LIVE CHAT TRANSCRIPT

Radio2 Host: Hello, and welcome to this afternoon’s Live Chat with Lamont Dozier: .

Radio2 Host: Lamont Dozier: is a Motown legend and one of the world's greatest living songwriters. Seminal soul songs like Stop. In The Name of Love, This Old Heart of Mine, Baby Love and Heatwave are loved the world over. We are thrilled to have him here in the studio to answer your questions on songwriting and the lasting magic of Motown.

Radio2 Host: We're ready to start with the first question...

Matt Isaacs: When you started at Motown as a songwriter, which star did you think had most?potential?

Lamont Dozier: My favourite I guess when I started, it would probably be Diana Ross. There were so many artists that were good. But she gave just about all the writers and producers the feeling that... she had something very special. She was very charismatic, and she wanted it bad. She was hungry for success. I think everyone knew it was just a matter of time. It just so happened that it was my song called Where Did Our Love Go that started her on a roll. It was a song the girls didn't want to do, but because of their status at the company at the time they had to do it. So they reluctantly recorded it, and it became the song that catapulted them into stardom. So Diana Ross was the one we all felt would be the superstar that she became.

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bumbling: Is there any artists today that you think have the ability to "cut it" as a Motown singer? Either British or American.

Lamont Dozier: I just finished working with Joss Stone - it's a song on her next album called Spoil. She strikes me as having that 50 year career type style. I think she's the hottest thing around today, outside of Norah Jones. Another girl also called Tynisha Keli - these three will be around for a very long time. They are the new big things. They're very young. If you can get in the door at 50 God bless you, but it's important to be dedicated I should say. Sam: if you had to pick just one song you think is the best motown song ever what would it be?

Lamont Dozier: For me it would probably be a song that's obscure in a sense, but I'd have to split it. I wrote a song called In My Lonely Room by Martha and the Vandellas. It was a top ten hit, but nowhere near as big as some of her other songs. This one was such a moody song. I guess it has to do with the place I was at mentally and emotionally. For me it still has a certain feel. It brings all of this soap opera that I was going through at the time. Also a song called I'm in a Different World. These are sort of unknown as far as the rest of the songs go, but these particular songs I really think were two songs that I expect artists to want to do in the future.

Radio2 Host: We've got hundreds of users online right now, all sending in great questions. Please bear with us as we try to ask as many of them as possible.

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