American songwriting and record producing duo
Leiber and Stoller
|
---|
Mike Stoller (left) and Jerry Leiber (right) flanking Elvis Presley on the cover of Leiber and Stoller's joint
autobiography,
Hound Dog
|
|
Genres
| Popular music, R&B, rock and roll, Broadway tunes
|
---|
Occupation(s)
| Songwriter and record producer duo (Leiber ? Lyricist
Stoller ?
composer
)
|
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Years active
| 1950?2011
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Labels
| Spark Records
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|
Jerry Leiber
|
Birth Name
| Jerome Leiber
[1]
|
---|
Born
| (
1933-04-15
)
April 15, 1933
Baltimore
,
Maryland
, U.S.
|
---|
Died
| August 22, 2011
(2011-08-22)
(aged 78)
Los Angeles
,
California
, U.S.
|
---|
|
Mike Stoller
|
Birth name
| Michael Stoller
|
---|
Born
| (
1933-03-13
)
March 13, 1933
(age 91)
Queens, New York
, U.S.
|
---|
|
Musical artist
Leiber and Stoller
were an American
Grammy award
-winning songwriting and record production duo, consisting of lyricist
Jerry Leiber
(Jerome Leiber, April 25, 1933 ? August 22, 2011)
[1]
and composer
Mike Stoller
[2]
(Michael Stoller, born March 13, 1933).
[3]
As well as many
R&B
and
pop
hits, they wrote numerous standards for
Broadway
.
Leiber and Stoller found success as the writers of such
crossover
hit songs as "
Hound Dog
" (1952) and "
Kansas City
" (1952). Later in the 1950s, particularly through their work with
the Coasters
, they created a string of ground-breaking hits?including "
Young Blood
" (1957), "
Searchin'
" (1957), and "
Yakety Yak
" (1958)?that used the humorous vernacular of teenagers sung in a style that was openly theatrical rather than personal.
[4]
Leiber and Stoller wrote hits for
Elvis Presley
, including "
Love Me
" (1956), "
Jailhouse Rock
" (1957), "
Loving You
", "
Don't
", and "
King Creole
".
[5]
They also collaborated with other writers on such songs as "
On Broadway
", written with
Barry Mann
and
Cynthia Weil
; "
Stand By Me
", written with
Ben E. King
; "Young Blood", written with
Doc Pomus
; and "
Spanish Harlem
", co-written by Leiber and
Phil Spector
. They were sometimes credited under the pseudonym
Elmo Glick
. In 1964, they launched
Red Bird Records
with
George Goldner
and, focusing on the "
girl group
" sound, released some of the notable songs of the
Brill Building
period.
[6]
In all, Leiber and Stoller wrote or co-wrote
over 70 chart hits
. They were inducted into the
Songwriters Hall of Fame
in 1985 and the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
in 1987.
[7]
Biography
[
edit
]
1950s
[
edit
]
Both born to
Jewish
families, Leiber came from
Baltimore
,
Maryland
,
[3]
and Stoller from
Queens
,
New York
,
[8]
but they met in
Los Angeles
,
California
in 1950, where Stoller was a
freshman
at
Los Angeles City College
while Leiber was a senior at
Fairfax High
. Stoller had graduated from
Belmont High School
. After school, Stoller played piano and Leiber worked in Norty's, a record store on Fairfax Avenue,
[9]
[10]
and when they met, they found they shared a love of
blues
and
rhythm and blues
.
[3]
In 1950,
Jimmy Witherspoon
recorded and performed their first commercial song, "Real Ugly Woman".
[11]
Stoller's name at birth was Michael Stoller, but he later changed it legally to "Mike".
[
citation needed
]
Their first hit composition was "Hard Times", recorded by
Charles Brown
, which was a rhythm and blues hit in 1952.
[3]
"Kansas City", first recorded in 1952 (as "K. C. Loving") by rhythm & blues singer
Little Willie Littlefield
, became a No. 1 pop hit in 1959 for
Wilbert Harrison
.
[3]
In 1952, the partners wrote "
Hound Dog
" for blues singer
Big Mama Thornton
,
[12]
which became a hit for her in 1953.
[3]
The 1956 Elvis Presley rock and roll version, which was a takeoff of the adaptation that Presley picked up from
Freddie Bell
's lounge act in Las Vegas,
[13]
was an even bigger hit.
[14]
Presley's showstopping mock-burlesque version of "Hound Dog", playfully bumping and grinding on the
Milton Berle Show
, created such public outcry and controversy that on
The Steve Allen Show
they slowed down his act, with an amused Presley in a tuxedo and blue suede shoes singing his hit to a
basset hound
. Allen pronounced Presley "a good sport", and the Leiber-Stoller song would be forever linked to Presley.
Leiber and Stoller's later songs often had lyrics more appropriate for
pop music
, and their combination of rhythm and blues with pop lyrics revolutionized pop, rock and roll, and punk rock.
They formed
Spark Records
in 1954 with their mentor,
Lester Sill
.
[3]
Their songs from this period include "Smokey Joe's Cafe" and "
Riot in Cell Block #9
", both recorded by
the Robins
.
[15]
The label was later bought by
Atlantic Records
[
when?
]
, which hired Leiber and Stoller in an innovative deal that allowed them to produce for other labels.
[3]
This, in effect, made them the first independent record producers.
[15]
At Atlantic, they revitalized the careers of
the Drifters
and wrote a number of hits for
the Coasters
, a spin-off of the Robins.
[3]
Their songs from this period include "
Charlie Brown
", "
Searchin'
", "
Yakety Yak
",
[16]
"
Stand By Me
" (written with
Ben E. King
), and "
On Broadway
" (written with
Barry Mann
and
Cynthia Weil
). For the Coasters alone, they wrote 24 songs that appeared in the US charts.
In 1955, Leiber and Stoller produced a recording of their song "
Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots
" with a white vocal group, the Cheers.
[15]
Soon after, the song was recorded by
Edith Piaf
in a French translation titled, "L'Homme a la Moto". The European royalties from another Cheers record, "Bazoom (I Need Your Lovin')", funded a 1956 trip to Europe for Stoller and his first wife, Meryl, on which they met Piaf. Their return to New York was aboard the ill-fated
SS
Andrea Doria
, which was rammed and sunk by the Swedish liner
MS
Stockholm
. The Stollers had to finish the journey to New York aboard another ship, the
Cape Ann
. After their rescue, Leiber greeted Stoller at the dock with the news that "
Hound Dog
" had become a hit for Elvis Presley.
[13]
Stoller's reply was, "Elvis who?" They would go on to write more hits for Presley, including the title songs for three of his movies?
Loving You
,
Jailhouse Rock
,
[17]
and
King Creole
?as well as the rock and roll Christmas song, "Santa Claus Is Back in Town", for Presley's first Christmas album.
On March 9, 1958, Leiber and Stoller appeared together on the TV panel quiz show
What's My Line?
as rock and roll composers of "Hounddog", "Jailhouse Rock" and "Don't". They were not household names and did not appear as celebrity mystery guests (a regular feature of the show) but as ordinary people with an unusual “line” of work. They even signed in under their own names, as the producers apparently were certain that the panel would not know who they were.
Post-1950s
[
edit
]
In the beginning of the 1960s, they started Daisy Records and recorded Bob Moore and The Temps (with
Roy Buchanan
) on their label.
In the early 1960s,
Phil Spector
served an apprenticeship of sorts with Leiber and Stoller in
New York City
, developing his
record producer
's craft while observing and playing guitar on their sessions, including the guitar solo on the Drifters' "
On Broadway
".
After leaving the employ of Atlantic Records?where they produced, and often wrote, many classic recordings by the Drifters with
Ben E. King
?Leiber and Stoller produced a series of records for
United Artists Records
, including hits by
Jay and the Americans
("
She Cried
"),
the Exciters
("Tell Him"), and
the Clovers
("
Love Potion #9
", also written by Leiber and Stoller).
In the 1960s, Leiber and Stoller founded and briefly owned
Red Bird Records
, which issued
the Shangri-Las
' "
Leader of the Pack
" and
the Dixie Cups
' "
Chapel of Love
".
[3]
After selling Red Bird, they continued working as independent producers and songwriters. Their best-known song from this period is "
Is That All There Is?
" recorded by
Peggy Lee
in 1969;
[3]
it earned her a
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance Grammy
. Earlier in the decade, they had a hit with Lee with "
I'm a Woman
" (1962).
Their last major hit production was "
Stuck in the Middle With You
" by
Stealers Wheel
, taken from the band's 1972 eponymous debut album, which the duo produced.
[3]
In 1975, they recorded
Mirrors
, an album of art songs with Peggy Lee. A remixed and expanded version of the album was released in 2005 as
Peggy Lee Sings Leiber and Stoller
.
[18]
Also in 1975, they produced the
Procol Harum
album
Procol's Ninth
, which included the UK Top 20 single "Pandora's Box" and a version of Leiber and Stoller's "
I Keep Forgettin'
".
In the late 1970s,
A&M Records
recruited Leiber and Stoller to write and produce an album for
Elkie Brooks
;
Two Days Away
(1977) proved a success in the UK and most of Europe.
[3]
Their composition "
Pearl's a Singer
" (written with
Ralph Dino & John Sembello
) became a hit for Brooks,
[3]
and remains her
signature tune
. In 1978,
mezzo-soprano
Joan Morris
and her
pianist
-
composer
husband
William Bolcom
recorded an album,
Other Songs by Leiber and Stoller
, featuring a number of the songwriters' more unusual (and satiric) works, including "Let's Bring Back World War I", written specifically for (and dedicated to) Bolcom and Morris; and "Humphrey Bogart", a tongue-in-cheek song about obsession with
the actor
.
[19]
In 1979, Leiber and Stoller produced another album for Brooks:
Live and Learn
.
[3]
In 1982,
Steely Dan
member
Donald Fagen
recorded their song "
Ruby Baby
" on his album
The Nightfly
. That same year, former
Doobie Brothers
member
Michael McDonald
released "
I Keep Forgettin' (Every Time You're Near)
", inspired by Leiber and Stoller's "
I Keep Forgettin'
" for which they were eventually given a 50% songwriting credit.
2000s
[
edit
]
In 2009,
Simon & Schuster
published
Hound Dog: The Leiber and Stoller Autobiography
, written by Leiber and Stoller with
David Ritz
.
[20]
As of 2007, their songs are managed by
Sony/ATV Music Publishing
.
[21]
With collaborator
Artie Butler
, Stoller wrote the music to the
musical
The People in the Picture
, with book and lyrics by
Iris Rainer Dart
. Stoller and Butler's music received a 2011
Drama Desk Award
nomination.
On August 22, 2011, Leiber died in
Cedars Sinai Medical Center
in Los Angeles, aged 78, from cardio-pulmonary failure.
[1]
He was survived by his sons Jed, Oliver, and Jake.
[22]
Stoller wrote both music and lyrics to the song "Charlotte", recorded by
Steve Tyrell
and released in advance of the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.
[23]
Awards and honors
[
edit
]
Leiber and Stoller won
Grammy awards
for "
Is That All There Is?
" in 1969, and for the cast album of
Smokey Joe's Cafe
, a 1995
Broadway
musical
revue
based on their work.
Smokey Joe's Cafe
was also nominated for seven
Tony awards
, and became the longest-running musical revue in Broadway history.
Other awards include:
Legacy
[
edit
]
In the 1950s the
rhythm and blues
of the black entertainment world, up to then restricted to black clubs, was increasing its audience-share in areas previously reserved for
traditional pop music
, and the phenomenon now known as "
crossover
" became apparent.
[5]
Leiber and Stoller affected the course of modern popular music in 1957, when they wrote and produced the crossover double-sided hit by the Coasters, "
Young Blood
"/"
Searchin'
".
[17]
They released "
Yakety Yak
", which was a mainstream hit, as was the follow-up, "
Charlie Brown
". This was followed by "
Along Came Jones
", "
Poison Ivy
", "
Shoppin' for Clothes
", and "
Little Egypt (Ying-Yang)
".
[28]
They produced and co-wrote "
There Goes My Baby
", a hit for the Drifters in 1959,
[29]
which introduced the use of
strings
for
saxophone
-like
riffs
,
tympani
for the Brazilian
baion
rhythm they incorporated, and lavish production values into the established black R&B sound, laying the groundwork for the
soul music
that would follow.
[30]
Discography
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
William Grimes,
Jerry Leiber, Prolific Writer of 1950s Hits, Dies at 78
,
The New York Times
, August 22, 2011
- ^
Kilgour, Colin.
"JERRY LEIBER"
.
Rockabilly.nl
. Archived from
the original
on 2003-11-25
. Retrieved
October 13,
2018
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
Colin Larkin
, ed. (1992).
The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music
(First ed.).
Guinness Publishing
. pp. 1457/8.
ISBN
0-85112-939-0
.
- ^
Gillett, Charlie (1996).
The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll
(2nd ed.). New York, N.Y.: Da Capo Press. pp. 72?75, 192?194.
ISBN
0-306-80683-5
.
- ^
a
b
"Johnny Mercer Award ? Songwriters Hall of Fame"
. Archived from
the original
on October 1, 2006
. Retrieved
December 5,
2006
.
- ^
Decurtis, Anthony; George-Warren, Holly, eds. (1976).
The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll
(3rd ed.). New York: Random House. pp.
148
?51.
ISBN
0-679-73728-6
.
- ^
"Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller ? inductees"
. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
. Retrieved
December 5,
2006
.
- ^
Macias, Anthony (2012).
"Multicultural Music, Jews, and American Culture"
. In Zuckerman, Bruce; Sanchez, George J. (eds.).
Beyond Alliances: The Jewish Role in Reshaping the Racial Landscape of Southern California
. Purdue University Press. p. 48.
ISBN
978-1-55753-623-5
.
- ^
Leiber and Mike Stoller with David Ritz, Jerry (2009).
Hound Dog: The Leiber & Stoller Autobiography
. Simon & Schuster. p.
28
.
ISBN
978-1-4165-5938-2
.
- ^
"History of Jewish songwriters told in 'Beautiful' ? Crescent City Jewish News"
.
Crescentcityjewishnews.com
. August 1, 2014
. Retrieved
October 13,
2018
.
- ^
Stoller, Mike (2000-10-07).
"Songs That Won't Be Written"
.
The New York Times
.
ISSN
0362-4331
. Retrieved
2023-01-30
.
- ^
Sporke, Michael (July 17, 2014).
Big Mama Thornton: The Life and Music. McFarland Inc
. McFarland.
ISBN
978-0-7864-7759-3
. Retrieved
September 29,
2014
– via Mcfarlandbooks.com.
- ^
a
b
Tobler, John
(1992).
NME Rock 'N' Roll Years
(1st ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd. p. 30. CN 5585.
- ^
Gilliland, John
(1969).
"Show 7 ? The All American Boy: Enter Elvis and the rock-a-billies. [Part 1]"
(audio)
.
Pop Chronicles
.
University of North Texas Libraries
.
- ^
a
b
c
Tobler, John
(1992).
NME Rock 'N' Roll Years
(1st ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd. p. 19. CN 5585.
- ^
Tobler, John
(1992).
NME Rock 'N' Roll Years
(1st ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd. p. 55. CN 5585.
- ^
a
b
Tobler, John
(1992).
NME Rock 'N' Roll Years
(1st ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd. p. 40. CN 5585.
- ^
Peggy Lee Sings Leiber and Stoller
. 2005. Archived from
the original
on 2016-11-07
. Retrieved
2011-08-27
– via peggylee.com.
- ^
Joan Morris and William Bolcom,
Other Songs by Leiber and Stoller
, Nonesuch Records H-71346, 1978
- ^
Leiber, Jerry; Stoller, Mike (June 2010).
Hound Dog: The Leiber & Stoller Autobiography
. Simon and Schuster.
ISBN
9781416559399
. Retrieved
November 24,
2015
.
- ^
"Sony/ATV Music Publishing Acquires Leiber Stoller Catalogue"
.
Sony.com
. Sony Corporation of America. Archived from
the original
on March 3, 2018
. Retrieved
November 24,
2015
.
- ^
Jonze, Tim,
"Songwriter Jerry Leiber dies at 78"
,
The Guardian
, August 23, 2011.
- ^
Steve Tyrell,
"Charlotte (Mike Stoller song)"
YouTube
- ^
"Jerry Leiber at the Songwriters at the Songwriters Hall of Fame"
.
Songwritershalloffame.org
. Archived from
the original
on September 17, 2014
. Retrieved
September 29,
2014
.
- ^
"Mike Stoller at the Songwriters at the Songwriters Hall of Fame"
.
Songwritershalloffame.org
. Archived from
the original
on May 8, 2017
. Retrieved
September 29,
2014
.
- ^
Archerd, Army (April 17, 1998).
"Harlin next to use 'Titanic' tank"
.
Variety.com
. Retrieved
April 11,
2018
.
- ^
"Songwriting Legends Carole Bayer Sager and Mike Stoller Honored as BMI Icons at the 70th Annual BMI Pop Awards"
.
bmi.com
. May 11, 2022.
- ^
Gillett, Charlie (1996).
The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll
((2nd Ed.) ed.). New York, N.Y.: Da Capo Press. pp. 72?75.
ISBN
0-306-80683-5
.
- ^
Tobler, John
(1992).
NME Rock 'N' Roll Years
(1st ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd. p. 72. CN 5585.
- ^
Holly George-Warren &, Anthony Decurtis (Eds.) (1976).
The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll
(3rd ed.). New York: Random House. pp. 148?152.
ISBN
0-679-73728-6
.
External links
[
edit
]
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Performers
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Early influences
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Non-performers
(Ahmet Ertegun Award)
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International
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National
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Artists
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