As half of the famous
Leiber/
Stoller songwriting and producing partnership,
Jerry Leiber virtually defined the way popular music sounded in the early '60s. His songs, such as "Hound Dog," "Yakety Yak," and "Jailhouse Rock," are clever and humorous lyrical vignettes that have been played millions of times and virtually been absorbed into the cultural consciousness. Born in Baltimore, when
Leiber was five his widowed mother opened a grocery store near the black ghetto. It was there that he became fascinated with black culture, absorbing himself in the black community's music, dress, and attitude. In his teens the family moved to California where the bebop jazz movement was in full swing. At 16
Leiber began writing
blues lyrics and, soon after, met pianist
Mike Stoller.
Leiber was the most outgoing of the two and his hipster jive and frenetic energy motivated the naturally withdrawn
Stoller to begin writing songs together. For the next ten years the songwriting team of
Leiber/
Stoller virtually ruled the
r&b and
pop charts. After hitting with "Hound Dog" (recorded first by
Mama Thornton, then by
Elvis), the team signed with Atlantic Records and began writing for groups such as
the Coasters and
the Drifters. While
Stoller supplied the music, it was
Leiber who penned the outrageously entertaining lyrics. From the tongue-in-cheek humor of "Down Home Girl" to the poetic beauty of "Spanish Harlem,"
Leiber's lyrics set out to capture the essence of the black experience in America, and, in many ways, he accomplished that goal, creating a lyrical body of work rivaled by very few. ~ Steve Kurutz, All Music Guide
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