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Thornton's recording of "Hound Dog" is credited with "helping to spur the evolution of black R&B into rock music". [9] Brandeis University professor Stephen J. Whitfield, in his 2001 book In Search of American Jewish Culture, regards "Hound Dog" as a marker of "the success of race-mixing in music a year before the desegregation of public schools was mandated" in Brown v.
Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton (December 11, 1926 – July 25, 1984), [1] was an American singer and songwriter of blues and R&B.. The Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock and Soul described Thornton, saying: "Her booming voice, sometimes 200-pound frame, and exuberant stage manner had audiences stomping their feet and shouting encouragement in R&B theaters from coast to coast from the early 1950s on".
In 1952, the partners wrote "Hound Dog" for blues singer Big Mama Thornton, [13] which became a hit for her in 1953. [3] The 1956 Elvis Presley rock and roll version, which was a takeoff of the adaptation that Presley picked up from Freddie Bell 's lounge act in Las Vegas, [ 14 ] was an even bigger hit. [ 15 ]
Legendary songwriter Mike Stoller joins our 'Rolling Stone Music Now' podcast to explain how he and Jerry Leiber wrote "Hound Dog" for Big Mama Thornton – and what happened afterwards
Think Elvis Presley was the first to record “Hound Dog,” one of his greatest hits? Think again. Singer and songwriter Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton actually deserves that recognition, though Presley's recording overshadowed her initial success with the song.
In 1952, while in Houston, Texas, Otis auditioned the singer Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton. He produced, co-wrote, and played drums on her 1953 recording of "Hound Dog" (the first recording of the song); he and his band also provided the backup "howling" vocals. [19] The song was co-written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.
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In 1955, they made their first recordings for the Teen Records label, including an adaption of Leiber and Stoller's "Hound Dog" (first recorded by Big Mama Thornton). [1] Freddie and the Bellboys' 1955 recording of "Hound Dog" would notably modify the lyrics of Big Mama's Thornton's version to make it so the song's subject was literally a dog ...