Jesse Stone; Formative Figure in Rock ‘n’ Roll

Jesse Stone, a songwriter and arranger who helped lay the foundations of rock ‘n’ roll through such 1950s hits as “Shake, Rattle and Roll” and “Money Honey,” has died at the age of 97.

Stone died Thursday at a hospital near Altamonte Springs, Fla., where he and his wife, singer Evelyn McGee Stone, moved in the early 1980s. He had been on kidney dialysis and recently suffered from heart problems, attorney Dan Fallon said.

Stone, who also wrote under the name Charles Calhoun for music publishing licensing reasons, made his greatest impact at Atlantic Records in the formative years of rock ‘n’ roll.

In addition to “Shake, Rattle and Roll”--which in 1954 was a No. 1 R&B; record for Big Joe Turner and a Top 10 pop hit for Bill Haley & His Comets--Stone crafted such defining songs as the Drifters’ 1953 R&B; hit “Money Honey,” the Clovers’ “Your Cash Ain’t Nothin’ but Trash” and Ray Charles’ “It Should’ve Been Me.”

At Stone’s 95th birthday party, Atlantic co-founder Ahmet Ertegun read a letter from producer Jerry Wexler that noted: “From your vast experience with jazz, blues, country--in fact, every facet of American root music--you became one of the architects of the new urban music of black folk, the music that came to be known as rhythm and blues.

“You wrote the tunes and the arrangements; you assembled the players; you ran the rehearsals; you conducted in the studio. And it was your own continuing evolution that helped pave the way for the next great cultural tidal wave--rock ‘n’ roll.”

In a 1996 review of a German import CD collection of Stone’s music, Times pop music critic Robert Hilburn wrote: “As a writer, Stone didn’t focus on teen attitudes in the manner of Chuck Berry, but he had a comparable sense of storytelling and rhyme. . . . His music and songs remain an important part of the rock legacy.”

Stone was born in Atchison, Kan., in 1901, and got his start in show business touring with his family’s minstrel show. In the 1920s he led a jazz group that included saxophone legend Coleman Hawkins. In the heyday of Kansas City jazz, Stone was a prominent pianist and arranger.

In 1936, Duke Ellington helped Stone get a booking at New York’s Cotton Club. Stone went on to work at the Apollo Theatre, composing and arranging songs and writing sketches for comedians.

He made his first big mark with the jazz standard “Idaho,” first recorded by Benny Goodman, in 1942. After World War II he recorded for RCA, turning out such jump-blues novelties as “Hey Sister Lucy (What Makes Your Lips so Juicy)” and “Keep Your Big Mouth Shut.”

Although Stone had retired, in the 1980s and early ‘90s he accompanied his wife on keyboards and wrote many of the songs on her recent album, “Jump Back.”

He is survived by his wife.

Associated Press contributed to this story.