On October 19, 2024, “Big Mama” Thornton was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a “Musical Influence” to rock music. Thanks in part to the 2022 Elvis biopic, more people have become aware of Thornton and her connection to the song “Hound Dog” but might not understand why her sound and her image are important to the history of rock.

History buffs may know that 1950s songwriters Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller wrote “Hound Dog” specifically for Thornton after hearing her in a rehearsal with singer and producer Johnny Otis in 1952. In unedited interviews from Time-Life’s 1995 TV series, The History of Rock and Roll, the songwriters specify they were inspired by her aggressive singing and her large frame.

Lieber: "[Thornton] looked like the biggest, baddest, saltiest chick you would ever see. […] She must have been 350 pounds, and she had all these scars all over her face."

While sources such as Michael Spörke’s biography on Thornton put her at 6 feet tall and about 250 pounds, Lieber exaggerates her size. Stoller confirms the fascination with the combination of her body size and voice.

Stoller: "She was a wonderful blues singer, with a great moaning style. But it was as much her appearance as her blues style that influenced the writing of “Hound Dog” and the idea that we wanted her to growl it."

Peacock Records released Thornton’s version of “Hound Dog” in 1953. It was rearranged and covered by several bands, including Freddie Bell and the Bellboys, whose version Elvis Presley heard, copied, and released to great success in 1956. The story of Thornton’s importance to rock music usually ends here, but she actually bridged the gap in vocal sound from blues music to rock ‘n’ roll.

While Lieber and Stoller were inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame in 1987—as “Performers,” and only one year after the organization began inducting honorees—Thornton often has her influence and importance as a performer underplayed in the stories about “Hound Dog.” In the songwriters’ retellings, they take credit for telling Thornton to “growl” the song. They often embellish their stories, alleging that she couldn’t read their written notes even after admitting in other interviews that there was no time to write anything down.

In less-quoted parts of the story, Lieber credits Johnny Otis with providing the drum beat that gave Thornton a foundation for singing “Hound Dog.” Lieber recognizes the importance of a specific musician’s interpretation in Otis’s drum playing but fails to give any credit to Thornton for the very singing style that inspired them to write the tune for her. In his 1995 Time-Life interview, Lieber is clear that both he and Stoller could sing and play. But they didn’t want to hear each other play. They wanted to hear their heroes. They wanted to hear Thornton sing the song, and it was her raw vocal sound that allowed the song to take off.

As a tall, fat Black woman, Thornton gifted early rock with the so-called street cred that it needed to appeal to teenagers of the 1950s. Without her size and her sound, it is doubtful rock would sound as intense as it does today. Lieber and Stoller continuously downplay Thornton’s contribution to rock in their stories, but the fact that they always refer to “Hound Dog” as “Big Mama’s record” speaks for itself. It has come over 70 years late, but Thornton has earned her recent induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.