Jerry Leiber, songwriter was 78

Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller met in Los Angeles in 1950 and teamed up to write dozens of early rock and roll hits, led perhaps by "Hound Dog," recorded first by Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton (in the video) and later by Elvis Presley, for whom they wrote more than 20 songs. "Smokey Joe's Cafe," a musical revue of their songs, opened on Broadway in 1995 and ran for 2,036 performances. The original cast recording won a Grammy award. Leiber died Monday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center of cardiopulmonary failure.

From the team's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame entry:

Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller have written some of the most spirited and enduring rock and roll songs: “Hound Dog” (originally cut by Big Mama Thornton in 1953 and covered by Elvis Presley three years later), “Love Potion No. 9” (the Clovers), “Kansas City” (Wilbert Harrison), “On Broadway” (the Drifters), “Ruby Baby” (Dion) and “Stand By Me” (Ben E. King). Their vast catalog includes virtually every major hit by the Coasters (e.g., “Searchin’,” “Young Blood,” “Charlie Brown,” “Yakety Yak” and “Poison Ivy"). They also worked their magic on Elvis Presley, writing “Jailhouse Rock,” “Treat Me Nice” and “You’re So Square (Baby I Don’t Care)” specifically for him. All totaled, Presley recorded more than 20 Leiber and Stoller songs.

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After enjoying a wildly successful run at Atlantic in the late Fifties and early Sixties, Leiber and Stoller made their final and most successful attempt at running their own record label in 1964. Red Bird Records spotlighted the girl-group sound. Their unerring eye for talent brought great young producers and songwriters into the Red Bird fold. The company’s very first release - “Chapel of Love,” by the Dixie Cups - shot to #1. Of Red Bird’s first 30 singles, 11 made the Top Forty - an outstanding percentage in the music industry. Red Bird’s commercial success was equaled by the quality of the music, including such girl-group classics as the Shangri-La’s “Leader of the Pack.” Though the era of such timeless singles faded long ago, Leiber and Stoller have remained active in the music business to which they’ve contributed so substantially.

"They corrupted us with pleasure," critic and author John Lahr wrote in the introduction to "Baby, That Was Rock & Roll: The Legendary Leiber and Stoller," a 1978 biography by Robert Graham. Inside, Leiber and Stoller in 1995 on the CBS program "Eye to Eye."