Dennis Lambert

Dennis Earle Lambert (born May 18, 1947 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American musician, songwriter and record producer.

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, Gayle McCormick, the Four Tops, Original Caste, Coven, 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 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"), the Temptations ("Love on My Mind Tonight"), Dennis Edwards ("Don't Look Any Further") and Natalie Cole ("Pink Cadillac", "I Live for Your Love").