Black Music Month Spotlight

UNSPECIFIED – CIRCA 1970: Photo of Lamont Dozier Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

June is Black Music Month, an annual celebration of Black American music. First declared by President Jimmy Carter on June 7, 1979, the occasion was renamed “African-American Music Appreciation Month” by President Barack Obama on June 2, 2009. “The legacy of African-American composers, singers, songwriters, and musicians is an indelible piece of our Nation’s culture. Generations of African Americans have carried forward the musical traditions of their forebears, blending old styles with innovative rhythms and sounds. They have enriched American music and captured the diversity of our Nation. During African-American Music Appreciation Month, we honor this rich heritage,” Obama wrote in a 2009 proclamation.

“I call upon public officials, educators, and all the people of the United States to observe this month with […] more activities and programs that raise awareness and foster appreciation of music which is composed, arranged, and performed by African Americans,” Obama wrote. Accordingly, The Forward Times honors our musical heritage with a feature on one of music’s most prolific songwriters: Lamont Dozier.

Born in Detroit, Michigan on June 16, 1941, Lamont Dozier was the oldest of five children. His father was drafted by the Army, and so his mother was charged with raising the kids. Dozier dropped out of high school at 16 and started shining shoes to earn money. He formed a group with his friends called the Romeos; he sang with them and another group called The Voice Masters in the late 1950s. He eventually signed with fledgling songwriter and producer Berry Gordy, releasing songs on various Detroit labels.

(L-R) Diana Ross, Lamont Dozier (at piano), Mary Wilson, Eddie Holland, Florence Ballard (seated and Brian Holland in the Motown studio circa 1965 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

In 1962, Dozier’s then-wife Ann introduced him to the two brothers who would change his life. Ann Dozier was packing records and typing in the offices of Gordy’s label, Motown Records when she introduced her husband to Eddie and Brian Holland. By the next year, Dozier had joined forces with the brothers: Dozier and Brian Holland would compose and produce tracks, while Eddie Holland wrote the lyrics. Together they formed Holland-Dozier-Holland, one of the most successful songwriting teams of the decade.

The hits came quickly, including an R&B chart-topper for Martha and the Vandellas called “Heatwave” (1963). In 1964, the songwriters wrote a hit song for a male group called The Four Tops. What started as an instrumental soon became “Baby I Need Your Loving” (1964), the Four Tops’ first million-seller and first Top 20 pop hit.

That same year, Holland-Dozier-Holland penned the first hit for a Detroit girl group that had become known as “the no-hit Supremes.” But not for long. “Where Did Our Love Go?” topped both the pop and R&B charts. It was the first of 10 No. 1 pop hits for the Supremes, including five consecutive number-ones:

• “Where Did Our Love Go?” (No. 1 pop & R&B), 1964
• “Baby Love” (No. 1 pop & R&B), 1964
• “Come See About Me” (No. 1 pop, No. 2 R&B), 1965
• “Stop! In the Name of Love” (No. 1 pop, No. 2 R&B,) 1965
• “Back In My Arms Again” (No. 1 pop/R&B), 1965

Meanwhile, the Supremes’ success also inspired hits for the Four Tops. Using the same chords as “Where Did Our Love Go?”, Holland-Dozier-Holland composed “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch),” which topped the R&B charts for nine weeks and hit No. 1 on the pop charts in 1965. The success allowed Dozier to purchase a Cadillac and new homes for his mother and estranged wife.

HOLLYWOOD – MAY 12: (L-R) Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland of the legendary Motown songwriting team Holland-Dozier-Holland place their hands in cement at a ceremony honoring them with induction into Hollywood’s RockWalk May 12, 2003 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Vince Bucci/Getty Images)

But by late 1965, the trio had fallen into a rut. In September 1965, “Nothing But Heartaches,” their latest Supremes single, stalled at No. 11 on the pop charts and failed to reach the top 10. “Normally a single that charted that high on the national pop chart would be considered a success, but coming off of five consecutive number ones, Berry saw it as a warning sign,” Dozier later recalled in his memoir, How Sweet It Is. Gordy reacted by issuing a memo to Motown creative staff: “We will release nothing less than Top Ten product on any artist; and because the Supremes’ world-wide acceptance is greater than the other artists, on them we will only release number-one records.”

Prompted by the memo, Dozier and the Hollands began work on something new. Inspired by the movies he’d watched growing up, Dozier mused on how characters had their own theme songs: “I thought about how funny it would be if someone was walking around with their own theme song behind them all the time,” he later wrote. That sparked him to create “I Hear a Symphony,” which was more musically complex than previous works. “The structure of the song is more interesting than most probably give it credit for; instead of the typical verse-chorus-bridge framework, the writers separate each section by mood rather than melody,” wrote Paul Milliken. “I Hear a Symphony” topped both the pop and R&B charts.

That experimentation continued with songs for the Four Tops. In summer 1966, Dozier and Brian Holland gathered at the piano. Dozier later recalled: “I wanted to create a mind trip — a journey of emotions with sustained tension, like a bolero. To get this across, I alternated the keys — from a minor, Russian feel in the verse to a major, gospel feel in the chorus.” He wrote the lyrics with Eddie Holland, tailoring them for the lead singer Levi Stubbs. The result was a number-one pop/R&B hit that became one of the group’s signature songs.

More chart-toppers followed, with “You Can’t Hurry Love” and “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” (both 1966) for the Supremes. And in 1967, Holland-Dozier-Holland kept pushing the boundaries with a new song for the Four Tops. “We said we would never write about girls,” Dozier said in a 2018 interview, “because it was too specific. And they would maybe turn other girls off around the world.” But this song was different. Inspired by memories of a boyhood crush from elementary school (“I had it so bad for Bernadette, I could hardly think straight,” he later wrote), Dozier drew on his memories to compose “Bernadette,” one of the Four Tops’ most memorable songs.

It was also one of the last hits for Lamont-Dozier-Holland. The three left Motown in 1968 over a contract dispute, though they continued to work together until Dozier left the group in 1973. He struck out as a solo artist, releasing several albums through the 1970s. He had his biggest hit with 1974’s “Trying to Hold on to My Woman,” which reached No. 15 on the pop chart and No. 4 on the R&B chart. He also wrote and sang the theme song for the second season of the sitcom That’s My Mama in 1975.

In 1988, Dozier and Phil Collins co-wrote the song “Two Hearts” for the 1988 British film Buster. “Two Hearts” went to No. 1 in both the U.S. and Canada, winning them a Golden Globe for Best Original Song; it was nominated for an Academy Award in that same category. (It also won a Grammy for Best Song Written For a Motion Picture or Television.) In 1990, Dozier and the Hollands were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Dozier died on August 8, 2022, at the age of 81.

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