Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Lyricist Jerome "Jerry" Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011) and composer Mike Stoller (born March 13, 1933) were American songwriting and record producing partners. They found initial successes 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 are some of the most entertaining in rock and roll, by using the humorous vernacular of teenagers sung in a style that was openly theatrical rather than personal.[2] They were the first to surround black music with elaborate production values, enhancing its emotional power with The Drifters in "There Goes My Baby" (1958), which influenced Phil Spector, who studied their productions while playing guitar on their sessions.
Leiber and Stoller wrote hits for Elvis Presley including "Love Me" (1956), "Jailhouse Rock" (1957), "Loving You", "Don't", and "King Creole".[3] They also collaborated with other writers on such songs as "On Broadway", written with Barry Mann andCynthia 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 greatest classics of the Brill Building period.[4]
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.
