David Edward Townsend (May 17, 1955[citation needed] – October 26, 2005) was an American musician best known as the guitarist for the R&B band Surface.
[1][2] 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.
[1] 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.
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 No.
In 1991, Surface released the album 3 Deep which included the singles "All I Want Is You", "Never Gonna Let You Down" and "The First Time", which topped the US pop charts.
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.