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SOURCE: soultracks.com
He was Motown’s secret weapon after the label’s move to Los Angeles: a musician and producer who helped the iconic Detroit label transition into the new sounds of the late 70s and early 80s. We are sad to report the passing of James Anthony Carmichael, the Grammy-winning producer, arranger and musician whose elegant touch helped define Motown’s second generation of hits. He was 84. His death was originally reported by his son-in-law in Incense and Ashtrays.
Born in Alabama, Carmichael came to Los Angeles with both musical training and natural feel. And after years working the L.A. music scene, his arrival at Motown came during a major transition. The label was moving beyond its Detroit hit-factory era and building a broader Los Angeles-based sound: more album-oriented, more cinematic and more polished. Carmichael became a crucial bridge between classic Motown and the sophisticated crossover soul that carried the company into a new decade.
He worked at Motown supporting hits by Gladys Knight & The Pips, Eddie Kendricks, and The Jackson 5 but was most noted for his career-changing partnership with the Commodores. As producer and arranger for the group, Carmichael helped guide the Commodores’ full evolution, both as a hard funk outfit and as a group that over time became equally known for dance jams and love ballads. With the group, he shaped a string of hits including “Just to Be Close to You,” “Easy,” “Brick House,” “Three Times a Lady,” “Sail On,” and “Lady (You Bring Me Up).”
When Lionel Richie left the Commodores, Carmichael continued with him, helping create one of the most successful solo runs of the 1980s. Their work together included “Truly,” “All Night Long,” “Hello,” “Running with the Night,” “Stuck on You,” “Dancing on the Ceiling” and “Say You, Say Me.” Carmichael also co-produced Richie’s monumental duet with Diana Ross, “Endless Love.”
In 1985, Carmichael and Richie won the Grammy for Producer of the Year, and Carmichael shared in the Album of the Year Grammy for Richie’s blockbuster Can’t Slow Down.
Outside of Motown, Carmichael helmed the boards for the imperial run of Atlantic Starr, including the iconic hits “Send For Me,” “Am I Dreaming” and “Circles.”
His family indicates that in the early 1990s, Carmichael chose to take a break from music that quietly turned into an enjoyable retirement with family. That family surrounded him at the time of his death, and he is survived by his wife Iris and his children Ishar and Kendra.
For the better part of two decades, James Anthony Carmichael shaped the R&B and pop world, helping to create music that still resonates all these years later. And for so many fans, even if they didn’t know his name, James Anthony Carmichael was part of the soundtrack of their lives.
