Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
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Jerry Leiber (born April 25, 1933) and Mike Stoller (born March 13, 1933) are among the most important songwriters and music producers in post-World War II popular music. However, they are perhaps not so well-known as other major songwriting teams, because they worked mainly in the background of the industry.
1950s
Leiber came from Baltimore, Stoller from Long Island, but they met in Los Angeles in the 1950s, where Stoller was a freshman at Los Angeles City College while Leiber was a senior at Fairfax High. After school, Stoller played piano and Leiber worked in a record store and, when they met, they found they shared a love of blues and rhythm and blues. In 1950, Jimmy Witherspoon recorded and performed their first commercial song, "Real Ugly Woman." Their first hit composition was "Hard Times," recorded by Charles Brown, which was a rhythm and blues hit in 1952. "Kansas City," which was also recorded in 1952 (as "KC Loving") by Little Willie Littlefield, became a No. 1 hit in 1959 for Wilbert Harrison. In 1952, they wrote "Hound Dog" for Big Mama Thornton, which became a hit for her in 1953; It became a major hit for Elvis Presley in 1956, although in a bowdlerized version. Their later songs often had lyrics more appropriate for pop music, and their combination of rhythm and blues with pop lyrics revolutionized pop and rock and roll.
They formed Spark Records in 1953. The label was later bought by Atlantic Records, which hired Leiber and Stoller as independent producers. At Atlantic they revitalized the careers of the Drifters and continued to turn out hits for The Coasters. Their songs from this period include "Smokey Joe's Cafe," "Riot in Cell Block #9," "Charlie Brown," "Stand By Me," and "On Broadway," among numerous other hits (for the Coasters alone they wrote twenty-four songs which appeared in the national charts).
Phil Spector served an "apprenticeship" of sorts with Leiber and Stoller in New York City, developing his record producer's craft while assisting and playing guitar on their sessions, including "On Broadway."
Post 1950s
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." After selling Red Bird they worked as independent producers, and continued to write songs. Their best known song from this period is "Is That All There Is?" recorded by Peggy Lee in 1969. Their last major hit production was "Stuck In the Middle With You" by Stealers Wheel in 1972. In 1975, they recorded an album of art songs with Peggy Lee, entitled "Mirrors." A remixed and expanded version of this album was released in 2005 as "Peggy Lee Sings Leiber & Stoller."
They won Grammy awards for "Is That All There Is?" and for the cast album of "Smokey Joe's Cafe", a 1995 Broadway musical based on their work. The musical revue was also nominated for seven Tony awards.
Mezzo-soprano Joan Morris and her pianist-composer husband William Bolcom have recorded an album of "other songs by Leiber and Stoller," featuring a number of their more unusual (and satiric) works (including "Let's Bring Back World War I", written specifically for them, and "Humphrey Bogart", a tongue-in-cheek song about obsession with the actor).
In 1982, Donald Fagen covered their song 'Ruby Baby' on his acclaimed album The Nightfly.
Leiber and Stoller also have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
External links
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