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PRESENTING
THE COASTERS
Edited by Claus Röhnisch (updated
June 6, 2009)
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Summary |
Biography | Singles & LPs
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Discography | Session Discography
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with leads | Line-Ups | Chart Hits
PRESENTING:
THE COASTERS "If rock ´n´ roll had
produced nothing but the Coasters and Leiber and Stoller, it would still have commanded
attention as the sound embodiment of a time and generation", Arnold Shaw wrote in his
book "The Rockin´ ´50s". The Coasters are widely regarded as the pre-eminent
vocal group of the original rock ´n´ roll era. "There never was - nor will there
ever be - another group quite like the Coasters", Neil Slaven stated in late 1997.
The foursome was created
September 28, 1955 from the nucleus of the Los Angeles, California based vocal sextet the
Robins, originally recording since 1949 with Bobby Nunn - born September 20, 1925 in
Birmingham, Alabama - as bass/lead singer. It was the young producing-composing team of
Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller, who with manager-salesman Lester Sill persuaded
Bobby Nunn and Carl Gardner, lead tenor vocalist with the Robins from 1954 on
Leiber-Stoller´s tiny Spark label in L.A., to leave that group and launch the Coasters.
Gardner - born April 29, 1928 in Tyler, Texas - is still the Coasters´ spokesman and
coach today (and sang lead with the group for 50 years). The Robins´ West Coast hits from Spark were later issued on
Coasters compilations (a.o. RIOT IN CELL BLOCK #9 and SMOKEY
JOE´S CAFE).
Two new group members were
recruited by the Coasters´ prolific manager Lester Sill and shared leads on the first New
York Coasters Atco effort, ZING! WENT THE STRINGS OF MY HEART
(a beach music classic today). Both
new-comers were former L.A. experienced group singers - Will "Dub" Jones,
successful bass lead with the Cadets, born in Shreveport, Louisiana on May 14, 1928; and
Cornell Gunter, lead with the Flairs, born November 14, 1936 in Coffeyville, Kansas. The
two joined Gardner and Guy to establish the classic New York quartet that recorded all the
other famous Coasters´ golden million sellers: YAKETY YAK (a
#1 Pop
and R&B hit in 1958, which received a
Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999), CHARLIE BROWN
(Pop and R%B #2) and ALONG CAME JONES ( Pop #9) in 1959
and the double-sider POISON IVY (R&B # 1, Pop #7) b/w I´M A HOG FOR YOU.
The classic Coasters had a fifth member in guitarist Adolph Jacobs, born April
15, 1939 Sabine, East Texas, who was succeeded by a Coasters employee, Sonny Forriest, on WHAT
ABOUT US b/w RUN RED RUN, which was the last single of the
highly successful year of 1959.
In 1960 the Coasters hit with
WAKE ME, SHAKE ME and waxed one of their all-time greatest recordings, SHOPPIN´
FOR CLOTHES (with Guy and Jones sharing lead vocals). That year they also
released their under-rated, but qualitative "One By One" LP. In
1961 they hit with WAIT A MINUTE (recorded in 1957). After the group´s
last U.S. Pop Top 30 hit entry, LITTLE EGYPT (Ying-Yang),
Cornell Gunter left the group in June, 1961. He formed his own "Fabulous
Coasters" a couple of years later. Gunter died in his car by a gun shot from an
unknown in Las Vegas on January 26, 1990. Remnants of his group tour as "The
Original Cornell Gunter
Coasters".
In the years of the Coasters´
first revival Will Jones had left for new tasks (in New
York and later California), replaced by Ronnie Bright, born October 18, 1938 in New York
City and original bass singer in Harlem´s early ´50s group the Valentines. Billy Guy,
the great comedian of the group, had started his attempts as a solo artist back in 1962
(still recording and performing with the group up to 1973), sometimes substituted first
by Vernon Harrell and later by the hard-working soul veteran Jimmy Norman - born August
12, 1937 in Nashville, Tennessee. He had sung with Jesse Belvin´s Chargers and became a
regular Coaster in the revival line-up of the ´70s. The group performed all over U.S. and
toured Europe several times. They even made a brief come-back on the U.S. Hot 100 Chart
with a re-rendition of the Clovers'
classic LOVE POTION NUMBER NINE (for King Records in the
winter of 1971/72 with Carl Gardner as happy lead vocal) and issued a great album
produced by Leiber-Stoller on King, titled "The Coasters On Broadway". The group continued to make records - although the hits came dry. With
Gardner, Speedo, Bright and Guy they had recorded for Lloyd Price's Turntable in 1969 (ACT
RIGHT and THE WORLD IS CHANGING, produced by Jimmy Norman).
Later Ronnie Bright sang lead on CHECK MR. POPEYE, and the group, now with
Guy definately out, did a single for Wilson Pickett's Wicked label (HUSH DON'T
TALK ABOUT IT).
In early 1998 the true Coasters were a singing quartet again (with Palmer still on guitar). Alvin Morse (born in February, 1951) had joined the group - and in time for Gardner´s 70th birthday Carl Gardner Jr (petnamed Mickey - born April 29, 1955) replaced Jimmy Norman, who had left to start a new reggae career. By the end of July, 2001 Joe Lance Williams (aka J. W. Lance, who had sung with Marshak's Coasters), born June 16, 1949, started to substitute for Gardner Jr. In November, 2004 Carl Jr returned to his father's group and Lance stayed. On November 5, 2005 Carl Gardner Jr officially took over lead vocals from his father, who semi-retired (but still coaches the group). The Coasters are probably America´s most exciting veteran vocal group of today. We truly haven´t heard the last from them yet! All of the Coasters´ Atco recordings are available on a Rhino Handmade
4CD-box (with 113 tracks) issued ion December 11, 2007, titled "The Coasters
On Atco - There's A Riot Goin' On".
Rhino´s "The Very Best of The Coasters" is their most
worthwhile 1CD-anthology. U.S. Rhino have also issued a terrific double CD titled "50 Coastin´ Classics"
(although out of catalogue nowadays). A 30-track
2CD-set, titled "The Definitive Soul Collection" is planned (featuring
all their pop hits).
The Coasters´ fine Date/King sides are to be found on a recommended Varese
Vintage CD, "Down Home", issued late August 2007. |
AT SMOKEY JOE´S CAFE
How the Coasters made rock´s greatest comedy
records
- by Bill Millar
(from "The History of Rock" Volume 2 - issue
15, 1982-1984;
a great magazine on the Coasters, Drifters, Platters - Orbis Publishing Ltd, London)
The songwriters and producers Jerry
Leiber and Mike Stoller developed an unusually adventurous method of recording black
singers, using material they often wrote themselves and enhancing the sound by employing
hitherto unorthodox studio techniques. For the Coasters they wrote and produced a string
of what might be called individual morality plays, in confection of gritty and perceptive
lyrics. The overall concept led to no fewer than 17 US hit records between 1955 and 1962.
These included some of the most innovative and influental records in rock´s history.
The story of the Coasters really begins with the formation of a group known as the Robins,
who worked with Johnny Otis before meeting Leiber and Stoller in 1951. During the previous
five years the Robins had helped make Los Angeles the most important centre in the
development of postwar R&B. They recorded for Excelsior, Score, Aladdin and Savoy, and
hit the R&B Top Ten on two occasions in 1950. The following year, for Modern, the
group cut Leiber and Stoller´s "That´s What The Good Book Says". In Leiber´s
view it was a botched version of a blues and gospel number, 'a pretty bad song but the
first record we ever got'. In 1953 the Robins were signed to RCA-Victor and recorded
Leiber and Stoller´s first prison song, "Ten Days In Jail". The disc
illustrated some of this song-writing team´s stock production devices, particularly the
intrusion of a warm bass voice that echoed a doleful or witty line. This mannerism would
soon permeate the novelty records of many black vocal groups.
Recording for Spark
Later in 1953 Leiber and Stoller formed Spark, their own record company. 'At the time',
recalled Robins bass singer Bobby Nunn, 'they were living in the colored district down on
Pico. I heard ´em say "We´re gonna be millionaires in a couple of years."' The
Robins cut seven (acually six; ed.note) singles for Spark, including "Riot In Cell Block Number 9" and
"Framed". Both songs were exceptionally good examples of R&B and went deep
into the heart of ghetto life. Their final record for Spark was "Smokey Joe´s
Cafe" (1955). It displayed the carefully contrived and well-integrated lyrics and
music for which the Coasters (later; ed.note) would become internationally famous. It was
another in a long series of compact vignettes that dramatized aspects of seamy, sleazy
low-life. "Smokey Joe´s Cafe" belongs in the same category as the alleys, strip
clubs, pawn shops, street corners, race tracks, prisons and blue-light diners to which the
Coasters would return again and again. Smokey Joe (bass singer Bobby Nunn) threatens the
lead singer (Carl Gardner), and his use of cutlery is not likely to be confined to eating
beans. The deliciously neat characterization and atmosphere evoked, put lyricist Jerry
Leiber on a par with Chuck Berry as a leading poet of rock´n´roll. Filled with rhythms
you´d expect to hear in a border-town bar-cum-brothel, Smokey Joe´s cafe was the sort of
place where you could get your kicks and experience your share of strong sensations. On
the strength of the Robins´ records Atlantic signed Leiber and Stoller to an independent
production deal in 1955. Some of the Robins left (actually not - it was Gardner and Nunn
who left; ed.not), but Gardner (a dance band vocalist from Texas) and Nunn (originally
from Alabama) recruited Billy Guy (another Texan) and Leon Hughes to form the Coasters.
They were so-named by their manager, Lester Sill, to identify them with the West Coast.
Hughes, more a dancer than a singer, was quickly replaced by Young Jessie (only on
recordings; ed.note). Ed.note: The Coasters made their recording debut in January, 1956
with "Down In Mexico".
Double-sided smash
In 1957 the fresh line-up enjoyed a massive
hit with "Searchin´", the first of the group´s songs to draw inspiration from
the annals of criminal detection. The song remained on the best-seller list for six
months, reaching Number 5 (Pop Best Seller; ed.note), while the reverse, "Young Blood", also made the Top
Ten. "Young Blood", a suggestive girl-following song, was about sexual arousal,
about being transfixed by comic-strip beauty. The girls in the Coasters´ songs were
petite and precocious with tight sweaters and big round eyes. They were also very young.
They were subject to parental disciplines, they went roller skating and they skipped
around in the park. In "Young Blood" the male group are totally besotted and
their agitation increases until they´re barely able to keep their trousers on. Ultimately
the street-corner lechers - four middle-aged blacks, remember - reveal a potentially
dangerous form of inadequacy, following the young girl all the way home. The innuendo
becomes so heavy you half expect a contraceptive to roll out of the record sleeve. Things
however, got bad, they meet her Dad, who says (in the bassman´s gloriously deep voice),
' You better leave my daughter alone.' All this was heavy stuff back in 1957. The
Coasters´ mumbled lyrics were not only educationally destructive; they were also said to
undermine the moral fibre of white children. After several less-heralded goodies such as
"Idol With The Golden Head" and "What Is The Secret of Your Success",
the Coasters moved to New York, where Cornelius Gunter from the Flairs and Will
"Dub" Jones from the Cadets replaced Young Jessie (actually Leon Hughes,
ed.note) and Bobby Nunn. They were joined in the studio by King Curtis, whose tenor sax
interjections became an integral part of the group´s records. The new line-up, which
remained unchanged for the next four years and sang on all of the Coasters´ biggest hits,
re-embarked on a comic tradition from which American rock has never entirely departed.
'Hello Charlie
Brown'
Although they had made nuggets before, the
Coasters did not achieve worldwide fame until "Yakety Yak" raced up the charts
on both sides of the Atlantic in 1958. The title is a throwaway comment at the end of each
verse. It follows a list of parental instructions and threats - 'If you don´t scrub that
kitchen floor, you ain´t gonna rock´n´roll no more' - which helped to define the
generation gap. "Charlie Brown", which reached Number 2 in 1959, was set in the
same context. In it the Coasters´ enumerate Charlie´s feeble attacks on authority, while
the bass voice gives expression to his wholly unbelievable innocence with the line '
Why´s everybody always pickin´ on me?'. The wheedlesome, subservient voices and
Charlie´s simple-minded non-conformism have prompted musicians and writers to complain
that Leiber and Stoller created stereotypes of black people and got too many of their
laughs by making clowns out of black vocalists. But the R&B singer, long preoccupied
with crime, sex, food and gambling, created his own stereotype of himself; Otis Redding,
for example sang of chicken-stealing. More importantly, the Coasters were clearly
irreverent and opposed institutions that white adults held in high esteem. Authority,
parents, fidelity, hard work, piety and the suppression of risky pleasures were questioned
with a bold and subversive wit. Jews (Leiber and Stoller) and Southern blacks (the
Coasters) were expected to show gratitude towards the system. Instead they stood up and
criticized it, a theme that can be recognized in almost all their songs. Southern justice,
managerial power and the gulf between black and white were satirized mercilessly. Even the
banality of television Westerns came in for gentle parody; the lyrics of "Along Came
Jones" (Number 9 in 1959) were funnier than any horse-opera dialogue you ever heard.
Eventually, few records were as contagious as "Poison Ivy (Number 7 in 1959) or the
flip "I´m A Hog For You", where the splicing together of a repeated guitar note
and grunts and squeals from the tenor sax created a vivid aural picture of pigs feeding at
a trough. It demonstrates another of the fundamental reasons for the Coasters´ appeal: if
you did miss the point you could still marvel at the sound. "Yakety Yak"
and the other discs mentioned above guaranteed the Coasters permanent place in rock´s
Hall of Fame and remain unparalleled over 20 years later (now 50; ed.not). The group
remained with Leiber and Stoller into the Sixties and the combination resulted in further
risible gems that brought vocal group production to impressive new heights.
"Shoppin´ For Clothes" (1960) resembled Chuck Berry´s love of automobile
gadgetry in its sartorial obsessiveness. The hero is looking for a suit with solid gold
buttons, a camel-hair collar and the 'cutaway, flap-over twice'. Billy Guy invested this
record, "Girls Girls Girls" and "Little Egypt" (both 1961) with the
crafty timing of a long-experienced vaudeville actor. Arguably the Coasters´ last real
classic, "Little Egypt" concerned a stripper who began her act wearing nothing
but a button and a bow. She ends up marrying the lecherous singer who concludes: 'Little
Egypt doesn´t dance there anymore, she´s too busy moppin´ and a-takin´ care of
shoppin´ at the store. ´Cos we´ve got seven kids and all day long they crawl around the
floor.' Guy snorts the lyrics with the arrogant air of one who can now enjoy Little
Egypt´s performance every night of the week. The record was subjected to a wide-spread
ban in the South, but rivaled the very best Coasters discs in every way.
A switch of labels
Leiber and Stoller left the Coasters in 1963,
and the group played out their Atlantic contract without any chart success thereafter. In
1967 there was news of a reconciliation. The group (now with Earl Carroll from the
Cadillacs, who had succeeded Gunter a couple of years earlier; ed.note) were signed to
Date, a CBS subsidiary, and fresh Leiber and Stoller productions followed, including
"Soul Pad", "Down Home Girl" and "D.W. Washburn". "Down
Home Girl" was flecked with country-blues imagery, while "Soul Pad"
parodied health food, psychedelic rock, mysticism and other facets of counterculture. All
the songs were as sharp as anything Jerry Leiber had ever written, but the producers
failed to get the full support of CBS. The songs achieved more success in the hands of
such artists as the Monkees ("D.W. Washburn") and the Rolling Stones ("Down
Home Girl"). After a further hiatus the Coasters returned to the charts in 1971 with
another Leiber and Stoller production, "Love Potion Number 9". Since then the
group has pottered about on a variety of small labels without the benefit of Leiber and
Stoller´s wizardry.
The historical contribution of the Coasters
is real enough, however. There were cover versions and revivals by, for example, the
Hollies, Lord Sutch, the Beatles, the Fourmost, Ray Charles, the Lambrettas, and the
Tremeloes. The Coasters´ black (in both senses of the word) humor had a formidable
influence on such diverse artists as Frank Zappa, social satirist Shel Silverstein, and
Eddie Cochran - Cochran´s records often featured that moronic, disembodied bass voice. An
no less a black progressive than Curtis Mayfield stated: 'I especially loved the
Coasters.' Many groups tried to imitate the Coasters, but - unlike the imitations - the
Coasters´ records improve with age.
BILL MILLAR - 1982, 1984.
Lee
Hildebrand´s Presentation of
THE COASTERS
(from "Billboard HitMakers" series)
The Coasters
were, in the words of critic Dave Marsh, "the funniest group in rock and roll
history". No other rhythm and blues act of the 1950s better captured the rebellious
spirit of teenaged America, with the possible exception of Chuck Berry. the
versatile southern California vocal quartet served as a sounding board for the
brilliant musical vignettes of lyricist Jerry Leiber and tunesmith Mike Stoller,
delivering such three-minute slices of social satire as "Yakety Yak" and
"Charlie Brown" with punch lines perfectly timed for optimum comic effect.
"If rock ´n´ roll had produced nothing but the Coasters and Leiber and
Stoller", author Arnold Shaw stated in The Rockin´ ´50s, "it would
still have commanded attention as the sound embodiment of a time and generation. They
reflected the world of the young with understanding, good humor, and social insight. This
was rock ´n´ roll at its best - ebullient, energizing, entertaining, expressive and
danceable".
The Top 40 R&B Songs of
the Coasters: "Down in Mexico", "One Kiss Led To Another" (´56),
"Searchin´", "Young Blood" (´57), "Yakety Yak" (´58),
"Charlie Brown", "Along Came Jones", "Poison Ivy",
"What About Us", "Run Red Run" (´59), "Wake Me, Shake Me"
(´60), "Little Egypt" (´61). The Coasters had no more top 40 hits on either
the R&B or pop charts, after 1961. They were dropped by Atco four years later, then
recorded briefly for Lloyd Price´s Turntable label (the Turntable single was actually
recorded in 1969; ed.note) before being reunited in 1966 with Leiber and Stoller at
Columbia´s Date subsidiary, for which they recorded such non-hit numbers as "Soul
Pad", "Down Home Girl", and the original version of "D. W.
Washburn", later a hit for the Monkees. |
Guy, Carroll, Gardner, and Bright.
The
Coasters at Vocal Group Hall of Fame
with biographical presentations
and a copy of this page
The editor and Carl in 1992.
Robert Chistgau's essay of The Coasters
THE COASTERS
"THOSE HOODLUM FRIENDS"
- Summary - Extended Biography
-
& Recordings
The Coasters
are one of the few artists in rock history to successfully straddle the line between music
and comedy. Their undeniably funny lyrics and on-stage antics might have suggested a
simple troupe of clowns, but Coasters records are no mere novelties -- their material,
supplied by the legendary team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, is too witty, their
arrangements too well-crafted, and the group itself too musically proficient. That
engaging and infectious combination made them one of the most popular early R&B/rock
& roll acts, as well as one of the most consistently entertaining doo wop/vocal groups
of all time.
|
The Coasters -
Extended Biography
by Claus Röhnisch
"If rock
´n´ roll had produced nothing but the Coasters and Leiber and Stoller, it would still
have commanded attention as the sound embodiment of a time and generation", Arnold
Shaw wrote in his book "The Rockin´ ´50s". The Coasters are widely regarded as
the pre-eminent vocal group of the original rock ´n´ roll era. "There never was -
nor will there ever be - another group quite like the Coasters. Although they worked
within the standard conventions of vocal group harmony, their signal achievement was to
create - or to have created for them - a variety of comedic roles that both celebrated and
satirized the mores of contemporary American life without falling victim to racial
stereotyping. It´s impossible to gauge which was the luckier party, whether the Coasters
were most fortunate to have Leiber and Stoller as their providers or the songwriters to
have such capable vocalists to draw out the nuances and downright insinuations in their
songs", Neil Slaven stated in a review in "Blues & Rhythm" magazine in
late 1997. The group now hit the road for national promotion and produced R&B´s most famous double-sided smash in 1957 (with Gardner and Guy lead singers on one side each). YOUNG BLOOD (the original A-side) hit the national R&B Best Seller Chart #1 on June 3 and the week after its flip, SEARCHIN´, occupied that same spot for a further 12 weeks and also went to #1 on the R&B Disc Jockey and Juke Box Charts (with YOUNG BLOOD at #2). Both titles also became national Pop Top Ten hits, staying on the charts for half a year. This success stands as a rather unique achievement in American music history. Young Jessie had substituted for Hughes on that record. After three less successful, but exciting issues, (IDOL WITH THE GOLDEN HEAD, SWEET GEORGIA BROWN, and DANCE!) the Coasters reformed and - with Jerry & Mike - moved from the West Coast to New York. Bobby Nunn and Leon Hughes stayed in California, where Nunn later launched his own "The Coasters, Mark II". Nunn died of heart failure on November 5, 1986 in Los Angeles. His group, now led by Billy Richards Jr, continued to tour as "Billy Richards' Coasters". Hughes also started his own off-shoot Coasters tribute group, "The World Famous Coasters" aka "The Original Coasters".
Two new group members were recruited by the Coasters´ prolific manager Lester Sill and shared leads on the first N.Y. Coasters Atco effort, ZING! WENT THE STRINGS OF MY HEART (a beach music classic today), recorded on March 17, 1958 in Atlantic´s new studios. Both new-comers were former L.A. experienced group singers - Will "Dub" Jones, successful bass lead with the Cadets, born in Shreveport, Louisiana on May 14, 1928 (not 1930 or 1936) - and Cornell Gunter, lead with the Flairs, born November 14, 1936 (not 1938) in Coffeyville, Kansas. The two joined Gardner and Guy to establish the classic New York quartet that recorded all the other famous Coasters' golden million sellers. YAKETY YAK (Zing's A-side, with the significant unison singing) went # 1Pop and R&B in 1958 (and received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999), although its follow-up THE SHADOW KNOWS failed. CHARLIE BROWN (Pop and R&B #2 - with its great flip THREE COOL CATS) became an international hit and was followed by ALONG CAME JONES (a #9 Pop hit in 1959) b/w THAT IS ROCK & ROLL. The double-sider POISON IVY (R&B #1 and Pop #7) b/w I´M A HOG FOR YOU became the fourth million-seller. The classic Coasters had a fifth member in guitarist Adolph Jacobs born April 15, 1939 in Sabine, East Texas, who was succeeded by a Coasters employee, Sonny Forriest, on WHAT ABOUT US b/w RUN RED RUN, which was the last single of the highly successful year of 1959.
The productions of the
Coasters´ Atco recordings were far superior to any contemporary group efforts (using the
best musicians available, especially Texan King Curtis´ fruity sax breaks) with the
lyrics neatly deriding aspects of teenage and/or black ghetto life. The group also worked
out hilarious stage routines and became the most professional act in late ´50s Rhythm
& Blues and early ´60s International Pop.
The famous former lead of the
Cadillacs, Earl "Speedo" Carroll, born November 2, 1937 in New York City, became
new second tenor in the qualitative line-up of the Coasters, which continued to record for
Atco through early 1966, with a.o. the live recording of T´AIN´T NOTHIN´
TO ME (originally issued on a various-artists "Apollo Saturday Night"
LP - hitting the Cash Box R&B Chart #20 in March, 1964); and the original recording of LET´S GO GET STONED. Three of the mid
'60s Coasters issues on Atco included a re-rendition of I MUST BE DREAMING
(originally recorded by the Robins), MONEY HONEY (a great
rendition of the original Drifters' hit) and SHE'S A YUM-YUM (the Coasters' last
Atco single, produced by King Curtis). Leiber-Stoller had left Atco/Atlantic in 1963, but
the vocal quartet renewed their collaboration with the team in late 1966, recording for
the CBS subsidiary Date Records, for which the Coasters on November 18. 1966 waxed
SOUL PAD b/w DOWN
HOME GIRL. In late October 1967 they recorded SHE CAN (later reissued
as TALKIN´ ´BOUT A WOMAN) and the wonderful original of D.W.
WASHBURN (released in 1968 and reissued on King Records in the ´70s).
In
early 1998 the true Coasters were a singing quartet again (with Palmer still
on guitar). Alvin Morse (born in February, 1951) had joined the group - and
in time for Gardner´s 70th birthday Carl Gardner Jr (petnamed Mickey - born
April 29, 1955) replaced Jimmy Norman, who had left to start a new reggae
career. By the end of July, 2001 Joe
Lance Williams (aka J. W. Lance, who had sung with Marshak's Coasters), born
June 16, 1949, started to substitute for Gardner Jr. In November, 2004 Carl
Jr returned to his father's group and Lance stayed.
On November 5, 2005 Carl Gardner Jr
officially took over lead vocals from his father, who semi-retired (but
still coaches the group). The
Coasters are probably America´s most exciting veteran vocal group of today.
We truly haven´t heard the last from them yet!
|
Song
Titles Chronology
All titles composed by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, unless otherwise
noted.
Leiber-Stoller´s publishing firms (Quintet,
Tiger, Quartet, and Trio) nowadays on Jerry Leiber Music / Mike Stoller Music
(recently sold to Sony /ATV). Most Tiger publishings later on Quintet.
Jerry Leiber Songwriters Hall of Fame | Mike Stoller Songwriters Hall of Fame
1954-1955 |
|
1956-1957 |
|
1958-1959 |
|
1960-1961 |
|
1961-1966 |
|
1966-1972 |
|
1973-onw. |
|
*) "Shoppin´ For Clothes"´ first
pressings issued with Elmo Glick (a pseudonym for Mike Stoller) as composer on label.
The second pressing, titled "Clothes Line (Wrap It Up)", has Harris-Leiber-Stoller as composers
(publ American Music - Trio). The Rhino CD has (publ Leiber-Stoller Music / Five Point).
Notes:
"Lola" originally recorded by Bob London for Spark in 1954. "Hey Sexy" was
retitled "Lovey" (with slightly different lyrics) and recorded by the Clovers
for United Artists in 1959. "What About Us" originally published as "What About
Me?" (recorded by Larry Evans for Fabor in 1956). "Besame Mucho" issued with
Wilke - Velasquez - Skylar as composers on London(E) single. "The Snake And The
Book Worm" (that’s how the single in US was spelled) originally recorded by US
singer Pat Shannon and UK singer Cliff Richard in 1959 (with slightly different
lyrics). "T´Aint´t Nothin´ To Me" originally issued on LP with the Coasters as
composers. "Saturday Night Fish Fry" issued with Jordan - Walsh - Carrington as
composers on Atlantic(E) single, and is a revival of the Jordan hit. "Lovey
Dovey" and "Money Honey" are revivals of original Clovers´ and Drifters´ hits.
"Down Home Girl" originally recorded by Alvin Robinson for Leiber-Stoller´s Red
Bird (1964). "She Can" originally recorded as "I´m A Woman" by Christine
Kittrell in 1962 and by Peggy Lee for Capitol in 1963. It was reissued by the
Coasters as "Talkin’ ‘Bout A Woman". "Love Potion Number Nine" originally
recorded for United Artists by the Clovers in 1959. "Cool Jerk" originally
recorded by the Capitols in 1966. "My Babe" is a revival of the Little Walter
hit. "On Broadway", "Mohair Sam", "The In Crowd", "Down At Papa Joe´s" and
"Mustang Sally" are revivals of hits from 1960s´ records by the Drifters, Dallas
Frazier (C&W), Ramsey Lewis (instr) & Dobie Gray (vocal), the Dixiebelles, and
Sir Mack Rice (original) & Wilson Pickett (hit cover). "Shake ´Em Up And Let ´Em
Roll" recorded by Earl Richard for United Artists in 1968. The two songs of 1976
written by Jimmy Norman and published on his There Music Company.
Are you one of the millions, who liked The
Beatles´ #1 CD of 2000?
Well, then get the super CD below - by the group, who really inspired The Beatles!
Order it for US $ 20.00 by
clicking |
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