Editing Ed Townsend

{{Short description|American singer, songwriter, record producer}}
{{for|the swimmer|Ed Townsend (swimmer)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox musical artist
|name                 = Ed Townsend
|image                = File:Ed_Townsend_Glad_To_Be_Here.jpg
|caption              = Townsend in 1959
|background           = non_performing_personnel
|birth_name           = Edward Benjamin Townsend
|birth_date           = {{birth date|mf=yes|1929|4|16}}
|birth_place          = [[Fayetteville, Tennessee]], U.S.
|death_date           = {{death date and age|2003|8|13|1929|4|16}}
|death_place          = [[San Bernardino, California]], U.S.
|genre                = [[Rhythm and blues]], [[doo-wop]], [[Soul music|soul]]
|occupation           = Singer, [[songwriter]], [[record producer]]
|years_active         = 1950–2001
|label                = [[Aladdin Records|Aladdin]], [[Dot Records|Dot]], [[Capitol Records|Capitol]], [[Carlton Records| Carlton]], [[Warner Bros. Records|Warner Bros.]], [[Challenge Records (1950s-60s label)|Challenge]], [[Liberty Records|Liberty]], [[MGM Records| MGM]], [[Curtom Records|Curtom]], [[Chocolate City Records| Chocolate City]], KT Records, Maxx Records, Tru-Glo-Town Records, EGA Records
|associated_acts      = [[Marvin Gaye]], [[The Impressions]], [[Nat King Cole]], [[Etta James]], [[Gloria Lynne]], [[Dionne Warwick]], [[Theola Kilgore]]
}}
{{Infobox person
|education            = [[University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff|Arkansas AM&N College]]
| spouse = {{plainlist|
* Cherrigale 
* Janice
}}
|children             = 3
|family               = [[David Townsend (musician) |David Townsend]] 
}}

'''Edward Benjamin Townsend''' (April 16, 1929<ref name="Larkin50"/> – August 13, 2003) was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He performed and composed "[[For Your Love (Ed Townsend song)|For Your Love]]", a [[rhythm and blues]] [[doo-wop]] classic, and co-wrote "[[Let's Get It On (song)|Let's Get It On]]" with [[Marvin Gaye]].<ref name="Townsend obit">{{cite web |url=http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article334783.ece |title=David Townsend – Singer with the soul trio Surface |last=Perrone |first=Pierre |work=Independent.co.uk – Obituaries |date=December 25, 2005 |access-date=April 24, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051225225643/http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article334783.ece |archive-date=December 25, 2005 }}</ref>

==Biography==
Townsend was born in [[Fayetteville, Tennessee]], United States, in 1929,<ref name="Larkin50">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Virgin Encyclopedia of Fifties Music]]|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|date=2002|edition=Third|isbn=1-85227-937-0|page=448}}</ref> and his family soon moved to [[Memphis, Tennessee|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 traveled worldwide before enrolling in college the next year at the [[University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff]] (formerly Arkansas AM&N 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]] and served in [[Korean War|Korea]].<ref name="Larkin50"/> After his discharge, he recorded a number of singles for various labels, none of which made the charts. 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 song peaked at number 13 in the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]].<ref name="Larkin50"/> Later in 1958 he reached No. 59 with a rendition of "[[When I Grow Too Old to Dream]]".

Townsend had no further vocal hits of his own.<ref name="Larkin50"/> In 1962, he wrote a song for soul singer, [[Jimmy Holiday]], "How Can I Forget?", which was later covered by [[Ben E. King]]. Then he wrote and produced [[Theola Kilgore]]'s "The Love of My Man." He also composed "Tears Of Joy", "Hand It Over", "I Might Like It", "Since I Found You" and "Foolish Fool". In the early 1970s, Ed Townsend teamed up with Marvin Gaye to co-write the song "[[Let's Get It On]]",<ref name="Larkin50"/> and co-produce the album of the same title.<ref name="oxford american">
{{cite web
|url=http://www.oxfordamerican.org/magazine/item/944-natural-resources
|title=Natural Resources
|work=Oxford American, Issue 93, Summer 2016
|author=J. M. Martin
|date=August 15, 2016
|access-date=August 18, 2016}}</ref><ref name="hm1">{{cite web |url=http://www.msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/mound-bayou-blues|website=Msbluestrail.org
|title=Mound Bayou Blues
|access-date=August 18, 2016}}
</ref><ref name="hm2">
{{cite web
|url=http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=90065|website=Hmdb.org
|title=Mound Bayou Blues historical marker
|access-date=August 18, 2016}}</ref>

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.

He died of a heart attack on August 13, 2003. Honored with a [[Purple Heart]] in the [[Korean War]], Townsend is buried at [[Riverside National Cemetery]] in [[Riverside, California]].

Ed's son [[David Townsend (musician)|David Townsend]], of the band [[Surface (band)|Surface]], died at age fifty in 2005.<ref name="Townsend obit"/>

==Discography==
===Albums===
{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center;
|-
!Year
!Album
!Record label
|- 
|rowspan="2"| 1959
|align=left| ''Glad to Be Here''
|rowspan="2"| [[Capitol Records]]
|-
|align=left| ''New in Town''
|-
| 1975
|align=left| ''Now''
|rowspan="1"| [[Curtom Records]]
|-
| 1979
|align=left| ''Townsend, Townsend, Townsend & Rogers'' <small>(with Townsend, Townsend, Townsend & Rogers)</small>
|rowspan="1"| [[Chocolate City Records]]
|-
|}

===Singles===
{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center;
|-
!rowspan="2"|Year
!rowspan="2"|Title
!colspan="2"|Peak chart<br />positions
!rowspan="2"|Record Label
!rowspan="2"|[[A-side and B-side|B-side]]
!rowspan="2"|Album
|- style="font-size:smaller;"
!align=centre| [[Billboard Hot 100|US]]
!align=centre| [[Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs|US<br />R&B]]
|-
|rowspan="2"| 1957
|align=left| "Love Never Dies"
| —
| —
|rowspan="1"| [[Aladdin Records]]
| "Every Night"
|rowspan="1"|
|-
|align=left| "My Need for You"
| —
| —
|rowspan="1"| [[Dot Records]]
| "Tall Grows the Sycamore"
|rowspan="1"|
|-
|rowspan="5"| 1958
|align=left| "[[For Your Love (Ed Townsend song)|For Your Love]]"
| 13
| 7
|rowspan="1"| [[Capitol Records]]
| "Over and Over Again"
|rowspan="1"|
|-
|align=left| "A Wo-Man's In-Tu-It-Ion"
| —
| —
|rowspan="1"| [[Carlton Records]]
| "In a Bordertown Cathedral"
|rowspan="1"|
|-
|align=left| "What Shall I Do?"
| —
| —
|rowspan="6"| Capitol Records
| "Please Never Change"
|rowspan="1"|
|-
|align=left| "[[When I Grow Too Old to Dream]]"
| 59
| —
| "You Are My Everything"
|rowspan="1"|
|-
|align=left| "Getting by Without You"
| —
| —
| "Richer Than I"
|rowspan="1"|
|-
|rowspan="3"| 1959
|align=left| "[[Lover, Come Back to Me|Lover Came Back To Me]]"
| —
| —
| "Don't Ever Leave Me"
|rowspan="1"| ''New in Town''
|-
|align=left| "This Little Love of Mine"
| —
| —
| "Hold On" <small>(BB #106)</small>
|rowspan="1"|
|-
|align=left| "[[Be My Love]]"
| —
| —
| "With No One to Love"
|rowspan="1"|
|-
|rowspan="1"| 1960
|align=left| "Stay with Me<br>(A Little While Longer)"
| 101
| —
|rowspan="2"| [[Warner Bros. Records|Warner Bros.<br>Records]]
| "I Love Everything About You"
|rowspan="1"|
|-
|rowspan="2"| 1961
|align=left| "Dream World"
| —
| —
| "Cherrigale"
|rowspan="1"|
|-
|align=left| "And Then Came Love"
| 114
| —
|rowspan="2"| [[Challenge Records (1950s)|Challenge Records]]
| "Little Bitty Dave"
|rowspan="1"|
|-
|rowspan="2"| 1962
|align=left| "You Walked In"
| —
| —
| "I Love to Hear That Beat"
|rowspan="1"|
|-
|align=left| "[[Tell Him (Bert Berns song)|Tell Her]]"
| —
| —
|rowspan="2"| [[Liberty Records]]
| "Down Home"
|rowspan="1"|
|-
|rowspan="1"| 1963
|align=left| "That's What I Get for Loving You"
| —
| —
| "There's No End"
|rowspan="1"|
|-
|rowspan="2"| 1964
|align=left| "Crying"
| —
| —
|rowspan="1"| KT Records
| "Get Myself Together"
|rowspan="1"|
|-
|align=left| "I Love You"
| —
| —
|rowspan="1"| Maxx Records
| "I Might Like It"
|rowspan="1"|
|-
|rowspan="1"| 1966
|align=left| "I Want to Be with You"
| —
| —
|rowspan="1"| Tru-Glo-Town<br>Records
| "Don't Lead Me On"
|rowspan="1"|
|-
|rowspan="1"| 1967
|align=left| "Who Would Deny Me"
| —
| —
|rowspan="1"| [[MGM Records]]
| "Mommy's Never Comin' Back Again"
|rowspan="1"|
|-
|rowspan="1"| 1977
|align=left| "If a Peanut Farmer Can Do It<br>(So Can I)"
| —
| —
|rowspan="1"| EGA Records
| "Take a Vow for Peace"
|rowspan="1"|
|-
|}

==Filmography==
Townsend served as composer for:
*''[[The Ultimate Thrill]]'' (1974)

==References==
* ''ASCAP Biographical Dictionary''. R. R. Bowker Co., 1980.

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|id=0870116|name=Ed Townsend}}
* {{discogs artist|Ed Townsend}}
* {{Find a Grave|8558024|Corp Edward Benjamin Townsend}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Townsend, Ed}}
[[Category:1929 births]]
[[Category:2003 deaths]]
[[Category:Arkansas State University alumni]]
[[Category:Burials at Riverside National Cemetery]]
[[Category:Capitol Records artists]]
[[Category:Carlton Records artists]]
[[Category:Challenge Records artists]]
[[Category:Liberty Records artists]]
[[Category:People from Fayetteville, Tennessee]]
[[Category:People from Mound Bayou, Mississippi]]
[[Category:Warner Records artists]]