By Bob Blalock
Alabama NewsCenter
The not-yet-legendary songwriting duo of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wrote “Hound Dog” in August 1952 with a powerful, charismatic singer in mind. It wasn’t Elvis Presley, who later spun gold records – and gold – from several of their songs, including “Hound Dog.”
The then-19-year-old songwriting duo actually penned the song for Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton, a blues singer from the tiny south Alabama town of Ariton. Thornton turned “Hound Dog,” released in February 1953, into an R&B hit that sold 2 million copies – three years before Presley sang his version.
Thornton, who died in 1984, will be honored Oct. 22 in her hometown with the renaming of a street to Big Mama Thornton Circle. The event kicks off at 11 a.m.
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