Big Mama Thornton recorded "Hound Dog" first and got paid with one $500 check. Elvis Presley's version made him a fortune. Black History Unfiltered tells the real, more complicated story — including the part that isn't just about Elvis. ???? Did she get the credit she deserved?

SOURCES

Original 1952 recording of "Hound Dog," written for her by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart for seven weeks — Wikipedia, Hound Dog (song); Wikipedia, Big Mama Thornton
$500 payment for the recording, with no further royalties — Britannica, "Hound Dog"; independently corroborated by Ted Tocks Covers and Tim's Cover Story blog retrospectives
Quote: "Didn't get no money from them at all. Everybody livin' in a house but me. I'm just livin'." — Ted Tocks Covers, citing a Rolling Stone interview with Thornton
Elvis Presley's 1956 version selling roughly 10 million copies and topping the pop, country, and R&B charts simultaneously — Wikipedia, Hound Dog (song)
Leiber and Stoller also being underpaid initially, receiving a bounced $1,200 check from Peacock Records — Britannica; Rolling Stone, "Did Elvis Presley Steal From Big Mama Thornton? The Real Story of 'Hound Dog'"
Mike Stoller's on-record pushback against the idea that Elvis specifically "stole" from Thornton, redirecting cultural appropriation criticism toward artists like Pat Boone — Rolling Stone
Elvis never publicly acknowledging a debt to Thornton, and her account of him declining to perform alongside her — Oxford American, "The Thinning of Big Mama"
"Ball and Chain," written by Thornton herself, copyright assigned to Bay-Tone Records in 1961, which withheld its release; Janis Joplin's 1967–68 cover and Thornton's resulting songwriting credit and royalties — Wikipedia, Big Mama Thornton; Factinate, "The Tragic Downfall Of Big Mama Thornton"
Struggles with alcoholism, dramatic weight loss due to illness, and death on July 25, 1984, from a heart attack and liver disorders, penniless in a Los Angeles boarding house, buried in a shared grave — Wikipedia; WBSS Media; TeachRock; Factinate
Posthumous induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2024, under the Musical Influence category — Wikipedia

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