Songwriter, producer and arranger Lamont Dozier, best known for being one third of the Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team at Motown, passed away yesterday at the age of 81.
The Detroit born Dozier collaborated with brothers Brian and Eddie Holland to write, arrange and produce some of Motown's biggest hits. Here is but a small sample of their collaborations.
"Heat Wave" - Martha and The Vandellas
"Mickey's Monkey" - The Miracles
"Can I Get a Witness"- Marvin Gaye
"Where Did Our Love Go?" - The Supremes
"Come See About Me" - The Supremes
"Baby I Need Your Loving" - The Four Tops
"How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" - Marvin Gaye (and later James Taylor)
"Stop in The Name of Love" - The Supremes
"Nowhere to Run" - Martha and The Vandellas
"I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch" - The Four Tops
"It's The Same Old Song" - The Four Tops
"I Hear a Symphony" - The Supremes
"My World is Empty Without You" - The Supremes
"You Can't Hurry Love" - The Supremes (and later by Phil Collins)
"Reach Out I'll Be There" - The Four Tops
"You Keep Me Hangin' On" - The Supremes (and later by Vanilla Fudge & much later by Kim Wilde)
"Standing in The Shadows of Love" - The Four Tops
"Jimmy Mack" - Martha & The Vandellas
"Bernadette" - The Four Tops
"Reflections" - Diana Ross & The Supremes
Let's add the songs they wrote under the name "Edyth Wayne" following a contract dispute with Motown. The Chairmen of The Board had two hits with "Just Give Me a Little More Time" and "(You've Got Me) Dangling on a String" as well as "Band of Gold" by Freda Payne.
You could have a Motown Greatest Hits album exclusively of Holland-Dozier-Holland songs. The trio was inducted into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.
As for Dozier, he did have some modest success in the 1980's through the 2000's writing the underappreciated "Invisible" by Alison Moyet, "Anything is Possible" for Debbie Gibson and "Spoiled" for Joss Stone. He also co-wrote "Two Hearts" with Phil Collins (who memorably covered the Holland-Dozier-Holland composition "You Can't Hurry Love").
My favorite Holland-Dozier-Holland song is one of their lesser known compositions - "There's a Ghost in My House" by R. Dean Taylor, who was a protege of Holland-Dozier-Holland as the first white employee at Motown. Sadly, Taylor also passed away earlier this year of COVID.
I leave you with Dozier discussing his songwriting inspirations from childhood including how he remembered his grandfather would flirt with women by referring to them as "sugar pie" and "honey bunch". Dozier would turn his grandfather's flirtations into a hit for the Four Tops and a chapter in the Great American Songbook. R.I.P.
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