Watch extended version: Pioneering women who birthed rock and roll | Stories of Big Mama Thornton and Sister Rosetta Tharpe Thornton recorded "Hound Dog" in 1952, but the world didn't hear it ...

Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog" was a hit when released in 1956. But the original was recorded several years earlier by Big Mama ...

These are questions and themes tackled in Preston Lauterbach’s new book, “Before Elvis: The African American Musicians Who ...

"Hound Dog" just took off like a jet. Don Robey's first major hit, the one that his empire is founded on, the one that is most responsible for his success, was by Big Mama Thornton, "Hound Dog." ...

Remembering Peggy Lee's version of "Is That All There Is?" Mike Stoller said: "Peggy's is really the essential version of ...

He was talking about Big Mama Thornton, a blues musician who was raised just minutes from that bus station. Thornton was known for her hit single Hound Dog, which was then recorded by Elvis Presley.

“I just like to sing my soul,” Willie Mae Thornton, better known as Big Mama Thornton ... Highs included having a breakout hit with “Hound Dog,” which Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller ...