1953
HOUND DOG * WILLIE MAE 'BIG MAMA' THORNTON * PEACOCK 1612 * USA
One of the key recordings of 20th century Popular music, the original version of Hound Dog by Willie Mae 'Big Mama' Thornton . Willie Mae Thornton was born in Montgomery, Alabama,1926, she died in1984. In 1951 Don Robey signed her to his Peacock Records label in 1952 and her first record for the label was Everytime I Think Of You. Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller wrote Hound Dog, and Willie Mae flew from Houston in 1953 back to New York for Peacock-Duke records to the Hound Dog sessions. It was issued with two different B sides Night Mare (a nice Blues) and Rock-A-By Baby the record has sold almost two million copies, though she received only one check for $500 in payment in her life; yet the filthy fat rich pigs still complain that it is the consumers that are cheating the recording artists out of money.
See also Yes I Cried