Era-defining songwriter passes away at 78

JERRY Leiber, who with longtime partner Mike Stoller wrote Hound Dog, Jailhouse Rock, Yakety Yak, Stand By Me and other hit songs that came to define early rock ‘n’ roll, has died. He was 78.

He was surrounded by family when he died of cardiopulmonary failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said his longtime publicist, Bobbi Marcus.

With Leiber as lyricist and Stoller as composer, the team channelled their blues and jazz backgrounds into pop songs performed by such artists as Elvis Presley, Dion and the Belmonts, the Coasters, the Drifters and Ben E. King in a way that would help create a joyous new musical style.

From their breakout hit, Big Mama Thornton’s 1953 rendition of Hound Dog, until their songwriting took a more serious turn in 1969 with Peggy Lee’s recording of Is That All There Is? the pair remained one of the most successful teams in pop music history.

“He was my friend, my buddy, my writing partner for 61 years,” Stoller said. “We met when we were 17 years old. He had a way with words.”

Their influence over the recording industry as independent producers earned them induction into the non-performer category of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

Leiber was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1933 to Jewish immigrants from Poland. He met Stoller after moving to Los Angeles with his mother in 1950.

The two began collaborating and formed a record label, Spark, in 1953.