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Dennis Lambert | |
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 Poster from Joe's Pub New York City | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 1947 (age 75–76) Brooklyn, New York, United States |
| Genres | Soul, blue-eyed soul, R&B, jazz rock, pop, pop rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter, record producer |
Dennis Earle Lambert [1] (born May 18, 1947 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. [2] [3]
| This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification .(February 2014) |
Lambert began his music career in 1960 when he signed to Capitol Records as a recording artist. By the mid-1960s, he was writing and producing for other artists. Among his earliest work with his first main collaborator Lou Courtney were songs for Freddie & the Dreamers, Lorraine Ellison, Jerry Butler and Jerry Lee Lewis.
In 1965, Lambert joined the A&R staff of Mercury Records where he was mentored by Quincy Jones and Shelby Singleton, before joining Don Costa at DCP Records, where he ran the label's A&R department, producing and writing songs.
After a spell in the US Army during the Vietnam War, he moved to Los Angeles in 1968, and the following year, forged a successful 11-year working collaboration with young British songwriter-musician Brian Potter after the two met while Lambert was in London in 1969.
Lambert and Potter joined a new record label in Los Angeles, Talent Associates, founded by producer-director Steve Binder, where they worked as producers and songwriters. They signed the Original Caste (One Tin Soldier) and worked on developing the artist roster, which included Seals and Crofts. When Talent Associates was put up for sale, the publishing assets were sold in 1971 to ABC-Dunhill Records and the two also joined the label. They wrote and produced for the Grass Roots, Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds, [4] Gayle McCormick, the Four Tops, Original Caste, Coven, [5] Dusty Springfield and Richard Harris, often working with A&R chief/producer Steve Barri. Lambert also released a solo album, Bags & Things in 1972.
In 1974, they formed their own record label, Haven Records, distributed by Capitol Records, with a roster that included the Righteous Brothers, the Grass Roots, Evie Sands [6] and Player. During this period, they also wrote and produced albums for Tavares and Glen Campbell on Capitol.
Among the hit songs Lambert and Potter co-wrote and/or produced in the 1970s are "Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got)" (which Jay-Z later interpolated in "Ain't No Nigga") and "Keeper of the Castle" for the Four Tops; "Don't Pull Your Love" for Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds, "Rhinestone Cowboy" and "Country Boy" for Glen Campbell; "It Only Takes a Minute" by Tavares; and "Baby Come Back" for Player. They produced the Righteous Brothers' major hit "Rock and Roll Heaven" which revived the duo's recording career in 1974.
In the 1980s, Lambert continued to write and produce alone under his Tuneworks banner. Credits include hits with the Commodores ("Nightshift"), Starship ("We Built This City", "Sara"), the Temptations ("Love on My Mind Tonight"), Dennis Edwards ("Don't Look Any Further") and Natalie Cole ("Pink Cadillac", "I Live for Your Love").
In the 1990s, Lambert wrote and produced for Dave Koz, Little River Band, Elaine Paige and Dionne Warwick, among others. He also composed the musical score to the film directed by Edward James Olmos, American Me . In the mid-1990s, Lambert returned to New York and established Babylon Entertainment which included the record label imprint distributed by Trauma Records (BMG) and music publishing companies.
Lambert moved to south Florida in the 2000s and was the subject of an award-winning feature-length documentary film, Of All the Things, directed by his screenwriter son Jody Lambert, which followed him on a cross-country tour of the Philippines, where he is seen as an iconic singer-songwriter (his single "Of All the Things" is still a hit in the country even at present). [2] In 2011, Warner Bros Pictures and Steve Carell optioned the rights to do a re-make based on Lambert's life story. Lambert and Potter also reunited to write a musical for Broadway which is in active development. Lambert has also performed live as a singer touring his show.
Gloria Richetta Jones is an American singer and songwriter who first found success in the United Kingdom, being recognized there as "The Queen of Northern Soul". She recorded the 1965 hit song "Tainted Love" and has worked in multiple genres as a Motown songwriter and recording artist, backing vocalist, and as a performer in musicals such as Hair. In the 1970s, she was a keyboardist and vocalist in Marc Bolan's glam rock band T. Rex. She and Bolan were also in a committed romantic relationship and had a son, Rolan Bolan, together.
Dunhill Records was started in 1964 by Lou Adler, Jay Lasker, Pierre Cossette and Bobby Roberts as Dunhill Productions to release the music of Johnny Rivers on Imperial Records. It became a record label the following year and was distributed by ABC Records.
"One Tin Soldier" is a 1960s counterculture era anti-war song written by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter. Canadian pop group The Original Caste first recorded it in 1969 for both the TA label and its parent Bell label.
The Grass Roots are an American rock band that charted frequently between 1965 and 1975. The band was originally the creation of Lou Adler and songwriting duo P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri. In their career, they achieved two gold albums and two gold singles, and charted singles on the Billboard Hot 100 a total of 21 times. Among their charting singles, they achieved Top 10 three times, Top 20 six times and Top 40 14 times. They have sold over 20 million records worldwide.
Joseph Osborn was an American bass guitar player known for his work as a session musician in Los Angeles with the Wrecking Crew and in Nashville with the A-Team of studio musicians during the 1960s through the 1980s.
Lawrence William Knechtel was an American keyboard player and bassist who was a member of the Wrecking Crew, a collection of Los Angeles-based session musicians who worked with such renowned artists as Simon & Garfunkel, Duane Eddy, the Beach Boys, the Mamas & the Papas, the Monkees, the Partridge Family, Billy Joel, the Doors, the Byrds, the Grass Roots, Jerry Garcia, and Elvis Presley. He also was a member of the 1970s band Bread.
James William Price is an American session musician. He toured extensively with The Rolling Stones from 1970 until 1973, including their 1972 American Tour, and appears on the albums Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main St. and Goats Head Soup. From September 1968 to February 1969, Price played with New Buffalo Springfield. He also toured and recorded with Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen and Eric Clapton. Price played on several songs on Harry Nilsson's Nilsson Schmilsson.
Steve Barri is an American songwriter and record producer.
Cameo is the eighth studio album released by singer Dusty Springfield, released in 1973.
"Don't Pull Your Love" is a song written by Brian Potter and Dennis Lambert which became a top ten hit single in 1971 for Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds.
Sunshower is the debut album of Thelma Houston, released in 1969 on Dunhill Records. It was produced by Jimmy Webb and charted at number 50 on the Billboard R&B chart.
Evie Sands is an American singer, songwriter and musician.
"Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got)" is a song written by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, released as a single by the Four Tops on the ABC/Dunhill record label, from the album Keeper of the Castle. It peaked at number four on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 the weeks of April 7 and 14, 1973, number one on the Cash Box Top 100 the latter of those two weeks, and became a gold record.
Paul Nelson Humphrey was an American jazz and R&B drummer.
The Original Caste is a Canadian folk group. The band formed in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, in 1966 under the name The North Country Singers. Because the name sounded too much like a folk group, it was changed in 1968. Instrumentally, the group consists of guitar, keyboard and bass.
Don Menza is an American jazz saxophonist.
John Joseph Kelson Jr., known professionally as Jackie Kelso, was an American jazz saxophonist, flautist, and clarinetist.
Hallway Symphony is the second studio album by the band Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds, released in 1972. It was their final album for the Dunhill label. A single released from the album, "One Good Woman," failed to break the Top 40. That same year, Tommy Reynolds quit the group; different session musicians took his place in their touring and recording before Alan Dennison replaced him permanently a year later. In 1973, the band was dropped from Dunhill due to lack of chart success, but they continued touring and performing live in Las Vegas and various colleges, thanks to the continuing radio play of their huge hit "Don't Pull Your Love."
Brian August Potter is a British-born American pop music songwriter and record producer. With his writing partner, Dennis Lambert, Potter wrote and produced hits songs for the Four Tops, Tavares, the Grass Roots, Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds, Evie Sands, Coven, Hall and Oates, and Glen Campbell. Potter and Lambert were nominated for a Grammy Award for their production on Rhinestone Cowboy.
Meeting of the Minds is a 1974 studio album by American soul music vocal group Four Tops, released by Dunhill Records.
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