Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller: Top 50 Songs

l to r: Mike Stoller, Elvis Presley, and Jerry Leiber; image from rollingstone.com

Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller Top 50 Songs

Songwriter and record producer Jerry Leiber was born Jerome Leiber on 4/25/1933 in Baltimore, MD. He died on 8/22/2011. Mike Stoller, his songwriting partner and also a producer, was born 3/13/1933 in Belle Harbor, New York City, NY. They were one of the songwriting teams to work in the legendary Brill Building, known for housing some of pop music history’s most famous songwriters and publishers in the 1950s and ‘60s. Three of their songs – “Hound Dog,” “Jailhouse Rock,” and “Stand by Me” – are featured in the DMDB book The Top 100 Songs of the Rock Era, 1954-1999. For a complete list of their DMDB honors, check out the separate DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia pages for Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Click here to see other acts’ best-of lists.

Awards:

Top 50 Songs Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists as well as chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. Many of these songs have been recorded multiple times. Only the highest-ranked version in Dave’s Music Database is included in this list. The recording artist is noted in parentheses. Songs which hit #1 on these charts are noted: United States Billboard Hot 100 pop chart (US), Cashbox (CB), Hit Records (HR), Radio & Records (RR), Billboard adult contemporary (AC), Billboard R&B chart (RB), Billboard country chart (CW), UK pop chart (UK), Canadian pop chart (CN). DMDB Top 1%: 1. Elvis Presley “Hound Dog” (1956) #1 US, CB, RB 2. Elvis Presley “Jailhouse Rock” (1957) #1 US, CB, RB, CW, UK, CN 3. Ben E. King “Stand by Me” (1961) #1 RB, UK, CN 4. Wilbert Harrison “Kansas City” (1959) #1 US, CB, HR, RB, CN DMDB Top 5%: 5. The Drifters “On Broadway” (1963) 6. The Drifters “There Goes My Baby” (1959) #1 CB, RB 7. The Coasters “Yakety Yak” (1958) #1 US, CB, HR, RB 8. Elvis Presley “Don’t” (1957) #1 US, CB, CN 9. Sean Kingston “Beautiful Girls” (2007) * #1 US, UK, CN, AU 10. The Coasters “Searchin’” (1957) #1 RB 11. Ben E. King “Spanish Harlem” (written by Leiber with Phil Spector, 1960) 12. The Coasters “Charlie Brown” (1959) #1 CN 13. Warren G with Nate Dogg “Regulate” (1994) ** 14. The Coasters “Young Blood” (1957) #1 RB 15. The Clovers “Love Potion No. 9” (1959) 16. The Coasters “Poison Ivy” (1959) #1 RB DMDB Top 10%: 17. The Coasters “Along Came Jones” (1959) 18. Elvis Presley “She’s Not You” (1962) #1 UK 19. Peggy Lee “Is That All There Is?” (1969) #1 AC 20. The Coasters (as the Robins) “Smokey Joe’s Café” (1955) 21. Michael McDonald “I Keep Forgettin’” (1982) #1 RR DMDB Top 20%: 22. The Drifters “Dance with Me” (1959) 23. Elvis Presley “Loving You” (1957) 24. Elvis Presley “Treat Me Nice” (1957) 25. Ruth Brown “Lucky Lips” (1957) 26. Elvis Presley “Bossa Nova Baby” (1963) 27. Elvis Presley “Love Me” (1956) 28. Johnny Cash with June Carter Cash “Jackson” (Leiber – credited to his wife Gaby Rogers – with Billy Edd Wheeler, 1967) 29. The Shangri-Las “Past, Present and Future” (by 1966) 30. The Monkees “D.W. Washburn” (1968) Beyond the DMDB Top 20%: 31. The Coasters “Run Red Run” (1959) 32. The Coasters “One Kiss Led to Another” (1956) 33. The Coasters “What About Us” (1959) 34. Elvis Presley “Just Tell Her Jim Said Hello” (1962) 35. Maria Muldaur “I’m a Woman” (1974) 36. Cheech & Chong “Framed” (1976) 37. Ruth Brown “Jack O’ Diamonds” (1959) 38. The Coasters “Little Egypt (Ying-Yang)” (1961) 39. The Drifters “Fools Fall in Love” (1957) 40. LaVern Baker “Saved” (1961) 41. Elvis Presley “King Creole” (1958) 42. LaVern Baker with Jimmy Ricks “You’re the Boss” (1961) 43. Elvis Presley “You’re So Square, Baby I Don’t Care” (1957) 44. Jay & the Americans “Only in America” (1963) 45. Ben E. King “I Who Have Nothing” (1963) 46. The Coasters “The Idol with the Golden Head” (1957) 47. The Coasters “Down in Mexico” (1956) 48. The Coasters “Shoppin’ for Clothes” (1960) 49. Brook Benton “Do Your Own Thing” (1968) 50. The Boys in the Band “How ‘Bout a Little Hand for the Boys in the Band” (1970) * contains sample of “Stand by Me” ** contains sample of “I Keep Forgettin’” Resources and Related Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Jerry Leiber DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Mike Stoller Dave’s Music Database: “Acts’ Profile Pages and Best-of Lists” Paste Magazine Jerry Leiber: 1933-2011 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s bio for Leiber and Stoller Rolling Stone Songwriter Jerry Leiber Dies at 78 First posted 8/23/2011; updated 8/8/2023.

Clyde McPhatter: An R&B Legend

Clyde McPhatter, 1932-1972

June 13, 1972: One of R&B’s greatest singers, Clyde McPhatter, died of a heart attack in a New York hotel room. Only 39, he had struggled for years with alcoholism and depression and was, according to Jay Warner’s On This Day in Music History, “broke and despondent over a mismanaged career that made him a legend but hardly a success.”

McPhatter fronted two of the most influential groups in R&B history, helping to make him one of the top 1000 music makers of all time according to Dave’s Music Database. From 1950 to 1953, he was a member of the Dominoes. “Sixty Minute Man” was the biggest R&B hit of 1951, ^AMG topping the Billboard R&B charts for 14 weeks. All Music Guide called it “the first identifiable rock & roll record…by a black group to make the jump from the R&B to the pop charts.”



It was sung by Bill Brown, but generally McPhatter handled lead vocals, such as on 1952 #1 R&B hit “Have Mercy Baby.” With the group at one point billed as Billy Ward and His Dominoes, Ward collected the lion’s share of the profits. McPhatter wasn’t making enough to live on and quit. Atlantic Records’ co-founder Ahmet Ertegun offered him a chance to form a new group and the Drifters, a name suggested by McPhatter, were born. Ertegun once proclaimed them “the all-time greatest Atlantic group.”

The Drifters became a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee which, as their Rock Hall bio says, “epitomized the vocal group sound of New York City.” McPhatter saw two more long stays at #1 on the R&B charts with “Money Honey” and “Honey Love,” which was the biggest R&B hit of 1954. ^AMG



By 1955, McPhatter left for a solo career, landing R&B #1 songs with 1956’s “Treasure of Love”, 1957’s Long Lonely Nights”, and 1958’s “A Lover’s Question.” The latter was a top 10 U.S. pop hit as well.



The monstrous success of Motown groups like the Temptations, the Four Tops, and the Miracles owe a debt to the blueprint McPhatter forged. Significantly, McPhatter’s own ex-groups enjoyed success with and without him. The Dominoes landed a dozen top ten R&B hits in the 1950s with five different singers. The Drifters used six singers on 25 top ten R&B hits over a twenty-year chart run. The group’s most notable frontmen were fellow DMDB top 1000 music makers Jackie Wilson, who helmed two top ten R&B hits for the Dominoes (“You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down”, “Rags to Riches”), and Ben E. King, who sang lead with the Drifters from 1959-61 on six top ten R&B hits, including “There Goes My Baby” and “Save the Last Dance for Me.”

Both men also enjoyed solo success on the R&B and pop charts. Wilson’s “Lonely Teardrops” and “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher” were both top 10 pop hits. King pulled off the same feat with “Spanish Harlem” and “Stand by Me.” The latter makes the book The Top 100 Songs of the Rock Era, 1954-1999.

Like so many gifted musicians, McPhatter led a troubled life. However, his legacy remains in tact, thanks to the music and influence he left behind.




For more information, including special recognitions for acts, songs, and albums, check out individual entries in the DMDB music makers’ encyclopedia for the Dominoes, the Drifters, Ben E. King, Clyde McPhatter, and Jackie Wilson.

50 years ago: Ben E. King charted with “Stand by Me"

Stand by Me Ben E. King

Writer(s): Ben E. King/Elmo Glick/Jerry Leiber/Mike Stoller (see lyrics here) First Charted: May 8, 1961 Peak: 4 US, 3 CB, 2 GR, 6 HR, 16 RR, 10 AC, 14 RB, 13 UK, 11 CN, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 7.0 radio, 492.2 video, 550.41 streaming

Awards (Ben E. King): Click on award for more details. Awards (U2 & Bruce Springsteen): Awards (Playing for Change):

About the Song: Regarding “one of the great pop songs of all time,” LW Ben E. King said he modified “Stand by Me” from Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers’ “Lord, I’m Standing By” TC but that his end result was completely different. “All the romantic bits came from me.” KL He wrote “Stand by Me” while he was still the lead singer for the Drifters, but their manager said, “not a bad song, but we don’t need it.” RS500 It didn’t resurface again until King went solo. During the recording sessions for “Spanish Harlem,” producers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller asked King if he had any more songs since they had some studio time left over. He played a piano version of “Stand by Me.” WK They did an arrangement on the spot, creating the song’s distinctive percussion by turning a snare drum over and stroking the springs against the drum skin. TC The way the arrangement builds throughout, with more instruments added at each stage, was “pure Leiber-Stoller.” MA Author Alan Lewis said the songwriting pair “exemplify Tin Pan Alley rock ‘n’ roll,” LW a reference to the famed songwriting out of New York in the early part of the 20th century. Critic Greg Shaw said, “They were the true architects of pop/rock.” LW “Stand by Me” also offered a glimpse of the kind of work to come from Motown’s Holland-Dozier-Holland and Phil Spector, a Leiber-Stoller protégé. MA Twenty-five years later, the song proved its timelessness. In the mid-‘80s, director Rob Reiner was working on a film and needed a song for the title sequence. He went through his old records and settled on “Stand by Me” not just for the opening, but for the name of his movie. KL It didn’t just make for a bit of nostalgia, though; the song re-entered the top 10 on the pop charts and made its first appearance on the adult contemporary charts. It was also used in a Levi Jeans ad, helping it to top the UK singles chart, WK where it originally peaked at #27 in 1961. The song has been covered multiple times. Personal favorites include a live version from 1987 featuring U2 with Bruce Springsteen and a version recorded in 2008 by a collaboration of artists around the world under the Playing for Change banner. Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Ben E. King DMDB Encyclopedia entry for U2 DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Bruce Springsteen DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Playing for Change TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Page 367. KL Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh (2005). 1000 UK Number One Hits: The Stories Behind Every Number One Single Since 1952. London, Great Britain: Omnibus Press. Page 321. LW Alan Lewens (2001). Popular Song – Soundtrack of the Century. Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 113. MA Dave Marsh (1989). The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. New York, NY; New American Library. Page 51. RS500 RollingStone.com “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” WK Wikipedia.org First posted 7/8/2012; last updated 11/23/2022.