Post by Rob Durkee on Aug 22, 2011 22:14:19 GMT -5
By ROCKIN' ROBIN
Jerry Leiber, who combined with Mike Stoller to form one of early rock and roll's greatest song-writing and producing teams ever, died Monday (August 22, 2011) at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. According to Randy Poe, the president of the songwriters' music publishing company and Claudia Luther of the Los Angeles Times, Leiber was 78.
As the duo would often say, "We didn't write songs, we wrote records." Leiber usually wrote the lyrics while Stoller penned the music. They were inducted into the Songwriters' Hall Of Fame in 1985 and the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in 1987.
Leiber and Stoller wrote at least two dozen songs for Elvis Presley alone plus most if not all of the key hits for the Coasters, the first group to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. Among the many others Leiber and Stoller wrote and/or produced hit songs for were Fats Domino, the Drifters, Ben E. King, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, Peggy Lee, the Clovers, Jerry Butler, the Exciters, Marv Johnson, Barbra Streisand, Edit Piaf, the Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, the Everly Brothers and the Dixie Cups.
According to the Rolling Stone Encyclopedia Of Rock and Roll, Jerry Leiber was born on April 25, 1933, in Baltimore. He grew up poor in Baltimore among black families, which led to his love for rhythm and blues music. He moved to Los Angeles in the 1940's, where he met Stoller. They were barely 18 in 1951 when they wrote "Hard Times" for Charles Brown.
Another of their earliest compositions was "K.C. Loving," which they originally wrote for Little Willie Littlefield but would evolve into the 1959 #1 hit, "Kansas City" by Wilbert Harrison. Then their careers took off when they also became producers. Johnny Otis of "Willie And The Hand Jive" fame was scheduled to produce a recording session for another Leiber and Stoller song, but he was the only one at the session who could play the drums. That meant Leiber and Stoller were forced to become producers.
The result of the 1952 recording session was a song called "Hound Dog" by Willie Mae (a/k/a Big Mama) Thornton. "Hound Dog" became a #1 R&B hit for Thornton, then a #1 pop remake for Elvis Presley in 1956.
In addition to "Hound Dog," the more prominent hits songs Leiber and Stoller wrote or co-wrote for Elvis were "Jailhouse Rock," "Treat Me Nice," "Don't," "Love Me," "Loving You," "King Creole," "Santa Claus Is Back In Town," "Bosa Nova Baby," "Little Egypt," "I Want To Be Free," "She's Not You" and "(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care."
Leiber and Stoller would come up with "Smokey Joe's Cafe" and "Riot In Cell block #9" for the early-to-mid-50's group the Robins, then came up with even more hits for the spin-off group of the Robins, the Coasters. First in 1956 came "Down In Mexico," followed by the most successful two-sided R&B chart hit ever, "Searchin'/Young Blood" in 1957. Still more Coasters hits would follow, including the #1 "Yakety Yak," "Charlie Brown," "Along Came Jones" and "Poison Ivy." Perhaps Robert Graham, a biographer for the duo, said it best about Leiber and Stoller's Coasters' songs: "They were arguably the most enduring and hands down the funniest records of the rock and roll era."
Among the more prominent Leiber-Stoller written or produced songs that were hits for the Drifters include "Ruby Baby" (later a hit for Dion), "There Goes My Baby," "This Magic Moment," "Save The Last Dance For Me" and "On Broadway." For Ben K. King, there was "Spanish Harlem" and "Stand By Me." Other key hits associated with the Leiber-Stoller touch, according to the Encyclopedia of Record Producers, include "Black Denin Trousers And Motorcycle Boots" (the Cheers), "Lavender Blue" (Sammy Turner), "Love Potion #9" (the Clovers, later a hit for the Searchers), "You Got What It Takes" (Marv Johnson, later the Dave Clark Five), "Tell Him" (the Exciters), "Chapel Of Love" (the Dixie Cups), "She Cried" (Jay and the Americans), "Come A Little Bit Closer" (ditto) and "Is That All There Is" (Peggy Lee).
In 1995, the musical based on the Leiber-Stoller songs, "Smokey Joe's Cafe," opened on broadway and would have at least 2000 performances.
Writer John Lahr summed it up about Leiber and Stoller when he said, "They corrupted us with pleasure."
Jerry Leiber, who combined with Mike Stoller to form one of early rock and roll's greatest song-writing and producing teams ever, died Monday (August 22, 2011) at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. According to Randy Poe, the president of the songwriters' music publishing company and Claudia Luther of the Los Angeles Times, Leiber was 78.
As the duo would often say, "We didn't write songs, we wrote records." Leiber usually wrote the lyrics while Stoller penned the music. They were inducted into the Songwriters' Hall Of Fame in 1985 and the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in 1987.
Leiber and Stoller wrote at least two dozen songs for Elvis Presley alone plus most if not all of the key hits for the Coasters, the first group to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. Among the many others Leiber and Stoller wrote and/or produced hit songs for were Fats Domino, the Drifters, Ben E. King, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, Peggy Lee, the Clovers, Jerry Butler, the Exciters, Marv Johnson, Barbra Streisand, Edit Piaf, the Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, the Everly Brothers and the Dixie Cups.
According to the Rolling Stone Encyclopedia Of Rock and Roll, Jerry Leiber was born on April 25, 1933, in Baltimore. He grew up poor in Baltimore among black families, which led to his love for rhythm and blues music. He moved to Los Angeles in the 1940's, where he met Stoller. They were barely 18 in 1951 when they wrote "Hard Times" for Charles Brown.
Another of their earliest compositions was "K.C. Loving," which they originally wrote for Little Willie Littlefield but would evolve into the 1959 #1 hit, "Kansas City" by Wilbert Harrison. Then their careers took off when they also became producers. Johnny Otis of "Willie And The Hand Jive" fame was scheduled to produce a recording session for another Leiber and Stoller song, but he was the only one at the session who could play the drums. That meant Leiber and Stoller were forced to become producers.
The result of the 1952 recording session was a song called "Hound Dog" by Willie Mae (a/k/a Big Mama) Thornton. "Hound Dog" became a #1 R&B hit for Thornton, then a #1 pop remake for Elvis Presley in 1956.
In addition to "Hound Dog," the more prominent hits songs Leiber and Stoller wrote or co-wrote for Elvis were "Jailhouse Rock," "Treat Me Nice," "Don't," "Love Me," "Loving You," "King Creole," "Santa Claus Is Back In Town," "Bosa Nova Baby," "Little Egypt," "I Want To Be Free," "She's Not You" and "(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care."
Leiber and Stoller would come up with "Smokey Joe's Cafe" and "Riot In Cell block #9" for the early-to-mid-50's group the Robins, then came up with even more hits for the spin-off group of the Robins, the Coasters. First in 1956 came "Down In Mexico," followed by the most successful two-sided R&B chart hit ever, "Searchin'/Young Blood" in 1957. Still more Coasters hits would follow, including the #1 "Yakety Yak," "Charlie Brown," "Along Came Jones" and "Poison Ivy." Perhaps Robert Graham, a biographer for the duo, said it best about Leiber and Stoller's Coasters' songs: "They were arguably the most enduring and hands down the funniest records of the rock and roll era."
Among the more prominent Leiber-Stoller written or produced songs that were hits for the Drifters include "Ruby Baby" (later a hit for Dion), "There Goes My Baby," "This Magic Moment," "Save The Last Dance For Me" and "On Broadway." For Ben K. King, there was "Spanish Harlem" and "Stand By Me." Other key hits associated with the Leiber-Stoller touch, according to the Encyclopedia of Record Producers, include "Black Denin Trousers And Motorcycle Boots" (the Cheers), "Lavender Blue" (Sammy Turner), "Love Potion #9" (the Clovers, later a hit for the Searchers), "You Got What It Takes" (Marv Johnson, later the Dave Clark Five), "Tell Him" (the Exciters), "Chapel Of Love" (the Dixie Cups), "She Cried" (Jay and the Americans), "Come A Little Bit Closer" (ditto) and "Is That All There Is" (Peggy Lee).
In 1995, the musical based on the Leiber-Stoller songs, "Smokey Joe's Cafe," opened on broadway and would have at least 2000 performances.
Writer John Lahr summed it up about Leiber and Stoller when he said, "They corrupted us with pleasure."
