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.