Holland-Dozier-Holland

Induction Year: 1990

Induction Category: Non-Performer

Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland wrote and produced many of the songs that are most closely identified with Motown. These include “Stop! In the Name of Love” and “You Can’t Hurry Love” (), “Heat Wave” and “Jimmy Mack” (), “Reach Out I’ll Be There” and “Baby I Need Your Loving” (), and “Can I Get a Witness” and “How Sweet It Is to Be Loved by You” (). These classics are only the tip of the iceberg, insofar as Holland-Dozier-Holland’s ten-year output at Motown is concerned. In their behind-the-scenes roles as staff producers and songwriters, Holland-Dozier-Holland were as responsible as any of the performers for Motown’s spectacular success.

Brian and Eddie Holland’s relationship with Motown founder Berry Gordy dates back to 1958, when Gordy produced solo singles for both brothers. In 1961, Lamont Dozier began recording for Anna Records, owned by Gordy’s sister Gwen. That same year, Brian Holland cowrote and coproduced Motown’s first Number One hit, the Marvelettes’ “Please Mr. Postman.” Holland-Dozier-Holland inaugurated their collaboration in 1962 with the single “Dearest One,” released under Dozier’s name on the Mel-O-Dy label, a Motown subsidiary. In March 1963, the trio teamed up full-time to work at Motown’s in-house assembly line, literally punching a clock when they arrived for work at nine o’clock each morning. Their workplace was a cinderblock recording studio in Motown’s “Hitsville” offices. “We really did sit there and work all day at coming up with this song, that melody,” Brian Holland has said. In short order, Holland-Dozier-Holland wrote and produced the first of many hits, ’ “Come and Get These Memories.” The trio epitomized the Motown sound: a fluid, uptempo style that combined catchy lyrics with the fervor of gospel, the groove of R&B and the polish of pop. More than 50 of Motown’s most memorable songs can be attributed to Holland-Dozier-Holland. They produced hits for nearly every act on the Motown family of labels, but their greatest success came with , for whom they wrote six consecutive Number One hits, beginning with “Where Did Our Love Go” in June 1964. After leaving Motown in 1968 in a dispute over royalties, Holland-Dozier-Holland formed Invictus/Hot Wax, where they continued their hitmaking ways with Freda Payne ("Band of Gold"), Chairman of the Board ("Give Me Just a Little More Time") and the Honey Cones ("Want Ads")."