Lamont Dozier, the middle name of the renowned Holland-Dozier-Holland trio that penned and produced “You Can’t Hurry Love,” “Heat Wave,” and scores of other singles and contributed to the success of Motown as a vital record label in the 1960s and beyond, passed away at the age of 81.
Paul Lambert, who assisted in the production of the Broadway musical “The First Wives Club,” which Holland-Dozier-Holland composed for, confirmed Dozier’s passing on Tuesday. He didn’t have any further information.
Lamont Dozier Jr., the musician’s son, posted on Instagram to acknowledge his father’s passing and said: “Rest in Heavenly Peace, Dad!!!”
Holland-Dozier-Holland stood out in Motown’s legendary, self-described climb to the “Sound of Young America,” especially when compared to such talented contemporaries as Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, and Barrett Strong.
In the four years between 1963 and 1967, Dozier and the Holland brothers produced more than 25 songs that reached the top 10 and honed the pop-rhythm-blues fusion that enabled the Detroit label, led by founder Berry Gordy, to transcend barriers between Black and White music and challenge the Beatles on the radio.
They composed “Baby I Need Your Loving” and “Reach Out (I’ll Be There)” for the Four Tops, “Heat Wave” and “Jimmy Mack” for Martha and the Vandellas, and “Baby Don’t You Do It” and “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)” for Marvin Gaye.
The Motown sound impacted innumerable soundtracks, radio airplay, cover versions by artists like James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, and the Rolling Stones, as well as generations of composers and musicians.
In the 1984 book “Nowhere to Run: The Story of Soul Music,” a Motown biography, Gerri Hirshey noted that the songs’ frameworks were “simple and straightforward.”
Some songs “crumbled to number one on the sheer power of repetitious hooks, like a fast-food jungle that creeps, subtly, until it resonates with actual hunger,” as one reviewer put it.
H-D-polish H’s was perfect for Diana Ross and the Supremes, Motown’s most well-known group, for whom they composed 10 No. 1 singles, including “Where Did Our Love Go,” “Stop! In the Name of Love,” and “You Can’t Hurry Love.”
Expectations were so high that when “Nothing But Heartaches” failed to reach the top 10 in 1965, Gordy issued a business memo ordering Motown to only produce singles that would reach the top 10; H-D-H complied with this request with “I Hear a Symphony” and numerous other singles.
The Supremes’ first song in 1963, “When The Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes,” was likewise written by H-D-H.
While Holland-Dozier-Holland weren’t averse to formulas or closely copying a previous success, they excelled in a variety of moods and genres, such as the carefree happiness of “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You),” the intensifying longing of “Heat Wave,” and the urgency of “Reach Out (I’ll Be There).”
Whether it was the melancholy echoes of the Vandellas’ backing vocals on “Nowhere To Run,” the dazzling lights of the Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hanging On,” or the mesmerising gospel piano on Gaye’s “Can I Get a Witness,” Dozier’s concentration was on melody and orchestration.
Dozier told the Guardian in 2001 that “all the songs began out as slow ballads, but when we were in the studio, we’d pump up the pace.”
“Because the songs were for teens, they had to be quick; otherwise, they would have sounded more appropriate for your parents.
The emotion was still there; it was only hidden by the upbeat beat’s feeling of hope.”
In 1968, H-D-H and Motown’s golden era came to an end due to concerns and legal conflicts around royalties and other matters.
Both parties were unable to recoup once H-D-H departed the label. Among the groups who suffered from losing their most trustworthy writers were The Four Tops and the Supremes.
H-D-attempts H’s to launch their own company, however, were a long cry from Motown. Dozier would remember the Hollands rejecting future superstars like Al Green and George Clinton with surprise as the labels Invictus and Hot Wax both perished within a few years.
H-D-H did put out a number of singles, such as Honey Cone’s “Want Ads” and Freda Payne’s “Band of Gold.”
In 1988, Holland-Dozier-Holland were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and two years later, they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. With “Trying to Hold on to My Woman,” Dozier scored a top 20 success on his own.
He also worked with Mick Hucknall of Simply Red and Eric Clapton to create Aretha Franklin’s “Sweet Passion” album.
His greatest hit was co-writing Phil Collins’ No. 1 single “Two Hearts” from the 1988 film “Buster,” a mid-tempo Motown-style ballad that was nominated for an Oscar, won a Grammy, and the Golden Globe.
H-D-H came back together for a theatrical performance of “The First Wives Club,” which debuted in 2009, but their reunion was unsatisfying and only temporary.
Dozier left the programme before it began because of frequent arguments with the Hollands. Eddie Holland stated, “I can’t see us ever working with Lamont again,” in the Hollands’ 2019 biography, “Come and Get These Memories,” the same year Dozier released his memoir “How Sweet It Is.”
Dozier recognised that his early success clashed with his family obligations, but he finally found love with Barbara Ullman, who passed away in 2021 after a marriage of more than 40 years.
His offspring includes the composer Paris Ray Dozier and the songwriter-record producer Beau Dozier.
Dozier was nurtured in a musical household and was born and raised in Detroit, like so many other Motown performers.
His affinity for words was confirmed by a grade school teacher who, he said, enjoyed one of his poems so much that she put it on the blackboard for a month.
He sang in the choir of his Baptist church. He finally joined with Motown after becoming a professional vocalist by the late 1950s.
While there, he initially collaborated with Brian Holland and subsequently Eddie Holland, who composed the majority of the songs.
From Dozier’s home life came some of Motown’s greatest singles and catchiest lines. He recalled the opening line and recurring refrain of the Four Tops song “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)” being used by his grandpa to refer to ladies as “Sugar pie, honey bunch.”
All three of the composers for the Four Tops smash song “Bernadette” had issues with women called Bernadette, and a dispute with another lover of Dozier served as the basis for a Supremes classic.
Dozier told the Guardian, “She was really upset because I was quite the ladies’ man at that time and I had been cheating on her.”
“She then began berating me and hitting at me until I said, “Stop!” To the glory of love! And as soon as I finished saying it, I chuckled because I heard a cash register in my brain.
We split up, and my girlfriend didn’t find it very funny.
The Supremes were the only ones who were ecstatic about it.”