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Thread started 08/22/11 2:45pm

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Jerry Leiber of Hit Songwriting Team Dies

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Mike Stoller, left, and Jerry Leiber at an event in 2009.

August 22, 2011

Pop music lyricist Jerry Leiber, whose partnership with Mike Stoller created such timeless hits as "Jailhouse Rock" and "There Goes My Baby," helping to shape the identity and commercial potential of early rock and roll, died Tuesday of cardio pulmonary failure, Rolling Stone is reporting. He was 78.

A dual member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Baltimore native helped create the "crossover" phenomenon with mainstream hits for black artists like The Coasters ("Young Blood," "Yakety Yak," "Charlie Brown") and Ben E. King ("Stand By Me").

Other definitive songs include "Love Potion No. 9," "Kansas City" and a pair of songs that became eternally tied to Elvis Presley. In 1956, Presley snatched up their track "Hound Dog," written four years earlier for Big Mama Thornton. A year later, Presley growled to "Jailhouse Rock," a genre-defining song released alongside the film of the same name.

The 1960s were kind to Leiber/Stoller with a continued parade of hits including The Drifters' "On Broadway," The Shangri-Las' "Leader of the Pack" and the Dixie Cups' "Chapel of Love."

In 1969, they produced Peggy Lee's "Is That All There Is?"

Their songs are pop music standards and are regularly covered by other artists and featured on television shows such as "American Idol," which dedicated an entire episode in season 10 to their catalog.

Their legacy was further cemented in 1995 when "Smokey Joe's Cafe: The Songs of Leiber & Stoller" opened on Broadway. The show comprised of 40 songs from the duo and was nominated for seven Tony Awards before closing five years later.

Born less than a month apart in 1933, Mike Stoller still lives in Los Angeles.

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Reply #1 posted 08/22/11 2:52pm

MickyDolenz

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I didn't know they were still alive. sad

You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton
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Reply #2 posted 08/22/11 3:33pm

theAudience

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A wonderful rendition by Donald Fagen of...



...Ruby Baby


dove



Music for adventurous listeners

tA

peace Tribal Records

"Ya see, we're not interested in what you know...but what you are willing to learn. C'mon y'all."
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Reply #3 posted 08/22/11 4:09pm

Timmy84

Rest in power and thank you for the great music. You and Stoller were geniuses. rose

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Reply #4 posted 08/22/11 4:20pm

UncleGrandpa

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Poor Hound Dog, moving on to the pound in heaven. Thank you kind sir for your wealth of music, you've blessed us all.

Jeux Sans Frontiers
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Reply #5 posted 08/22/11 5:21pm

1sotrue

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Timmy84 said:

Rest in power and thank you for the great music. You and Stoller were geniuses. rose

clapping

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Reply #6 posted 08/22/11 6:12pm

AlexdeParis

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rose

"Whitney was purely and simply one of a kind." ~ Clive Davis
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Reply #7 posted 08/22/11 6:28pm

purplethunder3
121

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Two great songwriters in one day?! Enough already! mad RIP Mr. Lieber. sad

"Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." --Plato

https://youtu.be/CVwv9LZMah0
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Reply #8 posted 08/22/11 6:47pm

UncleGrandpa

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As in Nick's thread, cry later. For now, celebrate their treasures.

[Edited 8/22/11 18:49pm]

Jeux Sans Frontiers
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Reply #9 posted 08/22/11 6:52pm

kibbles

i was reading on another thread about some quotes from lieber. elvis notwithstanding, most of their early songs were sung by black artists. lieber is quoted as saying he just wanted to be black, and that he really didn't like elvis' cover hound dog b/c he didn't understand the whole 'rabbit' part. apparently, that wasn't in the original song. lol

great, great songwriter. he and stoller wrote their stuff loooonnnnggg before i was born, but i know so many of their songs for word. test of time.

[Edited 8/22/11 18:54pm]

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Reply #10 posted 08/22/11 6:56pm

Nothinbutjoy

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R.I.P.

:f:
I'm firmly planted in denial
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Reply #11 posted 08/22/11 7:28pm

Timmy84

kibbles said:

i was reading on another thread about some quotes from lieber. elvis notwithstanding, most of their early songs were sung by black artists. lieber is quoted as saying he just wanted to be black, and that he really didn't like elvis' cover hound dog b/c he didn't understand the whole 'rabbit' part. apparently, that wasn't in the original song. lol

great, great songwriter. he and stoller wrote their stuff loooonnnnggg before i was born, but i know so many of their songs for word. test of time.

[Edited 8/22/11 18:54pm]

lol

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Reply #12 posted 08/22/11 8:22pm

sosgemini

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Didn't he have a song on Paula Abdul's debut? I'm a gonna have to google search.

Space for sale...
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Reply #13 posted 08/22/11 8:24pm

NDRU

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Damn, and Ashford, too!

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Reply #14 posted 08/22/11 8:26pm

theAudience

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sosgemini said:

Didn't he have a song on Paula Abdul's debut? I'm a gonna have to google search.

That'd be Oliver, his son.

Music for adventurous listeners

tA

peace Tribal Records

"Ya see, we're not interested in what you know...but what you are willing to learn. C'mon y'all."
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Reply #15 posted 08/22/11 8:42pm

sosgemini

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theAudience said:

sosgemini said:

Didn't he have a song on Paula Abdul's debut? I'm a gonna have to google search.

That'd be Oliver, his son.

Music for adventurous listeners

tA

peace Tribal Records

Thanks! Just found it online.

Space for sale...
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Reply #16 posted 08/22/11 8:55pm

funkpill

rose

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Reply #17 posted 08/23/11 6:33am

JoeBala

sad Another great legendery songwriter gone...Rest.

Just Music-No Categories-Enjoy It!
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Reply #18 posted 08/23/11 7:36am

zhare

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rose

Yeah it's like "oh you mocked me for liking him but now he's dead it's cool to play him again?" And then they look at you funny when you don't play him. -Timmy on after 6-25 fans
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