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Todd Eckart in his beloved 1966 Dodge.

On Oct. 22 one year ago, the Twin Ports community lost one of its most illustrious musicians when Todd Eckart was tragically killed in a vehicle crash on Highway 53 in Wisconsin. He was 61 years old.
Although we’ve had a year to grieve and adjust to a world without Todd, it seems fitting to review his extraordinary life for posterity.

Though I heard Todd perform numerous times, mainly as tributes to Buddy Holly, I never got to know him well.

However, through dozens of interviews with bandmates, loved ones, friends and family, I have come to wish I had. Eckart’s life demonstrated how anyone who has a passion for music can follow that path without the leg up a musical birth family can provide.

By his own admission, he had a rough childhood, which he immortalized in his song “The Best I Can.”

Todd was born on Jan. 13, 1964, in the small town of Wells, Minnesota, located in the southernmost part of the state.

At some point, his mother left his father moving with Todd to Duluth. His mother remarried and eventually Todd took his stepfather’s Eckart surname. Their home was in the Gary neighborhood and he attended Stowe Elementary School in Morgan Park.

Todd's 1982 Morgan Park High School senior photo.

By 1978, at the impressionable age of 14, music had enticed him and he began to DJ. He evidently enjoyed being in front of a crowd, discovering and sharing music and learning what it takes to be a performer.

Todd was a self-taught musician. Sometime during his teenage years he obtained a guitar and learned to play it by ear, later he learned to play and master the bass guitar.

And then there was his voice – he could really sing.

His half-sister, Jennifer Eckart, recalls him earning a standing ovation for his debut performance singing “Lady” (Kenny Roger’s 1980 hit) in his senior year talent show.

While still in high school Todd got a job at Grandma’s in Canal Park. It seems that he couldn’t help serenading his co-workers while toiling at various tasks in the kitchen.

His friend and future bandmate, Kevin Kitchak, who met Todd when both worked there, reported that he sounded so much like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin one could’ve sworn it was a recording of them he was hearing. It was a hint at the talents he would develop through the years, which gained him a large and faithful following here in the Upper Midwest.

After graduating from Morgan Park High School in 1982 (the last class to graduate there before it was closed and consolidated with Denfeld), Todd continued gigging as a disk jockey while working odd jobs.
He was asked to audition for Kitchak’s band, Mischief, which he was invited to join. He performed with that band for a year or so.

These were the years where he sowed his wild oats, so to speak. His daughter Teri Timonen, the oldest of three children fathered by Todd, was born in 1983. Later he had two sons, Spencer Mattson and Dillon Duwe, by others.

In 1985, Todd left Duluth, as so many young adults did back then, moving to the Twin Cities in search of a wider audience and greater opportunities. He had a stint as a radio disk jockey down there (fired within months due to playing the songs he liked rather than the prescribed playlists). Of course he continued to  pick up gigs with other musicians.

A practice session for the Hot Toddy band., with Todd on guitar and Mark Hyatt on keys.

As it happened, he reconnected with Kitchak, who had also moved to the cities. Together they formed the band Hot Toddy (named for that classic cocktail!).

In those days the band was covering top 40 radio hits of the 1980s and early 90s. Kitchak recalled that Todd could imitate Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Money, Chris Isaak and other rockers of that era just as well as crooners of earlier decades.

Todd moved back to Duluth in 1996 and lived with his mother for a while. Later he roomed with drummer Ted “Teddy Z” Czaplicki in Silver Bay, who had joined his Hot Toddy band.

The band name later changed to be just the Todd Eckart band due to the razzing Todd got about “thinking himself so hot.”

Local musicians Corwin Pederson, Luke Perry, Ethan Thompson, the late Larry “Lefty” Sandman, among others, were other members of the band.

It seems Todd was also interested in joining The Fractals band with Barry Pirkola, Jimi Cooper, Darryn Wallace and Marvin Pomeroy and actually did so for a time. (You can find videos on YouTube of Todd playing with the Fractals during Spirit Valley Days on Aug. 1, 2012.)

John Seguin remembers meeting Todd in 1993 at a Tuesday jam session at Schooner’s Beach Club in the Park Inn (replaced by the Canal Park Lodge in 2007). Todd would regularly travel back to Duluth for such activities. As it turned out John and Todd were the perfect duo to cover Everly Brothers tunes, having a similar vocal range.

One of the exciting breaks the Hot Toddy band had was opening for Christina Aguilera at the Minnesota State Fair grandstand show in 2000. Too bad their playlist is not known.

As with most musicians Todd sustained himself with various day jobs, including DJing for weddings and other events through Black Tie Affair of Superior while he continued to build a full-time music career.
J.P. Rennquist, another bandmate for a while, told of Todd hosting for the Bluefin Bay restaurant up in Tofte with his usual suave demeanor and easy rapport with folks. Todd played coffee shop gigs, sometimes with his drummer, and had a Friday evening residency at Sir Ben’s during this period. I was told he played at every one of his Morgan Park High School reunions.

Although Todd had traveled to California during his youthful days, it was 2006 when he traveled there with the express purpose of performing at the Lava Lounge in L.A.

At the Lava Lounge.

He had found a vintage record titled Blue Hawaiians Live at the Lava Lounge that spurred this wild idea. Incredibly he managed to book a gig there on March 24 that year. What’s more, he promoted his show on Myspace, inviting “ladies” to attend.

As it turned out, only one woman responded to his invitation: Laura DeWitt, who was also a singer. Even though she showed up late and missed his set, it was mutual love at first sight.

Thus began a long-distance romance that involved many long phone calls and red-eye flights back and forth for both of them for several years. Ultimately he moved out there to live with her in October of 2009.

During his time in California Todd and Laura performed and toured together, both around Hollywood and in Oregon, Washington and Colorado. They appeared on a TV show called Time Warp on the Disney Channel, playing for swing dancers.

His Dean Martin tribute show was a big hit during one of the area’s annual Italian Festivals. He was thrilled when he got to play with James Wilsey, the lead guitarist in Chris Isaak’s band Silvertone, since he was such a huge fan of Isaak. By this time Todd was a full-time musician.

The year 2012 was a turning point for Todd. He had returned to Duluth to do some shows when he got the opportunity to rent the building that now houses the West Theatre.

Convinced that this was a situation that would lure Laura to leave Los Angeles and join him in Duluth, it ended up resulting in a final separation, though not an end to their caring connection.

Todd continued to live in the theater building for several years, filling it with his mid-century treasures of all kinds —furniture, clothes, décor, you name it. (He liked classic cars too!)

It became the site of many of his famous themed parties. There were Twin Peaks parties, James Bond parties and oldies parties at which he would show vintage films, including one of Elvis’s movies after which he gave a performance, in costume, of Elvis covers.

Recreating Elvis’s globally televised Blue Hawaii concert was another fete.

Halloween had him showing horror movies and creating an appropriately spooky atmosphere in this space. In short, Todd is remembered by many for his many extravagant blow-out parties.

It was at his 2015 Halloween party that he met Kristy Greminger (AKA Catlily Love), whom he married in October 2016. She was his music helpmate throughout their marriage, which ended in an amicable divorce after five years.

While they were together he developed his photography skills to a high level, with her as a ready model.
As we know, Todd was best known for his true-to-life covers of well-known hits by Elvis, Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Everly Brothers, Johnny Cash, George Jones, Glen Campbell and many other singers. His dear friend John Karich likened it to channeling the spirits of those stars, with eerily similar breathing and phrasing.

Todd performing during the Duluth Does Bowie concert at Sacred Heart.

But Todd didn’t just sing covers, he wrote his own songs, too. One was “My Sweet Friend” that was inspired by and commemorated his friend Doug Moen, a Superior businessman who collected, sold and rented vintage clothing and costumes. They shared a love of all things vintage and often collaborated. (Moen also died tragically from a fall in March 2018.)

Indeed, Todd had sufficient original compositions for several albums. His only release however, was the CD Out of the Blue in August 2018, which I have enjoyed listening to repeatedly.

Todd became a beloved performer with many devoted fans. In 2016 and 2017 he was voted “Best Musician” in in the Reader’s “Best of” issues.

His fellow musicians respected his talent and told how naturally he engaged with an audience, bringing smiles and sometimes tears to those who listened to him. One said he had an innate ability to command a room. Others noted his versatility and deep commitment to giving his all in every show —that he was a true pro.

Todd disliked being labeled a vocal impersonator and insisted his shows were tributes to the singers he was covering. He advised other musicians to never ask how their audience was doing, but to simply state that it was going to be a great time and to encourage people to have fun and enjoy the show.

By all accounts he was a character, had an over-the-top personality, was fun and funny, playful, high spirited and friendly.

Resiliency was another of his best qualities. His friends said he was unfailingly generous with his time and talents as well as his assets. If asked to perform at benefit concert, at the Duluth Does series at Sacred Heart Music Center for example, he would invariably perform for free.

His untimely death was heartbreaking to all who knew him.

Todd also had a serious side when it came to performing. Those who played with him knew how much work he put into every gig. He always dressed to the nines for his shows — wearing era-appropriate clothing.

Indeed, his daughter Teri noted that he owned more than 500 ties by the time he died; the reason being that he never wore the same tie twice on stage!

His musician friends knew that he was adamant about being as spiffy as the crowd he was entertaining because, as he explained it, they were spending their hard-earned money on their night out to see him.
Todd may have been prescient about his death, judging by remarks he made not long before the fatal crash.

To one friend he said he didn’t think he would live a long life. Another comment he made was that he would be meeting a certain angel soon, referring to a baby who had not quite yet been stillborn.

In an interview I saw online, he made reference to the possibility that people live many lives, which he said could explain his attraction to music that was popular before he was born.

The memorial that was held for Todd this past Jan. 25 at Clyde Iron was a part of the annual Winter Dance Party that celebrated Buddy Holly’s last show in Duluth in January 1959.

At it, Todd’s most recent band — Jimi Cooper, George Ellsworth, Darryn Wallace and Matt Groom — played the numbers he would have sung, together with John Seguin on vocals and playing Todd’s guitar.
The group was joined on certain numbers by Aurora Baer, Kristy Marie, Barry Pirkola and Kevin “KC” Johnson paying heartfelt tribute to their musical colleague and friend.

Please note that Jimi Cooper has been gathering artifacts associated with Todd, such as his original Babicz guitar, for a permanent display in the Duluth Armory Arts & Music Center on London Road once that rehabilitation is complete. Folks who might have something to contribute can contact him via his Facebook page.

Rest In Peace, Todd!