Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jerry Leiber grew up in a West Baltimore neighborhood and attended City College. His family moved to Los Angeles in the late 1940s where he eventually teamed up with Mike Stoller to become one of the most prolific songwriting teams in Rock and Roll history. Leiber and Stoller also formed the Spark label in 1953.
A list of Leiber & Stoller songwriting and production credits would warrant an entire book in itself. Some of their songs of the ‘50s and ‘60s include such classics as Hound Dog, Jailhouse Rock, Love Me, Riot in Cell Block 9, Framed, Love Potion No. 9, Yakety-Yak, Along Came Jones, Kansas City, Stand by Me, Spanish Harlem, Ruby Baby, There Goes My Baby, On Broadway, Up on the Roof, and many others. The team moved to New York’s famous Brill Building in the late ‘50s where they wrote songs for many Atlantic Records artists. In 1960 they formed the Red Bird label and scored the Dixie Cups hit Chapel of Love. The ‘70s featured the team writing for A&M artists including Stealer’s Wheel “Stuck in the Middle with You”, and Procol Harum.
The book “Baby That Was Rock and Roll” chronicles the history of the team.