From Boca to The Philippines: Dennis Lambert’s musical rebirth

You probably don’t know the name Dennis Lambert, but you know the man’s work. During most of the ’70s and into the ’80s, he was part of a songwriting/producing tandem that routinely spun out chart-topping singles.

The tunes cut a broad stylistic swath: Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds’ “Don’t Pull Your Love,” Player’s “Baby Come Back,” The Commodores’ “Night Shift,” The Four Tops’ “Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I Got),” Starship’s “We Built This City,” to name a few.

After watching his stock in the music biz fall in the ’90s, Lambert retreated from New York to Boca Raton, where he built a successful career in real estate.

He’s the subject of a documentary, Of All the Things — lovingly directed by his son Jody Lambert — that’s showing at the Gasparilla Film Festival.

The film follows Dennis Lambert’s return to a country where he enjoyed his only real success as a solo artist: The Philippines. His 1972 album Bags and Things turned out to be a monster hit in that island country; the love ballad “Of All the Things” is still adored by the citizenry, and has become something of a wedding anthem.

Set in 2007, Of All the Things follows a 60-year-old real estate agent who hasn’t worked in music for several years through the travails of setting up and performing a mini-tour of The Philippines, culminating in a sold-out show at a 10,500-seat arena in Manilla.

It’s a genuinely affecting little doc, at turns funny, heartwarming and a little sad. And a little cheesy. Lambert’s a mensch who gets to be a rock star for a couple of weeks.

I caught up with him by phone earlier this week. He says he’s trying to arrange his schedule to attend the Gasparilla Film fest. At other such events, he’s scheduled gigs, but that won’t happen in Tampa.

Of All the Things shows Sat., Feb. 28, 6:20-7:43 p.m. at Channelside 3 and Sun., March 1, 2:50 p.m. at Channelside 4.

This is an edited version of our chat:

One thing the film doesn’t address and I’m curious: Did you retain the rights to your songs? You should be able to make a pretty good living off of royalties from all those hits.

This article appears in Feb 25 – Mar 3, 2009.