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Brian Potter, one of the most versatile and successful British producers and songwriters of his generation, has died aged ۸۷. He had been living with Alzheimer’s disease in recent years, his daughter told Billboard.
Working with American songwriting partner Dennis Lambert, the Essex-born Potter was behind an astounding array of ۱۹۷۰s hits spanning pop, soul, soft rock, country and beyond. The best-known include Glen Campbell’s Rhinestone Cowboy, a US No ۱ in ۱۹۷۵; It Only Takes a Minute, a barnstorming disco hit for Tavares and later Take That; Player’s super-smooth Baby Come Back, another US No ۱; and Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I’ve Got), one of the biggest hits for soul-poppers the Four Tops.
Potter was born and raised in Essex and trained as a drummer, though he had his first success as a lyricist for Small Faces, co-writing their ۱۹۶۵ hit Whatcha Gonna Do About It. He met Lambert when the latter was visiting London, and Potter moved to the US to help deepen their creative partnership.
One of their early songs together was One Tin Soldier, its fairytale-like structure containing bitterly angry lyrics about the Vietnam war: “Go ahead and hate your neighbour / Go ahead and cheat a friend / Do it in the name of heaven / Justify it in the end”. It charted with Canadian band the Original Caste, then more successfully for the American band Coven, with their version used as the theme song for the film Billy Jack.
In ۱۹۷۱ Potter had a major US hit in the form of the symphonic pop song Don’t Pull Your Love, which reached No ۴ when performed by Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds, and was later covered by Campbell.
In ۱۹۷۳, Potter and Lambert helped reinvent the Four Tops, who were on a new label after their split from Motown Records. By pivoting them away from peppy pop and towards a smoother R&B sound, Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I’ve Got) gave the Four Tops their biggest post-Motown hit, taking them back into the US top five for the first time since ۱۹۶۷. Potter and Lambert also helmed the Four Tops album Keeper of the Castle, and the title track became another US Top ۱۰ hit. They collaborated again on the follow-up album Main Street People which included another hit song, Are You Man Enough. The band have paid tribute, writing: “We are so grateful for his contribution to the world of music and to the legacy of the Four Tops.”
Potter continued to deftly make hits in the world of African American music as the disco craze began in the mid-۱۹۷۰s, bringing in synthesisers for Tavares’s It Only Takes a Minute whose euphoric lovestruck chorus was offset with downbeat, socially conscious verses about unemployment and sickness. It was another US Top ۱۰ hit, and later became the first UK Top ۱۰ hit for boyband Take That, who covered it in ۱۹۹۲. Potter and Lambert had a fruitful partnership with Tavares, producing two of their mid-۷۰s albums and writing most of the material on both.
In this period they also produced Dusty Springfield’s album ۱۹۷۳ Cameo, worked with the ۵th Dimension on their hit Ashes to Ashes, and produced the Righteous Brothers’ hit cover version of Rock and Roll Heaven, followed by writing another hit for the latter group, Dream On.
Potter and Lambert then had huge success with Campbell. Rhinestone Cowboy, originally written by Larry Weiss, became a big hit when produced by the pair, who also wrote the opening four tracks on the album of the same name including another hit single, Country Boy (You Got Your Feet in LA). The album’s success netted Potter and Lambert two nominations at the ۱۹۷۶ Grammy awards, for record and producer of the year, and Potter and Lambert also helmed Campbell’s follow-up, Bloodline.
Later in the ۱۹۷۰s Potter and Lambert produced Player’s Baby Come Back – a breakup lament which spent three weeks at No ۱ in the US – and Santana’s ۱۹۷۸ album Inner Secrets.
Potter and Lambert’s song Why Do People Fall in Love? was recorded by both Tony Bennett and Dennis Edwards in the mid-۱۹۸۰s. After amicably splitting with Lambert, Potter had a number of other songwriting credits with artists including the Pointer Sisters, George Duke and Kenny Rogers, and went on to work on projects across musical theatre, children’s television and theme park rides.
According to Billboard he is survived by his wife of ۵۵ years, Karen, his daughter Courtney and stepdaughter Mary Shirley.
