Rob Townsend is a British

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 and blues

Blues

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...

 drummer

Drummer

A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...

. He was influenced by jazz greats such as Buddy Rich

Buddy Rich

Bernard "Buddy" Rich was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Rich was billed as "the world's greatest drummer" and was known for his virtuosic technique, power, groove, and speed.-Early life:...

 and Gene Krupa

Gene Krupa

Gene Krupa was an American jazz and big band drummer and composer, known for his highly energetic and flamboyant style.-Biography:...

 and is best known for being the drummer for progressive rock

Progressive rock

Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...

 band Family

Family (band)

Family were an English rock band that formed in late 1966 and disbanded in October 1973. Their style has been characterised as progressive rock, although their sound often explored other genres, incorporating elements of styles like as folk, psychedelia, acid, jazz fusion and rock and roll...

 and later The Blues Band

The Blues Band

The Blues Band is a British blues band formed in 1979 by Paul Jones, former lead vocalist and harmonica player with Manfred Mann, and vocalist/slide guitarist Dave Kelly, who had previously played with the John Dummer Blues Band, Howlin' Wolf and John Lee Hooker...

.

Biography

Townsend spent his teenage years playing in various bands in the English town of Leicester, such as the Beatniks, Broodly Hoo and Legay. He became drummer for Family, replacing Harry Overnall in 1967. Family broke up in 1973 and Townsend joined Medicine Head

Medicine Head

Medicine Head were a British blues rock band, active in the 1970s. Their biggest single success was in 1973, with "One and One is One", a Number 3 hit in the UK Singles Chart.-Main personnel:The group worked as a duo for most of its career, consisting of...

,. After eighteen months he left Medicine Head and spent much of the late 1970s as freelance session drummer drummer for Peter Skellern

Peter Skellern

Peter Skellern is an English singer-songwriter and pianist.-Career:Skellern attended Derby Grammar School and studied piano at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He later joined pop groups called 'Harlem' and 'March Hare'...

, George Melly

George Melly

Alan George Heywood Melly was an English jazz and blues singer, critic, writer and lecturer. From 1965 to 1973 he was a film and television critic for The Observer and lectured on art history, with an emphasis on surrealism.-Early life and career:He was born in Liverpool and was educated at Stowe...

 and Bill Wyman

Bill Wyman

Bill Wyman is an English musician best known as the bass guitarist for the English rock and roll band the Rolling Stones from 1962 until 1992. Since 1997, he has recorded and toured with his own band, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings...

 amongst others. During this time he played drums for Kevin Ayers

Kevin Ayers

Kevin Ayers is an English singer-songwriter and was a major influential force in the English psychedelic movement...

, Charlie Whitney's Axis Point

Axis Point (band)

Axis Point was a rock band formed by former Family guitarist Charlie Whitney in 1979. The band signed to RCA and released two albums in a twelve month period. The line-up of the band was an eclectic mix of well known musicians of that time...

In 1979 Townsend joined The Blues Band

The Blues Band

The Blues Band is a British blues band formed in 1979 by Paul Jones, former lead vocalist and harmonica player with Manfred Mann, and vocalist/slide guitarist Dave Kelly, who had previously played with the John Dummer Blues Band, Howlin' Wolf and John Lee Hooker...

, in a line up including Paul Jones

Paul Jones (singer)

Paul Jones is an English singer, actor, harmonica player, and radio personality and television presenter.-Career:As P. P...

, guitarists Dave Kelly

Dave Kelly

Dave Kelly may refer to:*Dave Kelly , Canadian TV host and voice actor*Dave Kelly , guitarist, vocalist, and member of the Blues Band*Dave Kelly , songwriter, musician, engineer, producer, and owner of Madhouse Records in Jamaica...

 and Tom McGuinness also bassist Gary Fletcher

Gary Fletcher (musician)

Gary Fletcher is a British blues musician, best known for playing bass guitar with The Blues Band, he is also a guitarist and songwriter.-Early life:...

. He has also appeared with Jones and McGuinness in the Manfred Mann

Manfred Mann

Manfred Mann was a British beat, rhythm and blues and pop band of the 1960s, named after their South African keyboardist, Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band...

 splinter band The Manfreds

The Manfreds

The Manfreds are a British pop group, formed in 1991 as a reunion of former members of the 1960s pop group Manfred Mann, however without their eponymous founder Manfred Mann himself.-Personnel:*Paul Jones - vocals, harmonica...

.

In 2005 Townsend told music journalist Mark Forster:

Further reading

• Rob Townsend interview with Mark Forster
• Rawlings, Terry. Then, now and rare British beat 1960-1969. Omnibus press (2002). ISBN 978-071199-094-4
• Buckley, Peter. The rough guide to rock. Rough Guides (2003). ISBN 978-184353-105-0
• Larkin, Colin. The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Guinness (1992). Item notes ver 2. Digitized (19 Jun 2007). ISBN 978-188226-702-6
• Strong, Martin Charles and Peel, John. The Great Rock Discography. Canongate US (2004). 7th edition. ISBN 978-184195-615-2

External links

• Strange Band: The Family Home Page