New York, N.Y. – April 2, 2009 – Songwriters Hall of Fame (SongHall), now in its 40th year, is pleased to announce their 2009 Master Class event. The spotlight will shine on SongHall Inductee Lamont Dozier, who will be honored with the prestigious 2009 Johnny Mercer Award at the Songwriters Hall of Fame Annual Awards Gala, as previously announced.
The Master Class will take place on Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 8:00 PM at Merkin Concert Hall at the Kaufman Center, located at 129 West 67th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam.
The same evening, there will be presentations of SongHall’s esteemed Abe Olman Scholarships for Excellence in Songwriting to gifted young writers.
The Songwriters Hall of Fame Master Class series offers an extraordinary and intimate view of the creative processes of some of our most prolific and well-known songwriters.
“With his celebrated contributions to popular music history, we are proud Lamont Dozier will lead our next Master Class,” commented SongHall Chairman/CEO and songwriter extraordinaire Hal David.
In the heyday of Motown, the songwriting team of Lamont Dozier, together with brothers Brian and Eddie Holland, created a massive stream of songs for the Supremes, the Four Tops, the Temptations, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, The Marvelettes and Marvin Gaye. Catalog highlights include “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 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 has gone on to record numerous gold and platinum solo albums. He’s written and produced for mega artists Alison Moyet, Aretha Franklin, Eric Clapton, Simply Red and Phil Collins, with whom he wrote the Oscar-nominated “Two Hearts.” The song garnered the Ivor Novello Award in the UK, the Brit Award, The Golden Globe Award and a Grammy Award. In 2002, Lamont released the Grammy-nominated, “Reflections,” and wrote songs for Joss Stone, members of the Black Eyed Peas and Solange Knowles.
Currently, Dozier is excited about an instrumental he wrote for the new George Benson album, and he is currently collaborating on songs for a musical adaptation of the Oscar-nominated 1996 comedy “The First Wives Club”, set to open at the Old Globe in San Diego in July.
Dozier was awarded the USC Thornton School of Music’s “Thornton Legacy Award” in 2007 and is presently serving as a professor at the school. He is currently serving as a Trustee and the Chairman of the Advocacy Committee for NARAS.
About the Songwriters Hall of Fame:
The SongHall celebrates songwriters and educates the public with regard to their achievements, and produces a spectrum of professional programs devoted to the development of new songwriting talent through workshops, showcases and scholarships. Over the course of the past 40 years, some key Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees have included Desmond Child, Loretta Lynn, John Sebastian, John Fogerty, Isaac Hayes and David Porter, Steve Cropper, Richard and Robert Sherman, Bill Withers, Carole King, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, Sir Elton John, Bernie Taupin, Brian Wilson, James Taylor, James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, Hal David and Burt Bacharach, Jim Croce, Phil Collins, Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Jimmy Webb, Van Morrison and Cy Coleman among many, many others. The Songwriters Hall of Fame was founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer and publishers Abe Olman and Howie Richmond.
Full biographies and a complete list of inductees are available at the Songwriters Hall of Fame’s Virtual Museum at songhall.org.
Ticket Information:
For ticket information for this Master Class event taking place on June 16th, contact the Merkin Hall at the Kaufman Center box office at 212-501-3330, or go to www.songhall.org.
Tickets for the Songwriters Hall of Fame Annual Awards Gala on June 18th are available through Buckley Hall Events, (212) 573-6933. Net proceeds from the event will go towards the Songwriters Hall of Fame programs.
