Holland-Dozier-Holland
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Holland-Dozier-Holland is a songwriting and production team made up of Lamont Dozier and brothers Brian Holland and Edward Holland, Jr.. The trio wrote and arranged many of the songs making up the Motown sound that dominated American popular music in the 1960s. During their tenure at Motown Records from 1962-1967, Dozier and Brian Holland were the composers/producers for each song, and Eddie Holland wrote the lyrics and arranged the vocals. When the trio left Motown, they continued to work as a production team (with Eddie Holland being added to the producer credits), and as a songwriting team until about 1974. In 1990, the trio was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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[edit] History
The trio came together at Motown Records. Eddie Holland, in fact, had been working with Motown founder Berry Gordy prior to that label being formed; his 1958 Mercury single "You" was one of the earliest Gordy productions. Later, Eddie Holland had a career as a Motown recording artist, scoring a US top 30 hit in 1961 with "Jamie".
Eddie's brother Brian Holland was a Motown staff songwriter who also tasted success in 1961, being a co-composer of The Marvelettes' US #1 "Please Mr. Postman". Dozier had been a recording artist for a few different labels in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including the Anna label (owned by Berry Gordy's sister) and Motown subsidiary Mel-o-dy.
The three came together to create material for themselves and other artists, but soon found they preferred being writer/producers to being performers. (especially Eddie, who suffered from stage fright and retired from performing in 1964.) They ended up writing and producing dozens and dozens of songs recorded by artists on contract to Motown Records, including 25 Number 1 hit singles such as "(Love is Like a) Heat Wave" for Martha & the Vandellas and "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" for Marvin Gaye. Their most celebrated productions were probably the singles they created for The Four Tops and The Supremes, including a string of five consecutive US #1 singles for The Supremes, beginning with 1964's "Where Did Our Love Go".
In 1967, H-D-H entered a dispute with the founder and head of Motown Records, Berry Gordy Jr., over profit sharing and royalties. Eddie Holland had the others stage a work slowdown, and by early 1968 the trio was gone from the label. They started their own labels, Invictus Records and Hot Wax Records, which were only mildly successful. Motown sued for breach of contract, and H-D-H countersued. The subsequent litigation was one of the longest legal battles in music industry history. Because of the lawsuit, H-D-H were forced to give composer credits on their earliest Invictus/Hot Wax recordings to the team of "Wayne/Dunbar". The lawsuit was settled in 1977 with H-D-H paying Motown a mere several thousand dollars in damages.
Dozier left Holland-Dozier-Holland Productions, Inc. (HDHP) during the early 1970s to resume his career as a solo performing artist. From the mid-1970s onwards, HDHP, with Harold Beatty replacing Dozier, wrote and produced songs for a number of artists. Curiously, HDHP worked on material for Motown artists, such as the Supremes and Michael Jackson, even while its litigation against Motown Records was still pending.
Lamont Dozier has his own production company, and continues to work as a solo artist, producer and recording artist, while the Holland Brothers own HDH Records and Productions (without any participation from Lamont Dozier), which issues recordings from the Invictus and Hot Wax catalogs as well as new material.
For a "one-time only reunion", the three, HDH are currently composing the score for First Wives Club -- The Musical, which will include original tunes for the musical as well as some of their hit tunes. The new musical will be produced by Paul Lambert and Jonas Neilson.
[edit] Production and songwriting highlights
[edit] Trivia
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- Holland-Dozier-Holland are mentioned in the lyrics of The Magnetic Fields' song "The Death of Ferdinand de Saussure."
- Holland-Dozier-Holland threatened to sue the band Aerosmith in 1989 due to the resemblance of parts of the song "The Other Side" (from the album Pump) to the Holland-Dozier-Holland song "Standing In The Shadows Of Love." To forestall litigation, Aerosmith agreed to add Holland-Dozier-Holland to the songwriting credits in the album's liner notes.
- Holland-Dozier-Holland are mentioned (along with the Four Tops and, separately, vocalist Levi Stubbs, as well as Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong) in the lyrics of the song "Levi Stubbs' Tears" from the 1986 Billy Bragg album "Talking with the Taxman About Poetry".
