E-mail a friendJune 16, 2009
Iranian writer Marina Nemat, author of Prisoner of Tehran, weighs in on the outcome of the election in her native country. Pioneering songwriting and producing duo Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller reflect on their introduction to music, how they became partners and on their vast catalogue.
Marina Nemat
Marina Nemat
Iranian writer comments on the high turnout for the election in her native country and what it might mean. (2:56)
Full interview. (10:28)
Marina Nemat was a good student from a Christian family in Iran and accustomed to speaking her mind. The Iranian Revolution turned her world upside down. She was arrested at age 16, jailed for more than two years in a political prison in Tehran, tortured and almost executed. After gaining her freedom, Nemat immigrated to Canada, where she attended and is now an ambassador for the University of Toronto. She was awarded the first annual Human Dignity Prize and tells her story in the acclaimed memoir, Prisoner of Tehran.
Jerry Leiber; Mike Stoller
Jerry Leiber; Mike Stoller
Legendary songwriting duo talks about Elvis Presley picking up a song written for a woman to sing. (2:21)
Full interview. (14:02)
By combining R&B with pop lyrics, the songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller revolutionized rock and roll. They wrote and produced classic songs by R&B artists, as well as Elvis Presley, created Smokey Joe's Café—Broadway's longest-running musical revue—and were the first indie record producers. Leiber, the lyricist who grew up near Baltimore, and the classically-trained Stoller, raised in Queens, teamed up after meeting in L.A. in 1950. The Grammy-winning duo was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in '85.