Lamont Dozier, Motown songwriter behind dozens of No. 1 hits, dies at 81
Lamont Dozier, the Motown songwriter who was one third of possibly the greatest songwriting team of all time, died Monday. He was 81.
Dozier’s family said he died “peacefully” at his home near Scottsdale, Ariz. His cause of death was not revealed.
Working alongside Eddie and Brian Holland, Dozier penned dozens of Top 40 hits for Motown acts including the Supremes, the Four Tops, Martha and the Vandellas, Marvin Gaye and many more. Plenty of people were responsible for the world-conquering Motown Sound, and Holland-Dozier-Holland were among its chief developers.
Lamont Dozier attends the Broadway opening night for "Motown: The Musical" at Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on April 14, 2013. (Neilson Barnard/)
Among their many hits were “Stop! In the Name of Love,” “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch),” “Heat Wave” and “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You).”
“I like to call Holland-Dozier-Holland ‘tailors of music,’” the Four Tops’ Duke Fakir said Tuesday. “They could take any artist, call them into their office, talk to them, listen to them and write them a top 10 song.”
Before they became America’s sweethearts, the Supremes were a punchline around the Motown office for their lack of hits. In 1964, Holland-Dozier-Holland wrote “Where Did Our Love Go” for another group, the Marvelettes. But they rejected it.
The songwriting trio shopped it around the label before the Supremes finally took it. It became their first of many No. 1 hits, and cemented H-D-H as their songwriters.
“The next time the Hollands and I saw the girls was at the airport. They were getting off a plane with their Yorkshire terriers, in mink stoles,” Dozier told American Songwriter in 2009. “We started laughing. It was so funny to see them turn into stars overnight.”
Born June 16, 1941, in Detroit, Dozier signed with Motown as a songwriter in 1962. He was quickly paired with the Holland brothers as a songwriting trio because of their unparalleled ability to finish each other’s musical sentences.
Brian Holland was the melody man, Eddie Holland penned the lyrics and Dozier did a little of both while also coming up with larger song concepts. In the end, they blended pop, soul, country and gospel into a sound that would define America.
“We could tell right away they were going to have hits,” Brian Holland told Rolling Stone in 2003 of the Motown artists. “Whether or not they were going to become stars would depend on how they would handle the hits, how they groomed themselves, how the company got behind them.”
Promotion was no problem for Motown. Holland-Dozier-Holland had 40 No. 1 hits and 70 songs in the top 10 — in just six years of work.
The trio took inspiration from everything. Dozier often recalled how “Stop! In the Name of Love” was born out of an argument with his girlfriend, who had caught him cheating.
“She started swinging, missed me, hit the floor. And I laughed and said, ‘Please stop! Stop in the name of love,’” Dozier told Performing Songwriter in 2012. “I was being facetious. Then we busted out in laughter because it was so corny to us. She had a choke hold on me, and I said, ‘Hold it for a minute. Did you hear a cash register? Is that a hit title?’”
Holland-Dozier-Holland lasted only six years at Motown, leaving in 1968 over money disputes with label head Berry Gordy Jr. Though they were still capable hitmakers, their careers never reached the same heights they did at the iconic label.
In 1988, the trio were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame together. They entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame two years later.
“They might not have been versed in Miles (Davis) and (Thelonious) Monk or very proficient instrumentalists,” music critic Nelson George wrote, “but they had a true gift for melody and hooks.”
With News Wire Services
