Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller with Elvis Presley
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Leiber, who was born in Baltimore, and Stoller, who lives in Long Island, met in Los Angeles in 1950 and quickly discovered their qualities as a team: Leiber was responsible for the lyrics, Stoller for the music.
They wrote top 10 hits for established figures such as Elvis Presley (“Jailhouse Rock”), the Coasters (“Yakety Yak”), Wilbert Harrison (“Kansas City”), the Drifters (“On Broadway”) and Dion (“Ruby Baby”), but also loved to hide subversive lyrics in their snappy R&B numbers: “Riot In Cell Block #9”, a US hit for The Robins in 1954, detailed a prison riot, while with “Poison Ivy” – 1959 a number one for the Coasters – unequivocally meant STDs and the risk of their transmission.
Rock’n’Roll owes everything to Leiber/Stoller
When they sat down to write songs, “I often only had two or three lines,” Leiber once explained. “Mike sat at the piano and strummed away until I thought of a new line. Then he immediately set to work rhythmically and metrically shaping the words.”
Their influence on early rock ‘n’ roll in America was immeasurable, but the “British Invasion” didn’t bypass them either: The Beatles, Stones, Hollies and Searchers were just the spearheads of countless English bands that played on songs by Leiber & Stoller didn’t want to do without.