Pianist Otis Blackwell either composed or co-authored: "Fever" his pen name was John Davenport), "Great Balls of Fire", "Breathless", Handy Man", "Just Keep It Up", "Return to Sender", "All Shook Up", "One Broken Heart for Sale", "Don't be Cruel" but he did not write "Teddy Bear".

Kal Mann (wrote "Butterfly", "Remember You're Mine", "Let's Twist Again" and "Wild One") and Bernie Lowe (founder of Cameo Records) wrote "Teddy Bear" and requested that Otis sing the demo for Elvis Presley's number one hit in the summer of 1957.