GroUp Entertainment is proud to present Two Rooms Live, a spectacular live theatre / concert experience celebrating legendary songwriting partnerships. The songwriting partnership of lyricist Jerry Leiber and composer Mike Stoller produced over 70 hit songs from 1952- 1972, including the classics; “Kansas City” by Little Willie Littlefield, “Hound Dog” by Big Mama Thornton, “Love Me” by Willy & Ruth, “Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots” by The Cheers, “Lucky Lips” by Ruth Brown, “Love Potion No. 9” by The Clovers, “Stand by Me” by Ben E. King, “I’ll Be There” by Damita Jo, “I’m a Woman” by Christine Kittrell, “Is That All There Is?” By Peggy Lee and “I Keep Forgettin’” by Chuck Jackson. The songwriting duo also wrote a string of hits for the Coasters, The Drifters and the ‘King’ Elvis Presley including the mega hits; “Hound Dog,” “Jailhouse Rock,” “Fools Fall in Love,” “Searchin’,” “Young Blood,” “Treat Me Nice,” “(You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care,” “Don’t,” “Yakety Yak,” “King Creole,” “Charlie Brown,” “Along Came Jones,” “Poison Ivy,” “There Goes My Baby,” “She’s Not You,” and “On Broadway.”
Artists who have recorded their songs include; The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Beach Boys, Fats Domino, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Jimi Hendrix, Muddy Waters, Joe Williams, The Monkees, Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, Barbra Streisand, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Williams Johnny Cash, George Benson, Tom Jones, Joni Mitchell, Ray Stevens, Buddy Holly, Cliff Richard, Dwight Yoakam, Bad Company, The Hollies, Warren G and Nate Dogg, Sean Kingston, Michael McDonald, Peggy, Lee James Brown, Little Richard and over a thousand others.
We never thought we were writing for posterity, because at the time everyone assumed that all the great standards had already been written by Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hammerstein... The songs we were writing were supposed to be temporary things, of the period, like comic books.
We fought about words, we fought about music. We fought about everything.
Our songs did not transcend R&B. They were R&B hits that white kids were attracted to.
I write a melody and then change it and change it until I get it the way I like it.
I heard this music coming out of the radio and it was 'Ain't Nobody's Business.' It got me. I thought, 'I can do this.' I decided just like that. No romantic story.
Hound Dog' took like twelve minutes. That's not a complicated piece of work. But the rhyme scheme was difficult. Also, the metric structure of the music was not easy. 'Kansas City' was maybe eight minutes, if that. Writing the early blues was spontaneous. You can hear the energy in the work.
Honestly, when Jerry and I started to write, we were writing to amuse ourselves. It was done out of the love of doing it. And we got very lucky in the sense that at some point what we wrote also amused a lot of other people.