Todd Stuart Hunter NOTE: Requires user to input song title, e.g. POLITICS (born 22 June 1951) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

musician and composer known for his involvement in the band Dragon. Their best known songs are "

April Sun in Cuba "April Sun in Cuba" is a song recorded by New Zealand group Dragon, released in October 1977. It is the first single to be released from Dragon's fourth studio album Running Free. "April Sun in Cuba" first charted on 7 November 1977, peaking at ...

", "

Are You Old Enough? "Are You Old Enough?" is a song by New Zealand rock band Dragon, released in August 1978 while the band were still based in Australia. It was released as the first single from the group's fifth studio album '' O Zambezi'' (1978). The song peaked ...

", "

Still in Love With You Still in Love with You may refer to: * Still in Love with You (album), ''Still in Love with You'' (album), a 1992 album from Meli'sa Morgan * Still in Love with You (Anna Vissi song), "Still in Love with You" (Anna Vissi song), 2001 * Still in Lov ...

", and "

Rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water ...

". Hunter also composed

John Farnham John Peter Farnham AO (born 1 July 1949) is a British born Australian singer. Farnham was a teen pop idol from 1967 until 1979, billed then as Johnny Farnham, but has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer.McFarlane (1999). Enc ...

's hit song "

Age of Reason The Age of reason, or the Enlightenment, was an intellectual and philosophical movement that dominated the world of ideas in Europe during the 17th to 19th centuries. Age of reason or Age of Reason may also refer to: * Age of reason (canon law), ...

" with

Johanna Pigott Johanna Paton Pigott (born ca. 1955) is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter and screenwriter. Her best known hit songs are Dragon's " Rain" which peaked at No. 2 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart in 1983, Note: Used f ...

and music for film ''

Daydream Believer "Daydream Believer" is a song composed by American songwriter John Stewart shortly before he left the Kingston Trio. It was originally recorded by the Monkees, with Davy Jones singing the lead. The single reached No. 1 on the U.S. ''Billboar ...

'' (1991) and TV series ''

Heartbreak High ''Heartbreak High'' is an Australian television program created by Michael Jenkins and Ben Gannon that ran from 1994 to 1996 on Network Ten and 1997 to 1999 on the ABC, for seven series. It was also partially funded from 1996 by BBC2, with s ...

'' (1994–1999). On 1 July 2008 the

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replac ...

(ARIA) recognised Dragon's iconic status when they were inducted into their Hall of Fame.

Biography

Dragon - 1970s

Hunter (bass guitar, vocals) formed Dragon in 1972 with Graeme Collins (piano, vocals), Neil Storey (drums) and Ray Goodwin (guitar, keyboards, vocals); the group was soon joined by Hunter's younger brother

Marc Hunter Marc Alexander Hunter (7 September 195317 July 1998) was a New Zealand rock and pop singer, songwriter and record producer. He was the lead vocalist of Dragon (1973–11/1979, 8/1982–1989, 1995–11/1997), a band formed by his older brother ...

(vocals) and moved to Australia in 1975. The band toured

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecolo ...

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territor ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

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.

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 Skyhook, sky hook or skyhooks may refer to: Fiction * 'Skyhooks' or 'Skyhooks II', parts 1 and 8 respectively of the Adventure Time Elements miniseries. * ''Sky Hook'', a Hugo-award nominated science fiction fanzine * ''Sky Hook'' (film), a ...

prior to their first tour of US. Hunter and Brown co-wrote "Politics" and "Company" for Dragon's album '' O Zambezi'' (1978). 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. 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 In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the December 31, last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly ...

of 1979.

Johanna Pigott

After the first demise of Dragon, Hunter became a

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

for bands including the New Zealand

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

group

Toy Love Toy Love was a New Zealand new wave and punk rock band that originated in Dunedin and was active from 1978 to 1980. Members included Chris Knox, Alec Bathgate and Paul Kean. History Chris Knox was the band's front man and other members w ...

. He produced two albums for

XL Capris XL or variants may stand for: Arts and entertainment * XL (band), a J-Pop band * XL Recordings, a British independent record label * XL, a character in the animated series ''Buzz Lightyear of Star Command'' Businesses and organizations Transpor ...

, a Sydney-based

band, which included vocalist & bass guitarist

. She and Hunter became

domestic partners A domestic partnership is a legal relationship, usually between couples, who live together and share a common domestic life, but are not married (to each other or to anyone else). People in domestic partnerships receive benefits that guarantee ...

and in 1981 he joined the band as guitar player. When that group disbanded in 1982, Hunter joined Pigott in her next group, Scribble from 1983 to 1986.

Dragon - 1980s

When Dragon reformed in 1982, Hunter and Pigott co-wrote the song "Rain", which went to #2 in 1983. NOTE: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting until

ARIA In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...

created their own

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent ta ...

in mid-1988. 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 Sweet and sour is a generic term that encompasses many styles of sauce, cuisine and cooking methods. It is commonly used in East Asia and Southeast Asia, and has been used in England since the Middle Ages. Dickson Wright, Clarissa (2011) ''A Histor ...

'' (1984). Hunter's first wife, Jen Brown also wrote "Hip Romeo" for ''Sweet and Sour''. Nevertheless, Dragon toured

with

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the " Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue before ...

in 1986–1987 promoting the ''

Dreams of Ordinary Men A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...

'' album produced by

Todd Rundgren Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, multimedia artist, sound engineer and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band U ...

. At that time the band consisted of Marc Hunter (lead vocal), Hunter on bass, guitar player

Tommy Emmanuel William Thomas Emmanuel (born 31 May 1955) is an Australian guitarist. Regarded as one of the greatest acoustic guitarists of all time, he is known for his complex fingerstyle technique, energetic performances and use of percussive effects on ...

Alan Mansfield Sir Alan James Mansfield, (30 September 1902 – 17 July 1980) was an Australian barrister, judge, and the 18th Governor of Queensland, serving from 1966 until 1972. Early life Mansfield was born on 20 September 1902 in Brisbane, Queensland, wh ...

from

Robert Palmer Robert Allen Palmer (19 January 1949 – 26 September 2003) was an English singer and songwriter. He was known for his powerful, soulful voice and wikt:sartorial, sartorial elegance, and his stylistic explorations, combining Soul music, so ...

's band on keyboards and

Doane Perry Doane Ethredge Perry (born June 16, 1954) is an American musician, composer and author. From 1984 to 2011 he was drummer and percussionist with the band Jethro Tull and has also appeared on hundreds of recordings spanning multiple genres on r ...

from Jethro Tull on drums. 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 "

Celebration Celebration or Celebrations may refer to: Film, television and theatre * ''Celebration'' (musical), by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones, 1969 * ''Celebration'' (play), by Harold Pinter, 2000 * ''Celebration'' (TV series), a Canadian music TV serie ...

" was recorded in hotel rooms around the world with

David Hirschfelder David Hirschfelder (born 18 November 1960, Ballarat, Victoria) is an Australian musician, film score composer and performer. As a musician he has been a member of Little River Band and John Farnham Band. He has composed film scores for many films ...

producing. In 1987 while on tour (Dragon was briefly called Hunter) with Turner,

asked Hunter and Pigott to write a song for his next album. They wrote "Age of Reason", which went to #1 in Australia for four weeks from 30 July and was a top 10 hit in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

in 1989. "Age of Reason" won the APRA 'Most Performed Australasian Popular Song' of the year

award An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An awar ...

for 1989. After selling another million records worldwide in the 1980s Dragon disbanded again in 1995.

Film and TV scoring

From 1994 to 1999 Hunter was the composer for the hit TV Series

and wrote and recorded the 7500 cues that underscored the series. The theme song was nominated for 1994 APRA Television Theme of the Year. Hunter and Pigott also wrote over 20 songs for the series (mostly performed by

Abi Tucker Abigail Anne "Abi" Tucker (born 22 January 1973) is an Australian singer-songwriter and actress. She has had roles in television series-telemovies in '' Heartbreak High'' (1994-1995), '' Water Rats'' (1999), '' Wildside'' (1999), '' The Secret ...

Fleur Beaupert Fleur or plural Fleurs is French for flower. It may refer to: * Fleur (given name) * "Fleur" (short story), a short story by Louise Erdrich *"Fleur" peut être une plante Music * Flëur, a Ukrainian music band * ''Fleurs'' (Franco Battiato albu ...

or themselves). Other TV series Hunter worked on included ''

Headstart Head start or headstart may refer to: *Headstarting, a technique in nature conservation *Head Start (program), an educational program of the United States Department of Health and Human Services * Head start (positioning), a lead in the position i ...

'' and '' Out There''. Hunter and Pigott composed music for the film '' The Girl Who Came Late'', also known as ''Daydream Believer'' (1991), and ''

Alex Alex is a given name. It can refer to a shortened version of Alexander, Alexandra, Alexis. People Multiple * Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Gordon (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Harris (disambiguation), multiple p ...

'' aka ''Alex: The Spirit of a Champion'' (1993). "Alex (theme)" aka "Aotearoa" was written by Hunter and "For the Rest of My Life" by Hunter and Pigott. In 2008 Hunter worked on the BBC/Southern Star TV serial 'Out of the Blue' with composer Stephen Rae and composed the music for the series Pride of Australia in 2009.

Dragon - 2000s

In 2006 Todd Hunter reformed Dragon with Mark Williams, Bruce Reid and Pete Drummond; they recorded '' Sunshine to Rain'' for Liberation Blue Records. Dragon toured Australia to promote their 2008 CD ''Dragon Remembers'' which was an affectionate look at great Australian Anthems recorded by friends and colleagues no longer with us. Dragon were inducted into the

ARIA Hall of Fame In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanim ...

on 1 July 2008, Hunter stated that they had switched from acoustic performances to fully electric because fans were singing so loud the band couldn't be heard. In 2010 Dragon released the first studio album of new songs for 20 years entitled "Happy I Am" followed by the EP " Chase The Sun" in 2011 and the EP " The Great Divide" in 2012. Dragon have played over 500 shows since the reformation. The band played the "Long Way to the Top" series of concerts in October 2012 then embarked on a 16 date "40th Anniversary National Tour" of New Zealand in mid October. To mark the occasion Liberation Records released " The Dragon Years" a 40-song compilation CD. Dragon played 20 shows on The Red Hot Summer Tour around Australia in early 2013 and kicked off their 40th Anniversary Concert Series at The Sydney Opera House in April 2013. As of July 2014 the reformed Dragon have played over 600 shows. In November 2013 the band mounted a 20 date acoustic tour in cathedrals and churches in New Zealand. In 2014 they Toured Australia from March through to the end of June with The Trilogy Tour, a tour that featured the three main eras of the band, The Young Years (1970s), The Glory Years (1980s) and The Phoenix Years (2006 on). Dragon are The Harbour Agency's hardest working band. They play almost every weekend of the year. After a break since March 2020 due to COVID-19 the band start playing in New Zealand in January 2021 for the Greenstone Tour and are booked until NYE 2022.

Personal life

Hunter and his partner, Johanna, have three sons: Harry, James and Joey.

Awards

Aotearoa Music Awards

The

Aotearoa Music Awards The Aotearoa Music Awards (previously called the New Zealand Music Awards), conferred annually by Recorded Music NZ, honour outstanding artistic and technical achievements in the recording industry. The awards are among the most significant tha ...

(previously known as ''New Zealand Music Awards'' (NZMA)) are an annual awards night celebrating excellence in

New Zealand music The music of New Zealand has been influenced by a number of traditions, including Māori music, the music introduced by European settlers during the nineteenth century, and a variety of styles imported during the twentieth century, including b ...

and have been presented annually since 1965. ! , - , 2011 , , Todd Hunter (as part of Dragon) , ,

New Zealand Music Hall of Fame The New Zealand Music Hall of Fame , Te Whare Taonga Puoro o Aotearoa is a figurative hall of fame dedicated to noteworthy New Zealand musicians. The hall was created in 2007 by Recorded Music NZ (then known as the Recording Industry Associa ...

, , , , , -

References

External links

Official Dragon website

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter, Todd 1951 births 20th-century New Zealand male singers 21st-century New Zealand male singers Dragon (band) Living people Male bass guitarists Male songwriters Male television composers New Zealand bass guitarists New Zealand expatriates in Australia New Zealand male guitarists New Zealand male singer-songwriters New Zealand record producers New Zealand television composers People from Waitara, New Zealand