Dave Townsend is a British songwriter, lyricist, and singer, and was born in Somerset, in South West England.
[4] He wrote the song "Miss You Nights" in 1974 while his girlfriend was away on holiday, and recorded it on an album for Island Records, but the label shelved the album and offered the songs to other artists as covers.
Cliff Richard recorded it in September 1975, and Townsend (as the composer) was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award in 1977 for "Best Middle of the Road Song," although the winner was John Miles for "Music.
His debut album, Making Up the Numbers, was produced by Robin Geoffrey Cable and released on the Mercury label in September 1978, under the name David Townsend.
[7] The label promoted Townsend to record shops in Music Week as "an imaginative composer, an inventive lyricist and a stylish singer," telling proprietors that they were "going to hear a lot of requests for the album from your customers, so stock up now.