• About
  • Jewish Community Directory
  • Subscription Information
  • Contact Us
American Jewish World
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • All
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Australia & New Zealand
    • Europe
    • Israel/Mideast
    • Latin America
    • Minnesota
    • US & Canada
    ‘Honoring Our Graduates’ in May 2022

    Once again: Honoring Our Graduates

    Jews and the Civil Rights Movement in Minnesota

    Jews and the Civil Rights Movement in Minnesota

    Hopkins, Minneapolis schools to take off for High Holy Days

    Hopkins, Minneapolis schools to take off for High Holy Days

  • Arts
    • All
    • Blue Box
    • Books & Literature
    • Music
    • Televison & Film
    • Theater & Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts
    Tamara Nadel marries Jewish and Hindu dance traditions

    Tamara Nadel marries Jewish and Hindu dance traditions

    Searching for a bridge to the past

    Searching for a bridge to the past

    ‘Sadie on a Plate’ spans romance, cooking

    ‘Sadie on a Plate’ spans romance, cooking

  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Health & Wellness
    • Home & Garden
    • Travel & Culture
    ‘Honoring Our Graduates’ in May 2022

    Once again: Honoring Our Graduates

    ‘Honoring Our Graduates’ in May 2022

    ‘Honoring Our Graduates’ in May 2022

    Hey, Kids: The 2021 AJW Hanuka Cover Contest is accepting entries!

    Hey, Kids: The 2021 AJW Hanuka Cover Contest is accepting entries!

  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • AJW Digital Archives
  • News
    • All
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Australia & New Zealand
    • Europe
    • Israel/Mideast
    • Latin America
    • Minnesota
    • US & Canada
    ‘Honoring Our Graduates’ in May 2022

    Once again: Honoring Our Graduates

    Jews and the Civil Rights Movement in Minnesota

    Jews and the Civil Rights Movement in Minnesota

    Hopkins, Minneapolis schools to take off for High Holy Days

    Hopkins, Minneapolis schools to take off for High Holy Days

  • Arts
    • All
    • Blue Box
    • Books & Literature
    • Music
    • Televison & Film
    • Theater & Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts
    Tamara Nadel marries Jewish and Hindu dance traditions

    Tamara Nadel marries Jewish and Hindu dance traditions

    Searching for a bridge to the past

    Searching for a bridge to the past

    ‘Sadie on a Plate’ spans romance, cooking

    ‘Sadie on a Plate’ spans romance, cooking

  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Health & Wellness
    • Home & Garden
    • Travel & Culture
    ‘Honoring Our Graduates’ in May 2022

    Once again: Honoring Our Graduates

    ‘Honoring Our Graduates’ in May 2022

    ‘Honoring Our Graduates’ in May 2022

    Hey, Kids: The 2021 AJW Hanuka Cover Contest is accepting entries!

    Hey, Kids: The 2021 AJW Hanuka Cover Contest is accepting entries!

  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • AJW Digital Archives
No Result
View All Result
Morning News
No Result
View All Result
Home Arts

Jerry Leiber, renowned rock ‘n’ roll lyricist, dies

American Jewish World by American Jewish World
May 23, 2020
in Arts
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

By MORDECAI SPECKTOR

Jerry Leiber provided the lyrics and his partner, Mike Stoller, wrote the music for a slew of popular rock ‘n’ roll tunes in the early days of the genre. As teenagers in Los Angeles, both of them gone with black music, they started churning out songs — sometimes 10 in a day, as Stoller told me in 1996.

READ ALSO

Tamara Nadel marries Jewish and Hindu dance traditions

Searching for a bridge to the past

He said that he and Leiber developed a creative process that was “a spontaneous combustion kind of thing: notes, words, phrases, rhythms, everything just in a mad kind of frenzy.”

Leiber died Monday in Los Angeles. According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, the cause was cardiopulmonary failure. He was 78.

As I wrote for the American Jewish World: “The pair went on to write dozens of pop songs during the 1950s and 1960s that were recorded by everybody from Ray Charles to The Beatles to Edith Piaf. If they didn’t help shape the zeitgeist, they at least gave it a danceable soundtrack.”

Mike Stoller, Elvis Presley and Jerry Leiber at MGM Studios in 1957.
Mike Stoller, Elvis Presley and Jerry Leiber at MGM Studios in 1957.

The Leiber and Stoller song list includes “Hound Dog” (written for Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton, and then covered three years later by Elvis Presley, who sold 5 million records), “Jailhouse Rock,” “Poison Ivy,” “Kansas City,” “On Broadway” and “Stand By Me.”

I interviewed both Leiber and Stoller for a story about their Broadway musical Smokey Joe’s Cafe, which showcased their great pop songs. The 1996 national tour of the show kicked off at the State Theatre. You can read the American Jewish World story: HERE.

“Of all the crossover white songwriters from the rock ’n’ roll era, none had a deeper understanding of black slang and musical style than Leiber and Stoller,” music critic Stephen Holden wrote in the New York Times on Tuesday.

Holden noted that as “one of the first independent producing teams in the late 1950s, Leiber and Stoller changed the sound of pop records with the Drifters’ 1959 hit ‘There Goes My Baby,’ belted by Ben E. King, one of several collaborators on the song. For this, the most operatic rock ’n’ roll ballad of its time, they added strings. The hit had a profound influence on their protégé Phil Spector and was a prototype of his wall-of-sound style, as applied to the Righteous Brothers’ hits.”

Leiber was the son of Jewish immigrants in Baltimore, Maryland. According to the New York Times’ obituary, he is survived by three sons, Jed, Oliver and Jake, and two grandchildren.

Related Posts

Tamara Nadel marries Jewish and Hindu dance traditions
Theater & Performing Arts

Tamara Nadel marries Jewish and Hindu dance traditions

May 10, 2022
Searching for a bridge to the past
Books & Literature

Searching for a bridge to the past

May 9, 2022
‘Sadie on a Plate’ spans romance, cooking
Books & Literature

‘Sadie on a Plate’ spans romance, cooking

April 24, 2022
Talented cast elevates ‘Two Jews Walk Into a War …’
Theater & Performing Arts

Talented cast elevates ‘Two Jews Walk Into a War …’

April 24, 2022
A musician’s musician
Music

A musician’s musician

March 16, 2022
On hating Jews, who are both lesser and greater
Books & Literature

On hating Jews, who are both lesser and greater

March 15, 2022
Next Post

‘The Debt’ explores Israeli justice — and revenge

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

RECENT ARTICLES

‘Honoring Our Graduates’ in May 2022

Once again: Honoring Our Graduates

May 11, 2022
Tamara Nadel marries Jewish and Hindu dance traditions

Tamara Nadel marries Jewish and Hindu dance traditions

May 10, 2022
Searching for a bridge to the past

Searching for a bridge to the past

May 9, 2022

Editorial: Three remarkable lives

May 9, 2022
Editorial: Ukrainians flee their homeland

Editorial: Ukrainians flee their homeland

April 24, 2022

About

Since 1912 the AJW has served as an important news resource for the Jewish community. The Jewish World unites the main Jewish communities in St. Paul and Minneapolis, as well as those in Duluth, Rochester and smaller cities, and bridges the divides between the various Jewish religious streams.

Quick Links

  • About the AJW
  • Advertising Information
  • Submission Guidelines
  • Subscription Information
  • Jewish Community Directory

Contact Us

The American Jewish World
3249 Hennepin Ave., Suite 245
Minneapolis, MN 55408

Tel: 612.824.0030 / Fax: 612.823.0753
editor@ajwnews.com

  • Buy JNews
  • Landing Page
  • Documentation
  • Support Forum

© 2022 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
  • News
  • Food
  • Health & Wellness
  • Lifestyle
  • Opinion

© 2022 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.