R.I.P. Jackson 5 producer Deke Richards

Motown songwriter-producer Deke Richards, who was behind songs including The Jackson 5′s first three US number one hits, has died aged 68.

Richards, passed away on Sunday at the Whatcom Hospice House in Bellingham, Washington, surrounded by his immediate family, Universal Music said in a statement. 

 

He had been battling esophageal cancer, it said.
Richards, whose real name was Dennis Lussier, along with Motown founder Berry Gordy, Alphonzo Mizell and Freddie Perren comprised “The Corporation,” the label’s in-house producers and writers in the 1960s and 1970s.