Brian Potter, one of the most versatile and successful British producers and songwriters of his generation, has died aged 87. He had been living with Alzheimer's disease in recent years, his daughter told Billboard.
Early life and career beginnings
Born and raised in Essex, Potter trained as a drummer and had his first success as a lyricist for Small Faces, co-writing their 1965 hit Whatcha Gonna Do About It. He met American songwriter Dennis Lambert when Lambert was visiting London, and Potter moved to the US to deepen their creative partnership.
Major hits and collaborations
Working with Lambert, the Essex-born Potter was behind an astounding array of 1970s hits spanning pop, soul, soft rock, country and beyond. The best-known include Glen Campbell's Rhinestone Cowboy, a US No 1 in 1975; 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 1; and Ain't No Woman (Like the One I've Got), one of the biggest hits for soul-poppers the Four Tops.
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 1971, Potter had a major US hit with the symphonic pop song Don't Pull Your Love, which reached No 4 when performed by Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds, and was later covered by Campbell.
Reinventing the Four Tops
In 1973, 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 1967. Potter and Lambert also helmed the Four Tops album Keeper of the Castle, and the title track became another US Top 10 hit. They collaborated again on the follow-up album Main Street People, which included another hit song, Are You Man Enough. The band paid tribute, writing: “We are so grateful for his contribution to the world of music and to the legacy of the Four Tops.”
Disco era and further successes
Potter continued to deftly make hits in the world of African American music as the disco craze began in the mid-1970s, 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 10 hit, and later became the first UK Top 10 hit for boyband Take That, who covered it in 1992. Potter and Lambert had a fruitful partnership with Tavares, producing two of their mid-70s albums and writing most of the material on both.
In this period they also produced Dusty Springfield's 1973 album Cameo, worked with the 5th 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.
Grammy nominations and later work
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 1976 Grammy awards, for record and producer of the year, and they also helmed Campbell's follow-up, Bloodline.
Later in the 1970s, Potter and Lambert produced Player's Baby Come Back – a breakup lament which spent three weeks at No 1 in the US – and Santana's 1978 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-1980s. 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 55 years, Karen, his daughter Courtney and stepdaughter Mary Shirley.
