The Backpages Interview: Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller

The names Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller are inseparable from the stories of rhythm’n’blues and rock’n’roll. They were two Jewish teenagers who felt black and wrote some of the smartest, sassiest songs of all time for black artists like Willie Mae ‘Big Mama’ Thornton Charles Brown and the Coasters. Later, they penned massive hits for fellow Caucasians Elvis Presley, Peggy Lee and Stealer’s Wheel.