As you probably know, songwriting legend Jerry Leiber passed away earlier this week. We already posted a Cover Me tribute to the man, but now another tribute cover has made its way to our ears. It’s by the V-Roys, the Steve Earle-championed band fans thought they’d never hear from again after their 1999 breakup. Well, they’re back with “Smokey Joe’s Café,” the song Leiber and Stoller wrote in 1955 for the Robins (soon to be renamed the Coasters). Continue reading »
Jerry Leiber, the famed songwriter, passed away yesterday at 78. He was the lyricist in the songwriting duo Leiber and Stoller while Mike Stoller handled the composing. Together they penned such classic pop songs as “Hound Dog,” “Kansas City,” “Stand by Me,” “Jailhouse Rock,” and “Yakety Yak,” among many other hits which were originally performed by artists like Elvis Presley, The Drifters, and Ben E.King. In 1995 Leiber and Stoller’s catalog of hits was turned into the Broadway musical Smokey Joe’s Cafe, which was nominated for seven Tony Awards. The duo was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1985, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. Continue reading »