Ed Townsend born 16 April 1929

Edward Benjamin 'Ed' Townsend (April 16, 1929 – August 13, 2003) was an American singer, songwriter, producer and attorney. During a 50-year career he composed more than 200 songs. In his lifetime he produced close to fifty artists, but he was best known for his crucial contribution to Marvin Gaye's classic Let's Get It On.

Townsend was born in Fayetteville, Tennessee, United States, and his family soon moved to Memphis where his father was pastor at an African Methodist Episcopal church. The year Townsend graduated from high school he was elected to the International American Methodist Episcopal Youth Council (IAMEYC) and travelled worldwide before enrolling in college the next year at Arkansas State College. After graduating, he taught for a year. Although he never formally practiced law, he frequently used his law training to assist other entertainers in negotiating their recording and performance contracts.

In 1951, Townsend joined the United States Marine Corps. He served for two years in Korea, where he was heard singing by the bandleader Horace Heidt. When he returned to the U.S., he got a job hosting a TV show in Los Angeles. In 1956, he recorded for the Aladdin label, followed by recordings for the Dot and Carlton labels in 1956-1957. His songs were recorded by Nat "King" Cole, Etta James, and others, publishing them through his music-publishing firm.

                              

In 1958, he took his ballad, "For Your Love" to Capitol Records, hoping to interest Nat "King" Cole, but, impressed with his voice, Capitol signed him to record it himself.  Dick Clark had just started American Bandstand on television and invited Townsend to sing the first month the show aired. He was an overnight success and the lush ballad performed in his rich baritone voice peaked at number 
13 in the Billboard Hot 100. Later in 1958 he reached No. 59 with a rendition of "When I Grow Too Old to Dream".  He recorded two 1959 Capitol LPs with Nelson Riddle, "Glad to Be Here" and "New in Town." "For Your Love" and "When I Grow Too Old to Dream" would be his only two charting singles.

He recorded, briefly in 1960/1961, under the title of Ed Townsend and the Townsmen for Warners, before recording solo material between 1961 and 1966 for the Challenge, Liberty, Capitol Starline, Maxx and Tru Glow Town labels with little success. 

In 1963 he moved to New York to become musical director of the Scepter and Wand labels, whose artists included the Shirelles, Dee Dee Warwick, Maxine Brown, Chuck Jackson and Tommy Hunt. During the 1960s, he composed and produced some classic soul recordings including Problem Child by Gloria Lynne, Foolish Fool by Warwick and The Love Of My Man by Theola Kilgore.

Townsend is best remembered for co-writing and and co-producing the 1973 hit "Let's Get It On" (along with three other songs on Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On album). Townsend worked with Gaye only once more after the Let's Get It On album - on 1978's Here, My Dear - but he remained in demand elsewhere in the music business. For the Chicago-based Curtom label he wrote and produced the Impressions' 1974 number one 
rhythm and blues hit Finally Got Myself Together (I'm A Changed Man), another confessional statement. He also recorded”Now” a solo album for Curtom.

His career continued to be affected by alcohol addiction until successful rehabilitation treatment at a Los Angeles Salvation Army centre in 1990. Townsend performed on the PBS television special "Rock, Rhythm, and Doo Wop" filmed at the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on May 16 and 17, 2000. DVDs of the event were sold as fundraisers for PBS stations nationwide. In 2001 he set up his own charity, EBT New Life Inc, and the associated 12 Step Records to assist others in recovery from addiction. He also composed a show, Rehabilitation: Been There! Done That! which has been performed around the US.

Around 2002, he began using a wheelchair after suffering falls. Although he was able to fully rehabilitate from drugs and alcohol and spent his sober life helping others up from a life of abuse, he never was able to kick his smoking habit and preferred clove tobacco which likely weakened his heart. Since he quit drinking, he made a call for a "world sobriety check", but rumour has it that he felt these calls were ignored. His speech and songwriting skills fostered the careers of so many - but to some, he was largely unsung.

Ed Townsend died on the 13th of August 2003 in San Bernardino, California at the age of 74, following a heart attack, and, after being honoured with a purple heart in the Korean War, was given a full military gun salute at his memorial at Riverside National Cemetery. His son David, member of the group Surface, suddenly passed two years later at the youthful age of 50

(Edited from Wikipedia, AllMusic, Soulwalking, last fm & The Gurdian)