Detroit Evening Report, Aug. 9, 2022: Lamont Dozier, writer of Motown hits like “Heat Wave,” dies
Singer Diana Ross, second from left, joins songwriters, from left, Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland and Eddie Holland after the writing team was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in New York on Jan. 17, 1990. Dozier, of the celebrated Holland-Dozier-Holland team that wrote and produced “You Can’t Hurry Love,” “Heat Wave” and dozens of other hits and helped make Motown an essential record company of the 1960s and beyond, has died at age 81.
Welcome to the Detroit Evening Report, a daily round-up of news that city residents need to know.
Another Motown legend has died. Lamont Dozier was 81 years old. He was part of the songwriting and producing team of Holland Dozier Holland — along with brothers Brian and Eddie Holland. The trio was responsible for hits such as the Four Tops’ “Baby I Need Your Lovin’” and “Heat Wave” by Martha and the Vandellas. Holland Dozier Holland wrote 25 Top 10 hits for the Motown label between 1963 and 1967. Many of those hits were for the Supremes, including “Stop in the Name of Love,” ”My World Is Empty Without You,” “I Hear A Symphony” and “You Can’t Hurry Love.”
Dozier was born in Detroit and grew up in the city’s Black Bottom neighborhood. He worked as a janitor at a different record company before signing on with Motown as a songwriter in the early 1960s.
News of Dozier’s death came just hours after a special event was held in Detroit to celebrate renovations to the Motown Museum. The first two phases of the museum’s plans have been completed. Attendees at yesterday’s event included Otis Williams of the Temptations, Martha Reeves of Martha and the Vandellas and Smokey Robinson.
Other headlines for Aug. 9, 2022:
- Detroit Department of Transportation updates fleet with 28 new biodiesel coaches
- Judge says Saginaw violated the U.S. Constitution by chalking tires to enforce parking limits
- Man who was exonerated of murder after spending 8 years in prison offers $25,000 in free gas
- Price of gas in Metro Detroit continues to fall
Photo credit: Ron Frehm/AP
Trusted, accurate, up-to-date.
WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
