How Sweet It Was

The mood was set. The singer entered the recording studio below his living room, went past the wall of vintage musical keyboards and settled into the sound booth. Everything was familiar--the surroundings, the atmosphere and most important, the song he was about to tape.

A breath. Then the lyrics, the ones he knew so well, began flowing in low, soulful tones. “My world is empty without you, babe. My world is empty without you, babe. And as I go my way alone, I find it hard for me to carry on. I miss your strength, I miss your tender touch. . . .”

Then emotion choked off his voice. The song stopped.

Lamont Dozier, caught off guard by his own feelings, couldn’t continue. Even though he helped write “My World Is Empty Without You,” even though he had heard it thousands of times and had sung it hundreds of times since he and partners Brian and Eddie Holland conceived the tune for Diana Ross and the Supremes, it was still too much.

“The song was just pouring out of me, and then all of a sudden the emotion took over,” Dozier said. “It was overwhelming, and I had to regroup. All these memories just rushed in, of the people and friends who are no longer with us. Marvin Gaye. [The late Supreme] Florence Ballard. Some of the Temptations. . . . I just had to have the engineer stop the tape.”

Dozier, 58, had been in the middle of recording his new album, “Reflections,” which revisits the classic Motown songs composed by the hit machine 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, 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. It was the self-titled Sound of Young America, the songs that turned a fledgling Detroit record company into an industry groundbreaker and powerhouse.

With “Reflections,” Dozier for the first time will be putting his own voice--a blend of rough molasses and plaintive yearning--to songs made famous by others. It will be his stamp, finally, on the songs he composed.

Although “Reflections” is a deeply personal project for the artist, it represents only a fraction of what Dozier has in mind as he dreams of taking center stage after years of staying out of the spotlight. Many of those intervening years have been spent embroiled in a long-standing, and still unresolved, legal battle with Motown and the company’s founder, Berry Gordy Jr. The trio maintains they have been cheated out of hundreds of millions of dollars because they have not been paid a significant royalty rate for the songs, which have been endlessly repackaged in boxed sets and other compilations. Meanwhile, attorneys for Gordy and Motown call the lawsuits and charges a “farce” that is part of a “vindictive campaign of harassment.”

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Dozier has never been completely absent from the music scene--in 1988, he produced and wrote the music for “Two Hearts” for Phil Collins, the No. 1 single that year. But in more recent years, major record labels have tended to be more interested in his past recordings than new projects. Wanting to be more than just a mere nostalgia act, he wants the best of both worlds. Dozier 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,” said Dozier, relaxing in the spacious living 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.”

Afirst glimpse of Dozier’s plan to reinvent his career will come with the November premiere of “Shake, Rattle & Roll,” a four-hour CBS miniseries that uses the evolution of rock ‘n’ roll and the civil rights movement as a backdrop for the love story of a young couple during the 1950s and ‘60s.

Dozier is one of several legendary songwriters such as Bob Dylan, Carole King, Graham Nash and Leiber & Stoller who composed original music for the project, which stars Brad Hawkins, Bonnie Summerville, Dana Delany and James Coburn. Classics such as the Drifters’ “Only You,” Jan & Dean’s “Dead Man’s Curve” and other rock staples are also featured.

“Side by Side,” Dozier’s contribution to the project, comes at a critical point in the miniseries when teen rock idol Tyler Hart (Hawkins) is being advised by his managers to tone down his act. Co-written with Spencer Proffer, the project’s executive producer and music supervisor, “Side by Side” becomes the song that changes Hart’s career.

“The template for this project was to have original songs written by people who had really been there in that era, or had been so influenced by that time that it would be reflected in their later works,” Proffer said. “Lamont is one of the world’s great songwriters and record producers, and I really wanted to work with him. We’re personal friends who share a love for music and life.”

Proffer said he wanted to include Dozier and the other noted songwriters in “Shake, Rattle & Roll” because they experienced the era firsthand and witnessed the cultural importance of the music.

“Rock ‘n’ roll brought people together and it was the start of getting rid of stereotypical race music. It’s a real piece of history, and I jumped to be a part of it,” said Dozier. And he liked the timing of the project, given the controversy that has surrounded the television industry this season because of the lack of cultural diversity in this season’s programs.

“I’m surprised things are still the way they are,” he said. “It’s like we take two steps forward and 20 steps back. . . . Music has always been the greatest catalyst in bonding people.”

Proffer said working with Dozier was like a dream come true. The two banged out “Side by Side” during an evening at Dozier’s home, sitting side by side as Dozier worked at the piano.

But “Shake Rattle & Roll” represents more a favor done for an old friend, and Dozier’s song is just brief moment in the four-hour project.

It is “Reflections” that carries many of Dozier’s hopes and dreams. Due at the beginning of next year, the album will take the songs that became jukebox and dance classics back to the way Dozier originally conceived them--as love-struck slow ballads. Performed by Dozier mostly playing his piano, the album puts songs such as “This Old Heart of Mine” and the title song--made famous by the Supremes--in a more intimate and reflective style. The album--which will include several new songs--will be the first release for the D-Flawless label that Dozier has formed with his wife and business partner, Barbara Dozier. And though he’s edging toward 60, Dozier finds himself once again in rehearsals for a tour to promote “Reflections”--his first time on the road in years.

“I felt it was finally time to give this music a new face,” Dozier said. “Everybody in the business has done these songs at one time or another, but no one has heard how they were originally created. Most of them started out as ballads. They will have more of a melancholy feeling, soft and sweet.”

Without prompting, Dozier closes his eyes and starts singing: “Baby love, my baby love, I need you, oh, how I need you.” It sounds as if his heart is breaking. Then a smile creeps over his face and he picks up the pace, recalling the Supremes version. “Babylove, my Babylove. . . .”

Barbara Dozier, who has been married to the songwriter for almost 20 years, was instrumental in persuading Dozier to record the album.

“I kept hearing these stories over the years about how the songs were written, and I really wanted him to magnify the feelings he had while writing them,” said Barbara, who still remembers the first record she purchased as a teen--the Holland-Dozier-Holland-penned Supremes song “I Hear a Symphony.”

D-Flawless is also reissuing Dozier’s post-Motown music that he wrote and sang, including such R&B; staples recorded for the Holland-Dozier-Holland-owned Invictus label, ABC/Dunhill and others, including “Trying to Hold On to My Woman,” “All Cried Out,” “Fish Ain’t Bitin’ ” and “Let Me Start Tonight.”

Dozier has also reunited with the Holland brothers to work on a stage musical “Holland Dozier Holland--The True Story,” which Dozier hopes will tell for the first time the trio’s story, how they created their classics and how they and their music were affected by, and in turn influenced, the ‘60s. It also will help repair what Brian Holland calls a forgotten chapter of Motown.

“I’ve never really felt like the three of us have gotten our proper due through time,” Brian Holland said. The Hollands are currently involved in producing artists, as well as marketing and distributing music.

As envisioned, the musical would contain vintage Motown hits by the trio as well as new material, and they hope that it lands on Broadway. Also, the three are working on an autobiography of their lives.

The partnership has had its stormy times, and the Hollands and Dozier have often gone their separate ways. But the current reunion has revitalized the bond among them.

Said Eddie Holland, “I don’t want to sound cliched, but it’s like we never really separated. We’re teasing and acting silly with each other, even at our age. It’s a strange relationship, and an easy one. Even when there’s friction between us, we don’t talk about it that much. It’s really euphoric.”

Brian Holland added, “I really can’t explain the magic between us. There is a spiritual thing that happens when we get together. It’s like old times again.”

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From the television project to a musical to going on the road again, Dozier is doing a lot of things he never expected. Not long ago, Afeni Shakur, the mother of slain rapper Tupac Shakur, asked Dozier if he would compose music for a series of poems Shakur wrote. The music and poems will be included in a tribute album slated to be released next year.

Also in the works:

* He’s working with Donna Summer on her next album, and also has completed an album with Bonnie Bramlett, formerly of Delaney and Bonnie and Friends.

* He’s 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 Dozier’s technical and spiritual approach to songwriting.

* Dozier is developing several new artists, including the pop group Platune, featuring his sons Beau, 19, and Paris, 15; teenage group Nu-Starr; and inspirational group the Disciples of the Lamb.

“The seeds I’ve been planting over the years have finally taken root,” said Dozier 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.”

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It’s the middle of the afternoon. Lamont Dozier is playing his piano, conjuring up new melodies. And he has no idea what he’s doing.

“I’m just completely in another place,” says Dozier of his daily routine of playing three or four hours. “I just put a tape in the recorder. Immediately after I play something, I forget it. It disintegrates from one moment to the next. It’s like I’m a receptor or a channeler. At the end of the week, I gather all the tapes and listen to what I’ve come up with.”

Dozier’s home is a testament to the process. Scattered around the house are several boxes overflowing with cassettes. Some are for his albums, some for the musical.

For the most part, the Doziers are on their own, with no star-making machinery around them to oversee and promote the new ventures, no phones ringing off the hooks asking about when the new songs and albums will arrive, no strategy sessions with young hotshots about chart positions and tour dates.

“Some years ago Atlantic and Rhino Records expressed interest in Lamont’s music, and wanted it badly, but we felt it was time for us to be in control of what we’re doing,” said Barbara Dozier. “We’ve already been that other route, and we didn’t want to wind up on a back burner.”

Most of Dozier’s days are spent alone, composing his music.

It’s exactly the way the way he and Barbara want to be. No entourages or craziness. That decision makes the future of these projects a calculated risk at best given the obstacles even current pop artists face launching a new album, or in theater, the difficulties--financial and logistically--inherent in mounting a new stage production.

Still Dozier said that he is buoyed by the constant requests he receives from fans and friends for his vintage music to be put on compact disc. “If I didn’t feel I had the support from fans, I wouldn’t be doing this. It’s fierce out there.”

He is modest about the compositions of his that have stood the test of time: “I give God the credit. I wouldn’t be that presumptuous to think that it was me that was accomplishing this, that I did it all. Over the years, you see things a little more deeply and honestly, and you get out of self into the bigger picture. “

Dozier said 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 said. “We had no idea this stuff 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.”

Like the music, Dozier’s and the Hollands’ legal entanglements with Motown over royalty rates for the H-D-H songs also goes on. The trio contends a 1972 settlement was breached, and they have each filed new claims over the recycling of H-D-H songs in movies, TV and commercials. One current example is the Dixie Chicks’ cover of “You Can’t Hurry Love” which appears in the film “Runaway Bride.”

“This case was supposed to have been settled in 1972,” said Daniel Petrocelli, the attorney for Motown and Gordy. “In the ensuing years, every single claim they’ve made in the Michigan court has been dismissed. There are a few remaining claims, and we’re confident they’ll be dismissed.”

Still the battle hasn’t put a cloud over the music, at least not for Dozier. “It’s been very costly and painful,” he said. “But I can’t blame the music. A lot of people would have gotten bitter, but I will continue to do the music. It’s a gift from God, and it will always live.”