American songwriter Aaron Schroeder, best known from the hits he wrote for Elvis, has died, aged 83.
Having started writing songs in the 1940s, Schroeder penned over 1500 songs in all, including seventeen recorded by Presley, five of which went to number one: 'A Big Hunk O Love', 'Good Luck Charm', 'I Got Stung', 'Stuck On You' and 'It's Now Or Never'. The latter, which he co-wrote with Wally Gold, was a worldwide hit for Elvis and sold more than 20 million units. Of it, Gold once said: "Aaron wrote other hits, I wrote other hits, but a song we finished in 20 minutes to a half-hour was the biggest song of our career".
Schroeder also wrote songs for the likes of Roy Orbison, Duane Eddy, Sammy Davis Jr, Nat King Cole, Perry Como and Pat Boone, and enjoyed a career as a record producer, label owner and manager. In his latter role he discovered and guided the career of a certain Gene Pitney.
Schroeder died of Alzheimer's disease. He is survived by his wife and a daughter.