Todd Hunter

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Todd Hunter

Born Todd Stuart Hunter
June 22, 1951 (1951-06-22) (age 56)
Waitara, New Zealand
Education Taumarunui High School
Occupation Musician, composer, band manager,record producer
Known for Dragon, Heartbreak High
Spouse Jen Jewel Brown (fl. 1978)
Partner Johanna Pigott (c. 1981 - current)
Children Harry, James, Joey
Parents Stuart Hunter, Voi Hunter
Relatives Marc Hunter, Ross Hunter, Brett Hunter (brothers)

Todd Hunter (born Todd Stuart Hunter[1][2] June 22, 1951 in Waitara) is a New Zealand musician and composer known for his involvement in the band Dragon. Their best known songs are "April Sun in Cuba", "Are You Old Enough?", "Still in Love With You", and "Rain". Hunter also composed music for film The Girl Who Came Late (1991) and TV series Heartbreak High (1994-1999).[3]

In May 2008 the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) announced that Dragon's iconic status would be recognised on 1 July 2008 when they are to be inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.[4][5][6]

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Dragon - 1970s

Hunter (bass guitar, vocals) formed Dragon in 1972 with Graeme Collins (piano, vocals), Neil Reynolds (drums) and Ray Goodwin (guitar, keyboards, vocals);[7] the group was soon joined by Todd's younger brother Marc Hunter (vocals) and moved to Australia in 1975. The band toured Australasia, America and Europe and their songs from that time, "April Sun In Cuba", "Are You Old Enough?" and "Still in Love With You" are still played on radio.

[edit] Jen Brown

Hunter's first wife was poet, artist, writer Jen Jewel Brown (aka Jennifer Hunter Brown) who had written Million Dollar Riff (1975) a book describing Australian band Skyhooks prior to their first tour of US.[8] Hunter and Brown co-wrote "Politics" and "Company" for Dragon's album O Zambezi (1978).[1][9] Brown introduced Hunter to violinist Richard Lee who then played violin on "Civilization" for O Zambezi as a session musician before joining Dragon in February 1979.[10] Follow up album Power Play (1979) had disappointing sales by comparison, and despite Dragon having sold over a million records in the 1970s, they first broke up on New Year's Eve of 1979.

[edit] Johanna Pigott

After the first demise of Dragon, Hunter became a record producer for bands like the infamous NZ punk band Toy Love and others.[7] He produced two albums for XL Capris, a punk band containing future partner vocalist, bass guitarist Johanna Pigott and played guitar in the band in 1981.[7]

[edit] Dragon - 1980s

When Dragon reformed in 1982, Hunter and Pigott cowrote the song "Rain" (with Marc Hunter),[1][2] which went to No. 2 in 1983.[11][12][13]

Around this time Hunter (usually with Pigott) became involved with film and TV scoring and found that he was far more suited to the discipline of working in a studio to a deadline than playing in a live band. Pigott (co-creator, screenwriter and performer) and Hunter (guitarist and songwriter) were involved in Australian ABC-TV series Sweet and Sour (1984). Brown also wrote "Hip Romeo" for Sweet and Sour.[1]

Nevertheless, Dragon (aka Hunter) toured Europe with Tina Turner in 1986-1987 promoting the Dreams Of Ordinary Men album produced by Todd Rundgren. At that time the band consisted of Marc Hunter (lead vocal), Todd Hunter on bass, legendary guitar player Tommy Emmanuel, Alan Mansfield from Robert Palmer's band on keyboards and Doane Perry from Jethro Tull on drums.[7]

On that tour Hunter hauled a large road case containing a portable studio through Europe and on it he wrote and recorded the scores for many imaginary movies. It was on that same Box that the Dragon hit single "Celebrate" was recorded in hotel rooms around the world with David Hershfelder producing. In 1987 while on tour (Dragon was briefly called Hunter) with Turner, John Farnham asked Hunter and Pigott to write a song for his next album. They wrote "Age Of Reason",[1][2] which went to No.1 in Australia for four weeks from 30th July[14] and was a top 10 hit in Germany and Canada in 1989. "Age Of Reason" won the 'APRA Most Performed Australasian Popular Song' of the year award for 1989.[15] After selling another million records worldwide in the 1980s Dragon disbanded again in 1995.

[edit] Film and TV scoring

From 1994 to 1999 Hunter was the composer for the hit TV Series Heartbreak High and wrote (or cowrote with Pigott) and recorded all the underscoring.[3] The theme song was nominated for 1994 APRA Television Theme of the Year.[16] Hunter and Pigott also wrote over 20 songs for the series (mostly performed by Abi Tucker, Fleur Beaupert or themselves).[17] Other TV series Hunter worked on included Headstart and Out There.

Hunter and Pigott composed original music for: The Girl Who Came Late aka Daydream Believer (1991),[18] and Alex aka Alex: The Spirit of a Champion (1993).[19] "Alex (theme)" aka "Aotearoa" written by Hunter and "For The Rest Of My Life" by Hunter and Pigott.[1]

Hunter is currently working on the BBC/Southern Star TV serial 'Out Of The Blue' in conjunction with composer Stephen Rae.

[edit] Dragon - 2000s

In 2006 Todd reformed Dragon with Mark Williams, Bruce Reid and Pete Drummond; they recorded Sunshine to Rain for Liberation Blue Records.[7] Dragon are touring Australia promoting their 2008 CD Dragon Remembers which is an affectionate look at great Australian Anthems recorded by friends and colleagues no longer with us. Dragon will be inducted into the Aria Hall Of Fame on August the !st 2008.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Australasian Performing Right Association. APRA. Retrieved on 2007-10-03.
  2. ^ a b c American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. ASCAP. Retrieved on 2007-10-03.
  3. ^ a b Todd Hunter entry at Internet Movie Database. IMDb. Retrieved on 2007-10-28.
  4. ^ ARIA Hall of Fame - Dragon. Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) (2008-05-22). Retrieved on 2008-05-22.
  5. ^ Cashmere, Paul. "Dragon and Russell Morris to be Inducted into ARIA Hall of Fame", undercover.com.au, 2008-05-17. Retrieved on 2008-05-17. 
  6. ^ Mangan, John. "Old rockers never die, says ARIA", The Age, 2008-05-18. Retrieved on 2008-05-20. 
  7. ^ a b c d e Australian Rock Database. Magnus Holmgren. Retrieved on 2007-10-03.
  8. ^ Books and printed matter. Skyhooks World-Wide Discography. Retrieved on 2007-11-19.
  9. ^ Davis, Peter (June 2007). "Jen Jewel Brown interviewed by Peter Davis". Thylazine: The Australian Journal of Arts, Ethics & Literature. Retrieved on 2007-11-19.
  10. ^ "Dragon - win some, lose one". Pine and Peninsula (1979-02-28). Retrieved on 2007-11-19.
  11. ^ The best of 1983. Oz Net Music Chart. Retrieved on 2007-09-28.
  12. ^ Dragon Online. Retrieved on 2007-09-28.
  13. ^ Sergent, Bruce. Dragon. Retrieved on 2007-09-28.
  14. ^ Number one hits of 1988. Oz Net Music Chart. Retrieved on 2007-10-02.
  15. ^ APRA Music Awards - Winners 1989. APRA. Retrieved on 2007-10-03.
  16. ^ APRA music awards - nominations 1994. APRA. Retrieved on 2007-10-02.
  17. ^ How Heartbreak High kicked off. Heartbreak High unofficial website. Retrieved on 2007-10-02.
  18. ^ IMDb entry for The Girl Who Came Late (1991). IMDb. Retrieved on 2007-10-02.
  19. ^ IMDB entry for Alex (1993). IMDb. Retrieved on 2007-10-02.

[edit] External links