Lamont Dozier 1979 Article/Interview About His New Album BITTERSWEET
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Lamont Dozier Explores Disco On New Album, Readies Tour
by Dale Kawashima
LOS ANGELES - Over the past 20 years, Lamont Dozier has served as a legendary co -producer and co -composer [[with Brian and Eddie Holland) of numerous classic Motown hits, co -owned Invictus Records, and produced top selling albums for Edwin Starr and Aretha Franklin. In addition, Dozier has written several film scores, and is currently working with manager/pro- ducer Joyce Selznick on a movie project and with songwriters Al Kasha and Joel Hirschorn on a black broadway musical.
Despite all of his successes as a composer and producer, Dozier intends to channel most of his energies this year into fully establising himself as a solo artist in the pop, black contemporary and disco fields. and has just released his latest Warner Bros. album, "Bittersweet." In addition, Dozier is revving up to undertake his very first concert tour this spring in support of the album.
This veteran multi -faceted artist has always enjoyed working as a songwriter and producer, but even as far back as his teenage days Dozier has wanted to make it as a singer. One of his first professional music endeavors was to form at the age of 15 a vocal group called the Romeos, which recorded for Fox Records in Detroit. Always Loved Singing "Singing was always one of my first loves," recalls Dozier. "I started as a singer back in the '50s with the Romeos, and I also recorded earlier on a song for Motown called 'Dearest One.' However, 'Dearest One' didn't exactly go anywhere, so I was convinced that it wasn't in the cards for me to be a performer, at least at that time. So I started writing songs for other people to record, collaborating with Brian Holland, and later on with both Brian and Eddie Holland at Motown." Dozier's composing and producing out- put at Motown has been well documented, with the Holland -Dozier -Holland team chalking up a flurry of classic hits such as "Baby Love," "Can I Get A Witness," "Heatwave," "Roadrunner," "Reflections," "How Sweet It Is," "Reach Out I'll Be There" and "Baby Don't You Do It," to name just a few. After a lengthy stint at Motown, Dozier and the two Hollands decided to launch their own record label, forming the Detroit - based Invictus Records in 1967. At Invictus,
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Dozier Explores Disco On New Album [[continued from page 9)
the trio continued to enjoy extensive R&B and pop success, writing hits for Freda Payne, Honeycone, the Chairmen Of The Board and General Johnson.
It was during his five-year co -ownership of Invictus that Dozier revived his interest in singing and becoming a solo artist. "At Invictus, I got the fever again to be a singer," said Dozier. "I recorded a song at the label called "Why Can't We Be Lovers" that did very well, and gave me the confidence to wholeheartedly pursue a singing career. Back into The Spotlight "Brian, Eddie and I had formed Invictus after leaving Motown, and we enjoyed about five successful years at the label," added Dozier. "But being a behind -the - scenes record executive wasn't exactly my cup of tea, and I really wanted to get back into singing, so I did." Dozier decided to leave Invictus and con- clude his association with the Hollands in 1972. He moved away from his hometown Detroit, opting for the more hectic, competitive atmosphere of Los Angeles, where he signed a recording deal with ABC. Dozier recorded two albums for ABC which garnered substantial R&B success before joining his present label, Warner Bros., in the mid '70s.
Now with his third Warner Bros. album, 'Bittersweet,' Dozier has created an upbeat, predominantly disco -flavored effort which marks a shift in direction for Dozier, who in the past has mostly sung romantic ballads. "On my earlier albums I performed mostly ballads and love songs, but on the new LP I do a lot of disco tunes," stated Dozier. "I do have ballads on "Bittersweet," but there's more of a rock or dance/disco edge to the album. My producer Frank Wilson felt it was time for me to move into different styles as an artist, so we came up with this new approach. I really love performing disco music, and I think the album came off really well."
