Leiber And Stoller

They met cute. Jerry Leiber was an animated teenage tunesmith. Because he lacked the skill of putting notes on paper, however, a friend told him to call a piano player named Mike. Jerry dialed the number he'd been given. "Hi, my name is Jerome Leiber. Are you Mike Stoller?" "Yup." "Did you play a dance in East L.A. last week?" "Yup." "Can you write music?" "Yup." "Can you write music on paper?" "Yup." "Would you like to write songs with me?" "Nope." "How come?" "I don't like songs."

Jerry Leiber, who with his songwriting partner, Mike Stoller, created a songbook that infused the rock 'n' roll scene of the 1950s and early '60s with energy and mischievous humor, has died. He was 78. Leiber, the words half of the duo, died Monday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles of cardiopulmonary failure, said Randy Poe, president of the songwriters' music publishing company. Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1985 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, Leiber and his lifelong writing partner, Stoller, wrote hits that included Elvis Presley's rat-a-tat-tat rendition of "Hound Dog" in 1956 and Peggy Lee's 1969 recording of the jaded "Is That All There Is?"

Jerry Leiber, who with his songwriting partner, Mike Stoller, created a songbook that infused the rock 'n' roll scene of the 1950s and early '60s with energy and mischievous humor, has died. He was 78. Leiber, the words half of the duo, died Monday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles of cardiopulmonary failure, said Randy Poe, president of the songwriters' music publishing company. Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1985 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, Leiber and his lifelong writing partner, Stoller, wrote hits that included Elvis Presley's rat-a-tat-tat rendition of "Hound Dog" in 1956 and Peggy Lee's 1969 recording of the jaded "Is That All There Is?"

Gil Bernal, a tenor saxophonist who during his long career played a variety of styles with artists such as Spike Jones, Lionel Hampton and Ry Cooder , has died. He was 80. Bernal died of congestive heart failure July 17 at Glendale Adventist Medical Center, his family said. Adept at playing pop, jazz or blues, Bernal sang and played with Hampton's big band and had memorable sax parts on such 1950s songs as Duane Eddy's "Rebel Rouser" and the Robins' "Smokey Joe's Cafe.

The article on songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller was one of the best pieces I've ever read ("Inseparable," by Zev Chafets, March 19). Chafets couldn't have picked better subjects. But I wish the story had been longer. Just like their songs, I couldn't get enough. Ed Masciana Torrance Kudos on your enjoyable piece on Leiber and Stoller. I'm of a similar age and background and can appreciate the history of the times Chafets wrote about. When I was younger, I really enjoyed their earlier music and loved seeing "Smokey Joe's Cafe" when it played here.

In 1950, a couple of nice Jewish boys with a passion for black culture met up in Hollywood and changed popular music forever. Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller not only found the sweet spot between smooth pop and raw blues, they were also among the first songwriters to produce their own songs. The duo's control over their material inspired everyone from Burt Bacharach to the Beatles: "We don't write songs," Leiber famously said. "We write records." Now their wildly successful revue, "Smokey Joe's Cafe: The Songs of Leiber and Stoller," which ran for more than 2,000 performances on Broadway, plays in a terrific revival at the El Portal.

I was out strolling during lunch in New York City about 10 years ago when I saw Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller in the courtyard of a building on Park Avenue ("Inseparable," by Zev Chafets, March 19). Being very familiar with their catalog of early rock 'n' roll songs and a great admirer, I was too intimidated to say hello, thank you and ask for an autograph. I still kick myself for being so shy. Shelby Asch Vista Leiber and Stoller are to R&B what D.W. Griffith and Cecil B. DeMille were to the Golden Age of Hollywood: the architectural visionaries of a vastly popular entertainment.

What a pleasure to read on Jan. 10 about Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber (songwriters extraordinaire) saving the nightclub owner who had not paid her just dues to ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers). The news is so full of violence, hatred and crime that it is gratifying to see an act of love reported in the paper. Thanks, Leiber and Stoller--thanks, L.A. Times. PATRICIA DUBIN McGUIRE Los Angeles

No songwriters were better equipped to preside over the uneasy transition from the Tin Pan Alley tradition to the rock era than the legendary team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, whose wide range of material was equally the stuff of Edith Piaf and Elvis Presley, Johnny Mathis and James Brown, Peggy Lee and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Gil Bernal, a tenor saxophonist who during his long career played a variety of styles with artists such as Spike Jones, Lionel Hampton and Ry Cooder , has died. He was 80. Bernal died of congestive heart failure July 17 at Glendale Adventist Medical Center, his family said. Adept at playing pop, jazz or blues, Bernal sang and played with Hampton's big band and had memorable sax parts on such 1950s songs as Duane Eddy's "Rebel Rouser" and the Robins' "Smokey Joe's Cafe.

Ellie Greenwich, the New York songwriter behind a string of 1960s hits that gave effervescent voice to unbridled teen romance including "Da Doo Ron Ron," "Chapel of Love" and "Be My Baby," many of them in collaboration with producer Phil Spector, died Wednesday of a heart attack, according to her niece, Jessica Weiner. She was 68. She was being treated for pneumonia and "some other heart issues" at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York when she suffered the heart attack, Weiner said.

They met cute. Jerry Leiber was an animated teenage tunesmith. Because he lacked the skill of putting notes on paper, however, a friend told him to call a piano player named Mike. Jerry dialed the number he'd been given. "Hi, my name is Jerome Leiber. Are you Mike Stoller?" "Yup." "Did you play a dance in East L.A. last week?" "Yup." "Can you write music?" "Yup." "Can you write music on paper?" "Yup." "Would you like to write songs with me?" "Nope." "How come?" "I don't like songs."

In 1950, a couple of nice Jewish boys with a passion for black culture met up in Hollywood and changed popular music forever. Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller not only found the sweet spot between smooth pop and raw blues, they were also among the first songwriters to produce their own songs. The duo's control over their material inspired everyone from Burt Bacharach to the Beatles: "We don't write songs," Leiber famously said. "We write records." Now their wildly successful revue, "Smokey Joe's Cafe: The Songs of Leiber and Stoller," which ran for more than 2,000 performances on Broadway, plays in a terrific revival at the El Portal.

I was out strolling during lunch in New York City about 10 years ago when I saw Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller in the courtyard of a building on Park Avenue ("Inseparable," by Zev Chafets, March 19). Being very familiar with their catalog of early rock 'n' roll songs and a great admirer, I was too intimidated to say hello, thank you and ask for an autograph. I still kick myself for being so shy. Shelby Asch Vista Leiber and Stoller are to R&B what D.W. Griffith and Cecil B. DeMille were to the Golden Age of Hollywood: the architectural visionaries of a vastly popular entertainment.

The article on songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller was one of the best pieces I've ever read ("Inseparable," by Zev Chafets, March 19). Chafets couldn't have picked better subjects. But I wish the story had been longer. Just like their songs, I couldn't get enough. Ed Masciana Torrance Kudos on your enjoyable piece on Leiber and Stoller. I'm of a similar age and background and can appreciate the history of the times Chafets wrote about. When I was younger, I really enjoyed their earlier music and loved seeing "Smokey Joe's Cafe" when it played here.

More than four decades after starting out in the business, and two decades after more or less retiring from the hit parade, songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller still stand as the most successful non-performing writing partnership in the history of rock 'n' roll. Imagine that no one else but these two had ever written a rock song.

Ellie Greenwich, the New York songwriter behind a string of 1960s hits that gave effervescent voice to unbridled teen romance including "Da Doo Ron Ron," "Chapel of Love" and "Be My Baby," many of them in collaboration with producer Phil Spector, died Wednesday of a heart attack, according to her niece, Jessica Weiner. She was 68. She was being treated for pneumonia and "some other heart issues" at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York when she suffered the heart attack, Weiner said.

More than four decades after starting out in the business, and two decades after more or less retiring from the hit parade, songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller still stand as the most successful non-performing writing partnership in the history of rock 'n' roll. Imagine that no one else but these two had ever written a rock song.

What a pleasure to read on Jan. 10 about Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber (songwriters extraordinaire) saving the nightclub owner who had not paid her just dues to ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers). The news is so full of violence, hatred and crime that it is gratifying to see an act of love reported in the paper. Thanks, Leiber and Stoller--thanks, L.A. Times. PATRICIA DUBIN McGUIRE Los Angeles

No songwriters were better equipped to preside over the uneasy transition from the Tin Pan Alley tradition to the rock era than the legendary team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, whose wide range of material was equally the stuff of Edith Piaf and Elvis Presley, Johnny Mathis and James Brown, Peggy Lee and Jerry Lee Lewis.