Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller: The men who created the sound of the 1950s and ’60s
One common misconception about music is dismissing modern works as just products of a commercialised industry. Some argue that today’s music is too commodified, unlike in the “old days.” However, the music industry was just as influential in the 1950s and ’60s. Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, two powerful figures working behind the scenes, played a pivotal role in shaping and dominating the sound of that era.
For those who criticise modern pop or rock acts for not writing their own music, they may be surprised to learn that this is a long-standing tradition in the music industry. It can be a tough realisation for some, but many of history’s most beloved artists never wrote a word of their own lyrics. In the 1950s and ’60s, in particular, this was a well-established process. Mainstream artists often performed songs crafted by teams of skilled composers and writers working behind the scenes at record labels, which functioned as veritable music factories.
In that case, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller would have been employees of the month time and time again for years on end. Throughout the ‘50s and ‘60s, this double-act songwriter and production duo crafted a long list of some of the most influential and popular songs put to tape. They were not only the creative minds behind some of the most impactful artists around, but with the sheer scale of songs they created, they played a major hand in establishing the sound of the era that is written into history, helping to build the girl band and rock and roll sound that’s remembered today.
It’s a perfect meet-cute for the musical duo as the friends first ran into each other in 1950 at Norty’s, a record store on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles. After bonding over their mutual love for early rhythm and blues tracks, the beginning blueprints for rock and roll, they began to write together. That same year, they had their first commercial recording as Jimmy Witherspoon, a blues singer, recorded their track ‘Real Ugly Woman’.
From then on, they were off to the races. They secured their first hit when Charles Brown recorded their track ‘Hard Times’ in 1952, and with each new success from another new song, they’d have more and more artists come knocking at their door. As two early rock and roll songwriters who were merging the sounds of blues, country and doo-wop to create something new, they were leading the pack as the world of commercial and mainstream music began to wake up to the new sound.
They also benefitted greatly from the traditional idea of ‘standards’. It used to be that a song would be written, recorded by one artist and then essentially passed around. Borrowed from the jazz world, where artists would share their interpretation of a track, it also used to be more of a thing in blues and rock and roll. Leiber and Stoller’s songs were regularly shared around, with their track ‘Kansas City’ becoming a favourite track, recorded by Wilbert Harrison in 1959, Little Richard in 1955 but not released until 1970, and then covered by The Beatles in 1961, performed as part of their early live sets.
It also happened with their track ‘Hound Dog’, written in 1952 for Big Mama Thornton but made famous by someone else. As their songs were spread around and their reputations grew, so did the scale of their clientele. When Elvis Presley covered their track, made it a hit and then came to ask for his own, the duo hit the big time, and they were still only 19.
From then on, Leiber and Stoller were a major part of the creative machine behind Presley’s success. They wrote him songs like ‘Loving You’, ‘Treat Me Nice’, ‘King Creole’, ‘Trouble’ and more, helping to establish his perfect pop-rock sound.
But on a broader scale, the duo helped establish the sound of the whole era. As well as their contributions to early rock and roll as it began to take shape from blues, they were also working away on the other side of things, crafting the soul sound as they wrote tracks for The Drifters, The Coasters and even the huge hit ‘Stand By Me’ for Ben E King.
If that still wasn’t enough, the duo essentially raised up the man who would take their place. In the early 1960s, Phil Spector worked as an apprentice of sorts for the team, learning from their own songwriting and production style, which majorly informed his wall of sound style and his hand in shaping the sound of 1960s girl bands. Borrowing directly from Leiber and Stoller’s work and their knack for creating hits, Spector’s legacy leapfrogs off their band of theirs.
All in all, the duo wrote over 70 chart hits and produced even more. They were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1985 and then the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, but still, plenty of people don’t know their names. But that’s exactly how the music machine works. It’s always behind the scenes where the magic happens.
