Born Michael Lawrence Townsend, he grew up as a teenager in Los Angeles, where his neighbors included Noël Coward, Irene Dunne, and Laura Hope Crews.

[1] Completing his tour of duty, he entered into the small, underground LA leather scene where he and Montgomery Clift shared a lover.

With his degree in industrial psychology from UCLA (1957), he worked in the private sector and as a probation officer with the Forestry Service.

Townsend's signature "Leather Notebook" column appeared in Drummer for twelve years beginning in 1980, and continued in Honcho to 2008.

Townsend died Tuesday July 29 2008 at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, at age 77.