|
Arranger, producer and songwriter who is responsible
for some of the most recognizable ballads of the '70s and '80s. His first big hit, co-written with
Ron Miller, was "Touch Me in the Morning", which Diana Ross
took to #1 on the Billboard pop chart.
It was the beginning of a lucrative collaboration. Two years later, Ross would score
another #1 with the Gerry Goffin-Michael Masser written "Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)",
which Masser also produced. It was not to be the last of his
movie successes. He also wrote
the theme song to Muhammad Ali's autobiopic
The Greatest, known as "The
Greatest Love Of All", and recorded by George Benson. Although it was minor hit for
Benson, Whitney Houston later took it to #1, which she also did with two
other Masser-written songs, "Didn't
We Almost Have It All" and "Saving All My Love For You". In the 1980s, Masser
struck gold with the Peabo Bryson/Roberta Flack mega-smash
"Tonight I Celebrate My Love", Bryson's "If Ever You're In My Arms Again", Natalie Cole's
"Miss You Like Crazy" and Glenn Medeiros's "Nothing's
Gonna Change My Love For You". In 2007, Michael Masser
was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Although he continues to write in
his studio in Rancho Mirage, Masser has become
disenchanted with the music business, and recently sold his catalogue of
songs to Universal Music Publishing Group.
Diana Ross
recordings
It's My
Turn (Michael Masser/Carole Bayer Sager)
Sources:
- http://www.mmguide.musicmatch.com/artist/artist.cgi?ARTISTID=842898
- http://www.warr.org/supremes.html
- http://community-2.webtv.net/rossfan/DICKSDIANAROSS/page14.html
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Masser
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana_Ross
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saving_All_My_Love_for_You
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitney_Houston
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greatest_Love_of_All
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didn%27t_We_Almost_Have_It_All
- http://prod1.cmj.com/articles/display_article.php?id=38047311
- http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070610/LIFESTYLES01/706100307/1050
|