Page "Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller" Paragraph 5

Their first hit composition was " Hard Times ", recorded by Charles Brown, which was a rhythm and blues hit in 1952.

" Kansas City ", which was first recorded in 1952 ( as " K. C. Loving ") by rhythm & blues singer Little Willie Littlefield, became a No. 1 pop hit in 1959 for Wilbert Harrison.

In 1952 they wrote " Hound Dog " for blues singer Big Mama Thornton, which became a hit for her in 1953.

The 1956 Elvis Presley rock version, which was a takeoff of the adaptation that Presley picked up from Freddie Bell's lounge act in Las Vegas, was a much bigger hit.

Presley's showstopping mock-burlesque version of " Hound Dog ", playfully bumping and grinding on the Milton Berle Show, created such public excitement that on The Steve Allen Show they slowed down his act, with an amused Presley in a tuxedo and blue suede shoes singing his hit to a basset hound.

Allen pronounced Presley " a good sport ", and the Leiber-Stoller song would be forever linked to Presley.

Their later songs often had lyrics more appropriate for pop music, and their combination of rhythm and blues with pop lyrics revolutionized pop, rock and roll, and punk rock.