Michael Masser

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Michael Masser

Michael Masser (born Michael William Masser, 1941), a former lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an Attorney at law, counsel or solicitor; a person licensed to practice fraud." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain stability, and deliver justice....
and stockbroker, is a composer and producer of popular music

Popular music

Popular music is music that is accessible to the mainstream and disseminated by one or more of the mass media. It belongs to any of a number of musical genres, and stands in contrast to classical music, which historically was the music of the elite and upper strata of society, and traditional music which was disseminated orally....
. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law. Masser and his wife Ogniana live in Encino, California

California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
.

Masser's first major composition hit

Hit record

A Hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a Single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay , Nightclub, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings....
, co-written with Ron Miller

Ron Miller (songwriter)

Ronald Norman Miller was an United States popular songwriter and record producer, who attained many Top 10 hits with ballads written for Motown artists in the 1960s and 1970s....
, was "Touch Me in the Morning

Touch Me in the Morning

"Touch Me in the Morning" is a song recorded by Diana Ross. It was a number one single in 1973.The song was conceived by then-unproven songwriter and producer Michael Masser, who had been recruited by Motown boss Berry Gordy and A&R staffer Suzanne de Passe to give Ross another huge hit a few years after Ross had hit pay dirt with her semin...
," recorded by Diana Ross

Diana Ross

Diane Ernestine "Diana" Ross is a recording artist, actress, and entertainer. During the 1960s, she helped shape the Motown Sound as lead singer of The Supremes before leaving for a solo career in the beginning of 1970....
. He co-wrote several other hit songs in the 1970s and 1980s, including four made famous by Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston

Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an United States singer, songwriter,actress, record producer, film producer, and former model . Houston rose to international fame in the mid-1980s and her crossover success opened doors for many other African American women to find success in booty shaking & pop music and movies....
, "Greatest Love of All

Greatest Love of All

"Greatest Love of All" is the fourth and final Single released from Whitney Houston's self-titled 13x platinum first studio album, Whitney Houston , released in April 1986....
," "Didn't We Almost Have It All

Didn't We Almost Have It All

"Didn't We Almost Have It All" is the second single from Whitney Houston's second album Whitney , and was nominated for Song of the Year at the 1988 Grammy Awards....
," "All at Once," and "Saving All My Love for You

Saving All My Love for You

"Saving All My Love for You" is the second hit Single from Whitney Houston's self-titled debut album. This jazzy ballad is about a love affair with a married man, and the singer is "saving all her love for him"....
."

Other hit songs include: "Hold Me

Hold Me

Hold Me is the fourth album by the singer Laura Branigan, published in 1985 .The lead single from Branigan's fourth album was Spanish Eddie and was her sixth top-40 hit in two and a half years, although it failed to enter the top-20....
" (Teddy Pendergrass

Teddy Pendergrass

Theodore "Teddy" DeReese Pendergrass, Sr. is an United States Rhythm and blues/Soul music singer and songwriter. Pendergrass is also known as Teddy P, TP, or Teddy Bear....
and Whitney Houston), "Tonight I Celebrate My Love

Tonight I Celebrate My Love

"Tonight, I Celebrate My Love" is a song written by Gerry Goffin and Michael Masser recorded as a duet single released in 1983 by singers Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack....
" (Roberta Flack

Roberta Flack

Roberta Flack is a Grammy Award-winning United States singer-songwriter and musician who is notable in the areas of jazz, soul music, R&B and folk music....
and Peabo Bryson

Peabo Bryson

Peabo Bryson is a two-time Grammy Award-winning United States R&B and Soul music singer, born in Greenville, South Carolina, South Carolina. He is well known for singing soft-rock ballads, often as a duo with female singers, and his contribution to several Disney animated feature soundtracks....
), "If Ever You're in My Arms Again

If Ever You're in My Arms Again

"If Ever You're in My Arms Again" is a 1984 popular song recorded by the United States R&B singer Peabo Bryson. Released as a single from his album Straight from the Heart, the single became Bryson's first Top 10 single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it peaked at #10 during the summer of 1984....
" (Peabo Bryson), "In Your Eyes" (Jeffrey Osborne

Jeffrey Osborne

Jeffrey Osborne is an United States funk music and Rhythm and blues musician, songwriter, and former lead singer of the musical ensemble, L.T.D....
, George Benson

George Benson

George Benson is an American musician, whose recording career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz guitarist. He is however, better known to the public at large as a Pop music and R&B singer, famous for such hits as "Give Me the Night", "Lady Love Me ", "Turn Your Love Around", "Inside Love", "In Your Eyes", and "This Masquerade", among...
), "Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You

Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You

"Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You" is a popular song by Gerry Goffin and Michael Masser.It was originally recorded by George Benson for his 1984 in music album 20/20 ....
" (George Benson, Glenn Medeiros

Glenn Medeiros

Glenn Alan Medeiros is an United States singer-songwriter of Portugal ancestry from the state of Hawaii....
), "So Sad the Song" (Teddy Pendergrass, Gladys Knight

Gladys Knight

Gladys Maria Knight, "The Empress of Soul," is an United States R&B/soul music singer-songwriter, Actor, businesswoman, humanitarian, and author....
), and "It's My Turn

It's My Turn

"It's My Turn" is a 1980 song, which was also developed into a film of the same name. The song, written by Carole Bayer Sager and Michael Masser for Diana Ross, was released as a single and became a top ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number nine....
" and "Last Time I Saw Him

Last Time I Saw Him (song)

"Last Time I Saw Him" was a country music-styled single recorded and released in 1974 by singer Diana Ross on the Motown Records label. The Country theme was later taken on by a Country singer that same year, Dottie West, who released it as a Country single....
" (Diana Ross).

Among the many recordings

Sound recording and reproduction

Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical or mechanics inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects....
that he has produced are Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand is an United states singer and film and theatre actress. She has also achieved note as a composer, political activist, film producer and film director....
's "Someone That I Used to Love" (originally a hit for Natalie Cole

Natalie Cole

Natalie Maria Cole is an influential United States singer-songwriter and performer who has won ten Grammy Awards. She achieved success in her early career as an R&B star, but smoothly changed her repertoire toward a more jazz orientated musical style in the early 1990s....
) and the duet

Duet (music)

A duet is a musical composition or musical piece for two performers. In classical music the term is most often used for a composition for two singers or pianists; with other instruments, the word Wiktionary:duo is also often used....
by Judy Collins

Judy Collins

Judith Marjorie Collins is an United States folk singer and pop standards singer and songwriter, known for the stunning purity of her soprano; for her eclectic tastes in the material she records ; and for her social activism....
and T. G. Sheppard

T. G. Sheppard

T. G. Sheppard is an United States country music singer.He never graduated from high school, but was one credit away from doing so. He ran away from his home at the age of 17 to become involved in the music industry in Memphis, Tennessee....
, "Home Again."

Masser was nominated for an Academy Award in 1976 for Best Music, Original Song for "Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)

Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)

"Theme from Mahogany " is a song written by Michael Masser and Gerald Goffin, and recorded by United Statesn singer Diana Ross as the theme to the 1975 Motown/Paramount Pictures film Mahogany ....
" which Masser co-wrote with Gerry Goffin

Gerry Goffin

Gerry Goffin is an United States lyricist. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 with former songwriter partner and first wife, Carole King....
.

Masser was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame

Songwriters Hall of Fame

The Songwriters Hall of Fame is an arm of the National Academy of Popular Music. It was founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer and music publishers Abe Olman and Howie Richmond....
in 2007.

Songs Composed
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Songs

Artist/Albums, Soundtracks/Label

Producers/Writers

"Now We're Starting Over Again"

Dionne Warwick, Hot! Live and Otherwise, Arista 1981

Michael Masser

"There's A Long Road Ahead Of Us"

Dionne Warwick, Hot! Live and Otherwise, Arista 1981

Michael Masser

"Some Changes Are For Good"

Dionne Warwick, Hot! Live and Otherwise, Arista 1981

Michael Masser

"It's My Turn"

Diana Ross, To Love Again, It's My Turn(Theme Song)", Motown 1980

Michael Masser/Carole Bayer Sager

"Stay With Me"

Diana Ross, To Love Again, Motown 1981

Michael Masser/Gerry Goffin

"One More Chance"

Diana Ross, To Love Again, Motown 1981

Michael Masser/Gerry Goffin

"Crying My Heart Out For You"

Diana Ross, To Love Again, Motown 1981

Michael Masser/Allee Willis

"Do You Know Where You're Going To"

Diana Ross, Mahogany, Motown 1975

Michael Masser/Carole Bayer Sager

"I Thought It Took A Little Time (But Today I Fell In Love)"

Diana Ross, To Love Again, Motown 1976

Michael Masser/Pam Sawyer

"To Love Again"

Diana Ross, To Love Again, Motown 1978

Michael Masser/Gerry Goffin

"No One's Gonna Be A Fool Forever"

Diana Ross, To Love Again, Motown 1975

Michael Masser/Pam Sawyer

"Touch Me In The Morning"

Diana Ross, To Love Again, Motown 1973

Michael Masser/Ron Miller

"Can't Stop Thinking About You"