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'Get It On' songwriter dies
Compiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times
published August 18, 2003
Ed Townsend, who wrote hit songs including 1958's For Your Love and Marvin Gaye's controversial Let's Get It On, has died. He was 74.
Mr. Townsend, who wrote more than 200 songs, died of heart failure Wednesday in a San Bernardino, Calif., hospital.
Nat King Cole and Etta James were among the stars who recorded his songs. One of his first hits was For Your Love - which Mr. Townsend recorded himself. Let's Get It On, released in 1973, had an overt sexual theme that generated criticism. But Mr. Townsend insisted the song was actually about getting on with life.
A Fayetteville, Tenn., native, Mr. Townsend grew up singing in the choir at the church where his minister father preached. He moved to Los Angeles in the mid 1950s. Survivors include his wife, Janice; four children; a brother; a sister; three grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
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In the news'Get It On' songwriter dies
