You may not know Ted Templeman’s name, but you have definitely heard his handiwork.
“I don’t know how to explain it,” he says.
“I just figured that you’ve got to do what’s right for the artist.
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Because, really, it’s all about the artists.
I mean, it’s like a coach having really good players.
You’ve got to tell them what you think’s best.
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(Andthis 1969 clipfromThe Mike Douglas Showisfullygroovy.)
That was fine with Templeman, who began as a jazz player.
Fronting a sunshine pop band wasn’t really his scene.
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“I hate my voice anyway,” he says with a laugh.
“I thought that was a dumbass song.”
“That was a great experience, a real game-changer for me,” he says.
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“Everybody else would tell him what he wanted to hear, and I wouldn’t.
He would respect that.
And I learned a lot working with him over in London doing those live shows.
I saw another side of the guy.
It was amazing.”
He produced 11 of the band’s 13 studio albums.
“That was my first success really, and my first No.
1 record, ‘Black Water.'”
Returning to his lighting-man analogy, Templeman called it a “real honor” to work with the band.
To this day, Templeman is tickled that the smoky-voiced singer-songwriter doesn’t think he has anything special.
“He’s such a funny guy,” he says.
“He doesn’t think he’s that good.
He just doesn’t get it.”
“I love that more than other [songs],” Templeman admits.
They’re so real.
I mean, he’s right to the point.
That’s how males think, as a rule.
And he performed it really well and really quickly.
I mean, without Dave, they wouldn’t have been Van Halen.”
“He was such a sweetheart,” Templeman says.
And I still have his voice messages.
‘Hey, Ted, is it okay if I come at 3:20 instead of 3:30?’
And he called back after and said, ‘Are you okay?
We went down those steps.
I thought maybe you were a little shaky.
And then when he went in, he would send me these texts every day from the hospital."
He always wanted to hey me."
Except when Van Halen and his compatriots wanted to razz their producer.
“I did a song with Nicolette Larson called ‘Lotta Love.’
It went,[singing]‘It’s gonna take a lotta love.’
Neil Young gave me the song.
It’s just funny [with them singing].
‘It’s very funny.
We weren’t just like producer and artist we were buddies.”
