Mark "Moogy" Klingman (September 7, 1950 – November 15, 2011)
– accessed November 17, 2011 was an American musician and songwriter. He was a founding member of

Todd Rundgren Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) 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 sophistica ...

's band, Todd Rundgren's

Utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', which describes a fictiona ...

, and later became a solo recording artist, bandleader and songwriter. He released two solo recordings, and his songs have been covered by artists as wide-ranging as

Johnny Winter John Dawson Winter III (February 23, 1944 – July 16, 2014) was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and record producer. Winter was known for his high-energy blues rock albums, live performances, and slide guitar playing from the late 1 ...

Carly Simon Carly Elisabeth Simon (born June 25, 1943) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Billboard Hot 100, top 40 U.S. hits include "Anticipation (song), Anticipatio ...

James Cotton James Henry Cotton (July 1, 1935 – March 16, 2017) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who performed and recorded with many fellow blues artists and with his own band. He also played drums early in his career. ...

Thelma Houston Thelma Houston ( Jackson; born May 7, 1943) is an American singer and actress. Beginning her recording career in the late 1960s, Houston scored a number-one hit in 1977 with her recording of " Don't Leave Me This Way", which won the Grammy for ...

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...

Barry Manilow Barry Manilow ( ; born Barry Alan Pincus on June 17, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer with a career that spans over sixty years. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", "Looks Like We Made It", "Brandy (Scott ...

and

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...

. He played on stage with

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, guitarist and songwriter who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and de ...

Luther Vandross Luther Ronzoni Vandross Jr. (April 20, 1951 – July 1, 2005) was an American Soul music, soul and Contemporary R&B, R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer. Over his career, he achieved eleven consecutive RIAA certification, RIAA-certified ...

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. Althoug ...

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (24 June 1944 – 10 January 2023) was an English musician. He rose to prominence as the guitarist of the rock band the Yardbirds, and afterwards founded and fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, ...

and Allan Woody &

Warren Haynes Warren Haynes (born April 6, 1960) is an American musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known for his work as longtime guitarist with the Allman Brothers Band and as founding member of the jam band Gov't Mule. Early in his career he was ...

of the

Allman Brothers Allman may refer to: Music *The Allman Brothers Band The Allman Brothers Band was an American rock music, rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969. Its founding members were brothers Duane Allman (slide guitar, lead guitar) and Greg ...

and

Gov't Mule Gov't Mule (pronounced "Government Mule") is an American Southern rock jam band, formed in 1994 by guitarist Warren Haynes, bassist Allen Woody (both of The Allman Brothers Band at the time) and drummer Matt Abts (whom Haynes had worked with in ...

. Other than Rundgren, his longest musical association may have been with

Bette Midler Bette Midler ( ;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American actress, comedian, singer, and author. Throughout her five-decade career Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Bette Midler, numero ...

, for whom he served as band leader and who adopted for her signature song "(You Gotta Have) Friends", composed by Klingman and William "Buzzy" Linhart.

Life and career

"Moogy" Klingman's nickname was not from the

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer ( ) is a modular synthesizer invented by the American engineer Robert Moog in 1964. Moog's company, R. A. Moog Co., produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014. It was the first commercial synthesizer ...

, pronounced "Mogue", but from his baby sister's pronunciation of "Marky" as "Moo-Gee." His nickname was already well established by the time that he did later play the instrument. Klingman grew up in the Long Island suburb of

Great Neck, New York Great Neck is a region contained within Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, New York (state), New York, on Long Island, which covers a peninsula on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore and includes nine incorporated villages, among th ...

. By age 10 he was collecting comic books and

gramophone record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The g ...

s, playing DJ in his basement. Through his older sister, he got an access pass to attend the 1965

Newport Folk Festival The Newport Folk Festival is an annual American folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the Newport Jazz Festival. The festival was founded by music promoter and Jazz Festival founder Geor ...

performance where

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

"went electric," meeting Dylan before and after the concert. Back home, his band The Living Few was signed to a demo deal by producer Dick Glass and recorded a demo of Dylan songs and original tunes. At 16, he joined

Jimmy James and the Blue Flames Jimmy James and the Blue Flames was an American rock group that was fronted by Jimi Hendrix, who was then going by the name "Jimmy James". The band was Hendrix's first extended foray into the 1966 Greenwich Village music scene and included futu ...

with

and

Randy California Randy Craig Wolfe (February 20, 1951 – January 2, 1997), known as Randy California, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, and one of the original members of the rock group Spirit, formed in 1967. Life and career California was b ...

. His jug band performance with schoolmate

Andy Kaufman Andrew Geoffrey Kaufman ( ; January 17, 1949 – May 16, 1984) was an American entertainer and performance artist. He has sometimes been called an "anti-humor, anti-comedian". He disdained telling jokes and engaging in comedy as it was tra ...

in a controversial civil rights concert resulted in his expulsion from high school in 1966, after which he went to Quintano's School for Young Professionals in New York City. By then, his band Glitterhouse had made records with the star producer

Bob Crewe Robert Stanley Crewe (November 12, 1930 – September 11, 2014) was an American songwriter, dancer, singer, manager, and record producer. Crewe co-wrote and produced a string of Top 10 singles with Bob Gaudio for the Four Seasons. As a songw ...

, as well as Crewe's soundtrack to the 1968

Roger Vadim Roger Vadim Plemiannikov (; 26 January 1928 – 11 February 2000) was a French screenwriter, film director, and producer, as well as an author, artist, and occasional actor. His best-known works are visually lavish films with erotic qualities, s ...

film ''Barbarella'' with

Jane Fonda Jane Seymour Fonda (born December 21, 1937) is an American actress and activist. Recognized as a film icon, Jane Fonda filmography, Fonda's work spans several genres and over six decades of film and television. She is the recipient of List of a ...

. Klingman's association with

commenced in 1968 when they met outside the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village. In Klingman's Manhattan loft, he and Rundgren constructed the Secret Sound recording studio where Rundgren produced his ''

A Wizard, A True Star ''A Wizard, a True Star'' is the fourth studio album by American musician Todd Rundgren, released on March 2, 1973, by Bearsville Records. It marked a departure from his previous album, ''Something/Anything?'' (1972), featuring fewer straightforw ...

'', ''

Todd Todd or Todds may refer to: Places Australia * Todd River, an ephemeral river United States * Todd Valley, California, also known as Todd, an unincorporated community * Todd, Missouri, a ghost town * Todd, North Carolina, an unincorporated c ...

'', and other albums. Moogy was the original keyboardist for Todd Rundgren's Utopia, and Klingman's band Moogy & the Rhythm Kings (Kevin Ellman,

Ralph Schuckett Ralph Schuckett (March 2, 1948 – April 4, 2021) was an American keyboardist, composer and songwriter known as one of the founding members of Todd Rundgren's band Utopia. He composed for film and television, including ''Pokémon'', ''Sonic X'', ...

, John Seigler) formed the core of the original Utopia. He played on ten Todd Rundgren solo albums, as well as several Utopia albums. When

found himself in 1972 with an acclaimed album, ''

Transformer In electrical engineering, a transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple Electrical network, circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces ...

'', but no backing musicians to support it on tour, he tried hiring an inexperienced bar band called The Tots, but ultimately fired them mid-tour. With barely a week's notice, Klingman came up with a new five-member backing band, and completed the tour. The band consisted of Tom Cosgrove on lead guitar,

on rhythm guitar, "Buffalo" Bill Gelber on bass and "Chocolate" on drums. Klingman played keyboards and produced

's duet with

"Buckets of Rain" – which appeared on Midler's 1976 album, '' Songs for the New Depression''. He became her musical director, taking over from

. Klingman collaborated with William "Buzzy" Linhart in co-writing "(You Gotta Have) Friends", which became Bette Midler's de facto theme song. Klingman had solo albums out on Capitol and EMI records, as well as on his own label. Songs from his solo albums were covered by

, Eric Clapton,

, Bette Midler, Todd Rundgren and others. His song "Dust in the Wind" (not to be confused with the hit song of the same name by Kansas) was covered by Todd Rundgren on his album ''

Something/Anything? ''Something/Anything?'' is the third album by American musician Todd Rundgren, released in February 1972. It was Rundgren's first album released under his own name, following two records credited to the quasi-group project Runt, and was also his ...

'' and has been performed live in concert by

. In 1985 Klingman helped the group Mandolindley Road Show mix and master their debut self-titled album. He mentored the late, influential hip-hop producer

Paul C Paul C. McKasty (September 20, 1964July 17, 1989), better known as Paul C, was an American East Coast hip hop pioneer, producer, engineer, and mixer in the 1980s.Pritt Kalsi McKasty gained recognition for his work with notable artists such as De ...

., who was a member of the band. Klingman became the executive producer and musical director of the '' Music From Free Creek'' "supersession" project when Rundgren's agent Albert Grossman wanted too much money on his behalf, and Rundgren passed the job on to his friend. The sessions featured the participation of Eric Clapton,

Keith Emerson Keith Noel Emerson (2 November 194411 March 2016) was an English keyboardist, songwriter, composer and record producer. He played keyboards in a number of bands before finding his first commercial success with the Nice in the late 1960s. He be ...

Mitch Mitchell John Graham "Mitch" Mitchell (9 July 194612 November 2008)In his book about the Experience, Mitchell states he celebrated his 21st birthday while on tour on 9 July 1967, which makes his birth year 1946.Mitchell's obituaries in ''Billboard (mag ...

Harvey Mandel Harvey "The Snake" Mandel (born March 11, 1945) is an American guitarist best known as a member of Canned Heat. He also played with Charlie Musselwhite and John Mayall as well as maintaining a solo career. Early life Mandel was born in Detroit ...

and

Linda Ronstadt Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is an American singer who has performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin music. Ronstadt has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three A ...

.Interview with Moogy Klingman
by I.C. Timerow, 2001; http://www.moogymusic.com. Klingman also performed live at many venues with various groups, playing for

, Jimi Hendrix, Buzzy Linhart and then in the 1990s, with members of the

, and a summer tour with

Bo Diddley Ellas Otha Bates (December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist and singer who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, including Buddy ...

. He was the co-founder of the band The Peaceniks, along with Barry Gruber. Klingman also played in the Moogy/Woody Band with Allman Brothers alumni Allan Woody, and Warren Haynes. In 1979 he had a show on Manhattan Cable Channel J called "Manhattan Alley". Klingman was also an actor and filmmaker. He directed a short film called, Boy With a Beatbox (1986), and starred in the 2005 independent feature film, The Rodnees: We Mod Like Dat! A benefit concert was held in January 2011, to help pay Klingman's medical expenses, and saw the original Todd Rundgren's Utopia, featuring Ralph Schuckett, Kevin Ellman, John Siegler and Klingman, reunite on stage for the first time in over thirty years. Klingman died of bladder cancer in New York City on November 15, 2011, at the age of 61.

References

External links

*
Moogy Klingman Discography

Moogy's official Myspace page

Moogy Klingman 2007 audio interview on RundgrenRadio.com

Moogy Klingman 2009 audio interview on RundgrenRadio.com

Moogy Klingman 2010 audio interview on RundgrenRadio.com
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Klingman, Moogy 1950 births 2011 deaths American rock musicians American rock keyboardists Songwriters from New York (state) Record producers from New York (state) Musicians from New York City Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Utopia (American band) members