Just one look at a list of his Top Ten compositions - hits that have spanned four decades--is sure to send a thrill through any fan of popular music. As a producer, Lamont's renowned skill has fueled the careers of a dozen artists. And to top it off, Lamont is also a powerful artist in his own right. With gold and platinum records and pop smashes of his own, Lamont established himself in the latter half of the '70s as an artist to be reckoned with. After taking some time off to concentrate on writing for the likes of Eric Clapton and Phil Collins, along with working on several projects for television, film, and theatre, Lamont is back with his debut album, "Lamont Dozier...An American Original", on his own new label, HITHOUSE RECORDS.

Born and raised in Detroit, Lamont Dozier was surrounded by music as a child. "My interest in music started in the late'40s and early '50s listening to my father's record collection," Lamont recalls. "He had people like Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett."

Rehearsing with the local Baptist church's gospel choir, and listening to his aunt play classical music on the family piano also left an early musical imprint on Lamont's psyche. At 10, Lamont began collecting singles by Johnny Mathis, Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers, The Spaniels, and various doo-wop groups. The latters' mixture of pop and R&B exerted a powerful influence on his musical development.

Lamont began writing lyrics at the age of 11, music at 12, and decided on a recording career at the age of 13. His band, The Romeos, was signed to Atco Records in 1957, and had a charting R&B record with the song, "Fine Fine Baby". Shortly thereafter, The Romeos broke up, but the success of the single was enough stimulation for me to know that this was the business I wanted to be in. After a stint in The Voicemasters, a doo-wop band on Anna Records, Lamont Dozier signed exclusively to Motown Records in 1962 as an artist, producer, and songwriter.

Having worked on the Ford assembly line, Berry Gordy patterned Motown after the automaker. Everybody had to punch a time clock, and the finished songs were critiqued in "quality control" meetings. Hooking up with Brian Holland, and later joined by Brian's brother Eddie, Lamont found himself so in demand as a songwriter and producer that he had very little time to pursue his career as an artist. With its in-house band, in-house studio, and in-house songwriting / production teams, Motown was the most successful production line in the history of pop music.

A major part of that success are the classic Motown songs composed by the hitmachine of Holland-Dozier-Holland, the songwriting trio that churned out a massive stream of songs for the Supremes, the Four Tops, the Temptations, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, The Marvelettes, Marvin Gaye, and others that not only became hits at the time of their release, but have been woven into the fabric of American pop culture both then and now.

Just about anybody over 12 can hum them: "Baby Love", "Where Did Our Love Go", "Baby I Need Your Loving", "You Can't Hurry Love", "Reach Out, I'll Be There", "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)", "Stop! In The Name of Love", "Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart", "Heat Wave", "Nowhere to Run", "Bernadette", "It's The Same Old Song" and more. Holland-Dozier-Holland alone were the architects of the self-titled Sound of Young America, and created the songs that turned a fledgling Detroit record company into an industry groundbreaker and powerhouse.

Lamont Dozier started out at the piano writing both the music and the lyrics, then produced the songs, and arranged background vocals for the artists; Brian Holland co-wrote melodies and co-produced with Lamont, along with handling the engineering chores, and Eddie Holland co-wrote lyrics. This was the "classic Motown" period, which ended when the team of Holland-Dozier-Holland left the label.

Holland-Dozier-Holland had a string of hits on the Invictus and Hot Wax labels that rank with their best at Motown. Freda Payne's "Band Of Gold" and Chairmen of the Board's "Give Me Just A Little More Time" were only two of H-D-H's 13 post-Motown top ten smashes.

But Invictus fell on hard times. "The company wasn't run right," Lamont explains. I was not a businessman in that respect, and I allowed others to control the business while I concentrated on being creative, so I found myself in a bind again." In 1972, Lamont decided to break all business ties with the Hollands and moved to California. But before he left Invictus, Lamont had a regional R&B hit called "Why Can't We Be Lovers." The momentum from that record landed him a recording contract with ABC Dunhill Records.

At ABC Dunhill, Lamont scored two pop hits with "Trying To Hold On To My Woman" and "Fish Ain't Bitin'," pushing his first solo album past the RIAA gold mark.

From there Lamont moved to Warner Bros., where he released three albums between 1976 and 1979, scoring gold and platinum albums in the European market with "Going Back To My Roots" and touring the Continent as well.

In 1980, Lamont moved to Arista Records, and recorded what he considered his best solo effort up to that time. But when his A&R man switched labels, heading to Columbia with Lamont's album, the project got lost in the shuffle. Lamont decided to take a break from recording albums and concentrate on motion picture and television soundtrack work. While living in England with his wife and children, Lamont hooked up with vocalist Alison Moyet, writing her Top Ten worldwide hit, "Invisible", as well as writing hit songs, including, platinum selling "You've Got It", for British singing star, Simply Red.

In 1985, Lamont met Phil Collins backstage at one of Phil's shows in Los Angeles. Phil had scored a Top Ten hit with his cover version of Lamont's "You Can't Hurry Love", originally penned for The Supremes. "It was a very warm meeting," Lamont remembers, "we hit it off and became good friends, talking a lot about music--you know, shop talk." When it came time for Phil to co-produce Eric Clapton's "AUGUST" album, he turned to Lamont for two songs: "Hung Up On Your Love Again" and "Run".

In 1988, when Phil began working on the movie "BUSTER", he again turned to Lamont, this time to write and produce some songs for the soundtrack.

"I flew down to Acapulco, where Phil was filming", Lamont recalls. "And when he heard the songs, he immediately flipped". Together they composed three songs for "BUSTER", including the #1, Grammy-winning "Two Hearts", which garnered a Golden Globe, BPI Award, Oscar Nomination, Ivor Novello Award, and many other kudos for Lamont and Phil.

In 1991, Lamont began composing songs with an eye towards landing another record deal for himself. In Los Angeles, he had a pivotal meeting with Atlantic Co-Chairman/Co-Ceo Doug Morris. "When we got to the second song on my demo tape, the ballad 'Love In The Rain,' Doug stood up, reached out his hand to me and said, 'You've got a deal." The album featured guest appearances by Eric Clapton and Phil Collins, and contained a mixture of grooving, up tempo cuts and intimate ballads, woven together by Lamont's multi-faceted vocal stylings. Once again, the corporate world of record company politics played a role in preventing the album from reaching the position and recognition that Lamont was seeking for himself as a recording artist.

It was at this point that Lamont decided to start his own record label to market and distribute his own recordings. Lamont's new album, "Lamont Dozier...An American Original", will be the first release for the HITHOUSE RECORDS label that Lamont has formed with his wife and business partner, Barbara Ullman Dozier. This time Lamont is wearing two hats. He is sharing the day-to-day business responsibilities of running the label with his wife, and since completing the album, he is also in rehearsals for a tour to promote "Lamont Dozier...An American Original" which will mark his first time on the road in years.

It is "Lamont Dozier...An American Original", that carries many of Lamont's hopes and dreams. The 2002 Grammy Awards garnered Lamont a very coveted Grammy Nomination for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Album for this special album containing the songs that became jukebox and dance classics in the 1960s. Rearranging and retooling his songs back to the way Lamont originally conceived them - as love-struck slow ballads, and performed by Lamont mostly playing his piano, the album puts songs such as "This Old Heart Of Mine", "I Hear A Symphony", "Reflections", and "My World Is Empty Without You", songs made famous by the Supremes, Four Tops, Marvin Gaye and other Holland-Dozier-Holland produced Motown stars, in a more intimate and reflective style. "I felt it was finally time to give this music a new face," Lamont says. "Everybody in the business has done these songs at one time or another, but no one has ever heard how they were originally created. Most of them started out as ballads. They will have more of a melancholy feeling, soft and sweet."

With "Lamont Dozier...An American Original", Lamont for the first time has put his own voice, a blend of rough molasses and plaintive yearning, to songs made famous by others. It is his stamp, finally, on the songs he composed.

Although "Lamont Dozier...An American Original" is a deeply personal project for Lamont, it represents only a fraction of what Lamont has in mind as he dreams of taking center stage after years of staying out of the spotlight. Lamont is aggressively seeking to stake a public claim to his historic legacy with a series of projects he hopes will demonstrate that he is absolutely not just singing the same old song. "It's taken me a long time to get to this place where I can concentrate on today and live for what's happening now," says Lamont, relaxing in the family room of his Encino home. "I certainly don't take for granted what I did before. But I try not to dwell on the things of yesterday."

Lamont says that he and the Hollands had no idea in the '60s what impact their songs were having on America, they were too busy cranking them out. "We were just kids, banging this stuff out," he says. "We had no idea these songs would be around one day to the next, much less 35 to 40 years later. That's why I've chosen now to reflect on those times."

From album projects, to television projects, to film projects, to musical theatre projects, to going on the road again, Lamont is doing a lot of things he never expected. The new millennium is an exhilarating time for Lamont Dozier. Already in 2001 Lamont had been laying the groundwork for the resurgence of an exciting career in songwriting, recording, and production, along with developing his own entertainment company, HITHOUSE RECORDS. Now 2002 has started out the year with the Grammy nomination for "Lamont Dozier...An American Original".

ALSO IN THE WORKS:

• Lamont has completed a series of educational audiotapes, "The Lamont Dozier School of Music," based on lectures he has given to music classes over the years. The tapes will deal with Lamont's technical and spiritual approach to songwriting.

• Lamont is developing several new artists, including the pop group "Platune," featuring his two sons Beau and Paris; jazz quartet, "Gazebo Hill;" R&B group "Burn;" rap group "Hithounds;" teenage group "NuStarr," of which his daughter Desiree is a member; and a modern inspirational group, "Disciples Of The Lamb".

• Lamont is developing a new musical with several time Grammy Award winning lyricist, Norman Gimbel.

• Lamont has just completed the story, music and lyrics on his solo musical entitled, "Angels" which is expected to open in summer, 2003.

"The seeds I've been planting over the years have finally taken root," says Lamont of all the projects he's involved with. "They've been piling up, and I have something to say now and I want to tell people about it. I've got a bunch of ideas and songs, and I'm working with some great people. "

Lamont Dozier lives in Encino, California with his wife of twenty-six years, Barbara and their three musically talented children; son Beau, age twenty-three; son Paris, age eighteen; and daughter Desiree, age fourteen.