powell designed and performed on his custom instrument, the Powell Probe.
The opening years of the 1980s brought heightened activity for both Powell and Utopia; the band achieved its strongest commercial showing with the 1980 album Adventures in Utopia, while Powell delivered his own follow-up, Air Pocket, whose energetic cut “Emergency Splashdown” later entered Utopia’s concert repertoire. Although subsequent Utopia efforts such as the 1980 Beatles-styled Deface the Music, the 1982 power-pop outing Swing to the Right, and the self-titled Utopia maintained a devoted audience, the commercial peak proved fleeting. Internal record-label difficulties and declining sales ultimately led the group to disband in the late 1980s. Powell finished a third solo album at that time, yet it remained unreleased after a brief reunion that produced the 1992 Japanese tour and the resulting live document Redux 92: Live in Japan. He later worked as an audio programmer for Silicon Graphics in San Francisco while occasionally performing on guitar with regional ensembles.
As musical tastes turned sharply toward the close of the decade, Utopia pivoted from expansive prog statements to concise new wave arrangements, a direction first heard on the second 1977 release Oops! Wrong Planet, which spotlighted Powell’s restrained vocal on the track “Windows.” During 1978 he also appeared on Meat Loaf’s multimillion-selling Bat Out of Hell—produced by Rundgren with Utopia serving as the backing band—and joined David Bowie’s touring ensemble, documented on the live album Stage that same year and on the 1979 studio release Lodger. Around this period Powell designed and performed on his custom instrument, the Powell Probe.
The opening years of the 1980s brought heightened activity for both Powell and Utopia; the band achieved its strongest commercial showing with the 1980 album Adventures in Utopia, while Powell delivered his own follow-up, Air Pocket, whose energetic cut “Emergency Splashdown” later entered Utopia’s concert repertoire. Although subsequent Utopia efforts such as the 1980 Beatles-styled Deface the Music, the 1982 power-pop outing Swing to the Right, and the self-titled Utopia maintained a devoted audience, the commercial peak proved fleeting. Internal record-label difficulties and declining sales ultimately led the group to disband in the late 1980s. Powell finished a third solo album at that time, yet it remained unreleased after a brief reunion that produced the 1992 Japanese tour and the resulting live document Redux 92: Live in Japan. He later worked as an audio programmer for Silicon Graphics in San Francisco while occasionally performing on guitar with regional ensembles.
Albums
