David Townsend (May 17, 1955
- October 26, 2005) was an American
musician
best known as the guitarist for the R&B band Surface, and the son of singer/songwriter Ed Townsend.
Biography
Early years
Townsend
was born in Inglewood,
California
, the son of Ed Townsend, a singer/songwriter who
co-wrote and produced "Let's Get It
On" with Marvin Gaye in 1972. The younger Townsend showed an
interest in music from an early age and soon learned to play an
array of instruments, including the
guitar,
piano and
synthesiser.
Early career
After graduationg from college in the mid-1970s, Townsend joined
The Isley Brothers' backing band,
as guitarist, before forming a group called
Port
Authority with
David Conley,
another singer and musician. They found another member in
Bernard Jackson and formed a
songwriting partnership, which led to them becoming staff writers
at
EMI.
After having written songs for
New
Edition ("Let's Be Friends"),
Gwen
Guthrie and
Sister Sledge ("You're
So Fine"), the group decided to record some of their own material.
They chose the name
Surface and released "
Falling in Love" and "When
Your 'Ex' Wants You Back" on the
disco
label Salsoul Records.
Peak success (1989-1991)
Although Surface achieved some club success, Townsend felt the band
could have gone a lot further on a larger label.
In 1985, he went to Mississippi
to visit his father, who was building a recording
studio there. (Ed) Townsend pulled some strings to get
Surface a contract with
Columbia.
They
convinced the label to let them continue recording at The Lab, the
24-track studio they had built in Conley's living room in New Jersey
.
Surface's first single on Columbia, "Let's Try Again", was a small
hit, however, "Happy" reached #2 on the
US R&B charts and #20 on the
US Pop charts in
1987, and the groups
debut
album sold well. Their
1989 follow-up album,
2nd Wave saw
the band become staples of the
quiet
storm urban radio format with the success of the single "Closer
Than Friends", which reached #1 on the R&B charts on March 18,
1989 and was there for two weeks, and "Shower Me With Your Love," a
Jackson written song, reached #1 on the R&B Charts on July 29,
which crossed over to the
US Pop charts.
Their next single, "You Are My Everything", featured
Regina Belle as a guest vocalist and on
November 4, 1989, took over the top of the R&B charts,
replacing her single "Baby Come to Me," it also crossed over onto
the British charts.
Townsend had a song that he co-wrote with David Conley reach #1 on
the US R&B charts. "Don't Take It Personal" by
Jermaine Jackson, reached #1 on November
18, 1989, replacing "You Are My Everything" by Surface.
In
1991, Surface released the album
3 Deep which included the singles "Can We Spend Some
Time", "All I Want Is You", "Never Gonna Let You Down" and
"
The First Time",
which topped the US pop charts. "The First Time" reached #1 on the
US R&B charts on January 19, 1991 and became the groups biggest
hit.
However, Townsend and Conley decided to concentrate on songwriting
and producing and helped
Aretha
Franklin record the album
What You See Is What You
Sweat in 1991, while Jackson went solo.
Later years
The group disbanded in
1994 after
Townsend and Jackson left the group. However, in
1999, the band reunited and released their
final studio album
Love Zone. Plans were being made for a
reunion tour, however those plans where cancelled when Townsend was
found dead in his home.
Discography
Albums
Singles
| Year |
Song |
US Hot
100 |
US
R&B |
US
A.C. |
US Hot
Dance |
| 1983 |
"Falling in
Love" |
- |
#84 |
- |
- |
| 1984 |
"When Your Ex Wants You Back" |
- |
#84 |
- |
- |
| 1986 |
"Let's Try Again" |
- |
#22 |
- |
- |
| 1987 |
"Happy" |
#20 |
#2 |
#24 |
#16 |
| 1987 |
"Lately" |
- |
#8 |
- |
- |
| 1988 |
"I Missed" |
- |
#3 |
- |
- |
| 1989 |
"Can We Spend Some Time" |
- |
#5 |
- |
- |
| 1989 |
"Closer Than Friends" |
#57 |
#1 |
- |
#39 |
| 1989 |
"Shower Me With Your Love" |
#5 |
#1 |
#3 |
- |
| 1989 |
"You Are My Everything" |
#84 |
#1 |
- |
- |
| 1990 |
"The First
Time" |
#1 |
#1 |
#1 |
- |
| 1991 |
"All I Want Is You" |
- |
#8 |
- |
- |
| 1991 |
"Never Gonna Let You Down" |
#17 |
#24 |
#17 |
- |
| 1991 |
"You're the One"/"We Don't Have to Say Good-bye" |
- |
#35 |
- |
- |
| 1992 |
"A Nice Time for Lovin'" |
- |
#52 |
- |
- |
See also
References
- "Billboard" Albums on Allmusic
- "Billboard" Hot 100 Singles on Allmusic
- "Billboard" R&B Singles on Allmusic
- "Billboard" AC Singles on Allmusic
- "Billboard" Club Play Singles on Allmusic
External links
Wikis
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