Gary Brooker Procol Harum leader, co-founder, vocalist, pianist and composer known for the Top 40 hit singles “A Whiter Shade of Pale” and “Conquistador,” the latter with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.
In 2002, Brooker performed The Beatles flip side “Old Brown Shoe” in the George Harrison tribute Concert for George, which he stated in his 2011 Goldmine interview was one of his life’s most special moments. “I was in the band, playing at Albert Hall that night with those people, those songs and that audience. It was an absolutely unforgettable experience.” The following year, Queen Elizabeth made him a Member of the Order of the British Empire for his services to charity.
Lamont Dozier Best known as a member of Detroit’s Motown songwriting team of Holland-Dozier-Holland with brothers Brian and Eddie Holland, composing many of the label’s big hits of the 1960s. The songwriting trio’s biggest success at Motown came with 10 of The Supremes’ No. 1 singles, including “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” also covered that decade by Vanilla Fudge and by Kim Wilde in the 1980s. In his 2018 Goldmine interview, Dozier said, “Vanilla Fudge’s version was very clever. Kim Wilde turned it into a fun dance number.”
Dozier shared, “The Four Tops were my favorite group to work with, often working until 3 or 4 a.m., rushing to get an album out, because they toured a lot, so getting them in town was hard.” Four of their compositions reached the Billboard pop Top 10 for the quartet, the chart-toppers “I Can’t Help Myself” and “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” plus “It’s the Same Old Song” and “Bernadette.” Dozier revealed, “There were three real life Bernadettes. My first love was Bernadette when I was 11 years old. She was in my class in elementary school and was like a muse to me. Later I learned that both Holland brothers each had Bernadette girlfriends, too.”
Holland-Dozier-Holland left Motown at the end of the decade and formed a pair of record labels. Hot Wax had The Honey Cone with “Want Ads” and The Flaming Ember with “Mind, Body and Soul.” Invictus had Freda Payne with “Band of Gold” and Chairmen of the Board with “Give Me Just a Little More Time.”
As a performer in the 1970s, Dozier’s biggest chart hit was “Trying to Hold on to My Woman.” Additionally, he still receives extensive beach-music play with “Cool Me Out.” In the 1980s, he co-wrote with Phil Collins the No. 1 hit “Two Hearts” from the film Buster and won a Grammy, Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination.
Country hitmaker reached No. 1 on’s Top Country Singles chart 17 times throughout the 1970s and 1980s. One of his No. 1 country hits also reached the, which featured his Pasadena, Texas honkytonk club Gilley’s. His cousin was Jerry Lee Lewis.
