Lamont Dozier- who will be honored as part of the famed Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team Gala with the Johnny Mercer Award at the Songwriters Hall of Fame Annual Award Gala-will lead the 2009 Master Class, which offers an intimate view of the creative processes of some of the most prolific and well-known songwriters.
This year’s Songwriters Hall of Fame Master Class event will be held on June 16 at Merkin Concert Hall at the Kaufman Center in New York.
The same evening, there will be presentations of the organization’s “Abe Olman Scholarships for Excellence in Songwriting” to gifted young writers.
Dozier with brothers Eddie and Brian Holland created hit songs for the Supremes, the Four Tops, the Temptations, Martha Reeves The Vandellas, and The Marvelettes. He has also written and produced for artists like Alison Moyet, Aretha Franklin, Eric Clapton, Simply Red and Phil Collins.
Currently, Dozier has written an instrumental for the new George Benson album, and he is collaborating on songs for a musical adaptation of the “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.
For ticket information for the Master Class, contact the Merkin Hall at the Kaufman Center box office at (212) 501-3330, or go to songhall.org.
Two nights after the Master Class, the Songwriters Hall of Fame Award dinner and show will be staged. Tickets for the latter event are available through Buckley Hall Events, (212) 573-6933. Net proceeds from the events will go towards the Songwriters Hall of Fame programs.
