Doc Pomus

Doc Pomus singing at the Pied Piper with Uffe Bode, Sol Yaged,John Levy and Rex William Stuart (1947)

Jerome Solon Felder (June 27, 1925 –March 14, 1991),known asDoc Pomus, was an American blues singer andsongwriter.[1] He is best known as the lyricist of manyrock and roll hits. Pomus was inducted into the Rockand Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer in 1992,[2] theSongwriters Hall of Fame (1992),[3] and the Blues Hallof Fame (2012).[4]

1 Early life

Born Jerome Solon Felder in 1925 in Brooklyn, NewYork, he was a son of Jewish immigrants.[5] Felder be-came a fan of the blues after hearing a Big Joe Turnerrecord. Having had polio as a boy, he walked with thehelp of crutches. Later, due to post-polio syndrome, ex-acerbated by an accident, Felder eventually relied on awheelchair.His brother is New York attorney Raoul Felder.

2 Career

Using the stage name “Doc Pomus”, teenager Felderbegan performing as a blues singer. His stage namewasn't inspired by anyone in particular; he just thoughtit sounded better for a blues singer than the name Jerry

Felder. Pomus stated that more often than not, he was theonly Caucasian in the clubs, but that as a Jew and a poliovictim, he felt a special “underdog” kinship with AfricanAmericans, while in turn the audiences both respected hiscourage and were impressed with his talent. Gigging atvarious clubs in and around New York City, Pomus oftenperformed with the likes of Milt Jackson, Mickey Bakerand King Curtis. Pomus recorded approximately 40 sidesas a singer in the '40s and '50s for record companies suchas Chess, Apollo, Gotham and others.In the early 1950s, Pomus started writing magazine ar-ticles as well as songwriting for artists such as LavernBaker, Ruth Brown, Ray Charles and Big Joe Turner toearn more money to support a family, after he had mar-ried Willi Burke, a Broadway actress. His first big song-writing break came when he chanced upon the Coasters'version of his "Young Blood" on a jukebox while on theirhoneymoon. Pomus wrote the song, then gave it to JerryLeiber and Mike Stoller, who radically rewrote it. Still,Doc had co-credit as author, and he soon received a roy-alty check for $1500.00, which convinced him that song-writing was a career direction worth pursuing. By 1957,Pomus had given up performing for full-time songwrit-ing. He collaborated with pianist Mort Shuman, whomhe met when Shuman was dating Doc’s younger cousin,to write for Hill & Range Music Co./Rumbalero Musicat its offices in New York City’s Brill Building. Pomusasked Shuman to write with him because Doc didn't thenknow much about rock and roll, whereas Mort was fa-miliar with many popular artists of the day. Their song-writing efforts had Pomus write the lyrics and Shumanthe melody, although often they worked on both. Theywrote the hit songs "A Teenager in Love", "Save The LastDance For Me", "Hushabye", "This Magic Moment","Turn Me Loose", "Sweets For My Sweet" (a hit for theDrifters and then the Searchers), “Go Jimmy Go”, "LittleSister", "Can't Get Used to Losing You", "Suspicion","Surrender" and "(Marie’s the Name) His Latest Flame".During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Pomus wrote sev-eral songs with Phil Spector (“Young Boy Blues"; “Ec-stasy"; “What Am I To Do?"), Mike Stoller and JerryLeiber (“Young Blood” and “She’s Not You”), and otherBrill Building-era writers. Pomus also wrote "Lonely Av-enue", a 1956 hit for Ray Charles.[6]

In the 1970s and 1980s, in his eleventh-floor, two-roomapartment at theWestover Hotel at 253West 72nd Street,Pomus wrote songs with Dr. John, Ken Hirsch and WillyDeVille for what he said were "...those people stum-bling around in the night out there, uncertain or not al-

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2 5 REFERENCES

ways so certain of exactly where they fit in and wherethey were headed.” These later songs (“There Must BeA Better World”, “There Is Always One More Time”,“That World Outside”, “You Just Keep Holding On”, and“Something Beautiful Dying” in particular)—recorded byWilly DeVille, B.B. King, Irma Thomas, Marianne Faith-full, Charlie Rich, Ruth Brown, Dr. John, James Booker,and Johnny Adams—are considered by some, includ-ing writer Peter Guralnick, musician and songwriter Dr.John, and producer Joel Dorn, to be signatures of his bestcraft.The documentary film A.K.A. Doc Pomus (2012), con-ceived by Pomus’ daughter Sharyn Felder, directed byfilmmaker Peter Miller and Will Hechter, edited by AmyLinton and produced by Felder, Hechter and Miller, de-tails Pomus’ life.Pomus died on March 14, 1991 from lung cancer, at theage of 65 at NYU medical center in Manhattan.

3 Legacy and influence

Further information: List of songs written by Doc Pomusand Mort Shuman

Together with Shuman and individually, Pomus was akey figure in the development of popular music. Theyco-wrote such hits as "Save the Last Dance for Me","This Magic Moment", "Sweets for My Sweet", "VivaLas Vegas", “Little Sister”, “Surrender”, "Can't Get Usedto Losing You", "Suspicion", "Turn Me Loose" and “AMess of Blues”.[7]

• Pomus was elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fameand the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

• In 1991 he was the first non-African-American re-cipient of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation Pio-neer Award.[8] Ray Charles did the honors via a pre-recorded message.

• The funk band Cameo was heavily influenced byDoc Pomus’ song-writing style and frequently ac-knowledges his impact before performing their hitsong “Word Up.”

• Longtime friend jazz singer Jimmy Scott performedat Pomus’ funeral, which performance singularlyresurrected his career. Other attendees includedSeymour Stein, who subsequently signed Scott toSire Records, and Lou Reed, who thereafter wouldregularly work with Scott until his death. Pomus hadbeen imploring his friends to see Scott play for manyyears.[9]

• The song “Doc’s Blues”[10] was written as a trib-ute to Pomus by his close friend, Andrew Vachss.The lyrics originally appeared in Vachss’ 1990 novel

Blossom. “Doc’s Blues” was recorded by bluesmanSon Seals, on Seals’ last album, Lettin’ Go.[11]

• Responsible for Lou Reed's introduction to the mu-sic industry in the early 1960s, Pomus was one oftwo friends Reed memorialized on his 1992 albumMagic and Loss (the other was Rotten Rita).

• In 1995, Rhino Records released a tribute album toPomus entitled Till The Night Is Gone. Pomus songsare performed by Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, Dion,Dr. John, Irma Thomas, Solomon Burke, John Hi-att, Shawn Colvin, Aaron Neville, Lou Reed, TheBand, B.B. King, Los Lobos and Rosanne Cash.

• In 2010, Ben Folds and Nick Hornby named theircollaborative album Lonely Avenue, on which thesong “Doc Pomus” appeared. The lyrics referencedan excerpt from Doc Pomus’s uncompleted memoir,February 21, 1984: “I was never one of those happycripples who stumbled around smiling and shiny-eyed, trying to get the world to cluck its tongue andshake its head sadly in my direction. They’d neverlook at me and say, 'What a wonderful, courageousfellow.'" The album featured lyrics written by Britishauthor Hornby, set to music by American performerFolds. It was released on September 28, 2010.

• John Goodman's character in the Coen brothers'2013 dramedy Inside Llewyn Davis was loosely in-spired by Pomus.[12]

4 Further reading

• Halberstadt, Alex (2007). Lonely Avenue: The Un-likely Life And Times Of Doc Pomus. New York: DaCapo Press. ISBN 0306813009.

5 References[1] Obituary Variety, March 18, 1991.

[2] “Doc Pomus - Induction Year: 1992 - Induction Category:Non-Performer”. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Retrieved2007-06-30.

[3] “Doc Pomus”. Songwriters Hall Of Fame. Retrieved2008-03-27.

[4] “Blues Foundation Announces 2012 Blues Hall of FameInductees”. confessingtheblues. Retrieved 2013-06-01.

[5] Tamarkini, Jeff (2007-04-03). “Heart of the matter”. ThePhoenix. Retrieved 2007-04-24.

[6] “Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman”. www.history-of-rock.Retrieved 2007-06-30.

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[7] “Doc Pomus - Biography”. Allmusic.com. Retrieved2007-06-27.

[8] “Rhythm and Blues Foundation 1991 Pioneer Awards”.

[9] Ritz, David (2002). Faith in Time: The Life of JimmyScott. Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA: Da Capo. p. 4.ISBN 978-0-306-81229-3.

[10] “Doc’s Blues”. Retrieved 2007-02-04.

[11] “Lettin' Go”. Retrieved 2007-02-04.

[12] Evans, Greg (2013-10-01). “Coens Evoke NY FolkScene; Hanks Battles Pirates: Movies”. Bloomberg. Re-trieved 2014-05-21.

6 External links• The Official Home Page Of Pomus Songs, Inc.

• Doc Pomus at AllMusic

• Doc Pomus Biography

• Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman

4 7 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

7 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

7.1 Text• Doc Pomus Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doc_Pomus?oldid=672080491 Contributors: TUF-KAT, Richj, Charles Matthews,Nunh-huh, Everyking, Beardo, Jason Quinn, Andycjp, Cwoyte, D6, Carptrash, Sc147, Salmi, Jpgordon, Bobo192, Laurapinto, Graham87,Kbdank71, Ted Wilkes, Rjwilmsi, Koavf, Missmarple, The wub, Design, Wasted Time R, YurikBot, RussBot, NawlinWiki, Jaxl, Dis-solve, Crystallina, SmackBot, Griot~enwiki, McGeddon, Telescope, Colonies Chris, Rsilbe, Madman2001, Derek R Bullamore, Alcuin,Ser Amantio di Nicolao, Karlos the Jackal, Gobonobo, Shiai, Fifties, The-Pope, Jetman, Twas Now, FairuseBot, J Milburn, Drinibot,Jimknut, Cydebot, Jack O'Lantern, Atusler, Pingku, Akcarver, Satori Son, Richhoncho, Mattisse, Thijs!bot, Annabells, Fayenatic london,Billdescoteaux, Ghmyrtle, Mwprods, Bigjimr, MegX, Rothorpe, Waacstats, Ashadeofgrey, Simon Peter Hughes, Vytal, Nazroon, HOT LBaltimore, Peaches5, Plasticup, Shortride, Technopat, AmRen93, Glockfamilyman, Hifihitman, Radio65, All Hallow’s Wraith, Parkwells,SunnyLowdown, Addbot, SpanishStroll, Kitchen roll, IbLeo, Tassedethe, Yobot, Jasperhunt, Ronzoni, FrescoBot, Aardvarkzz, Rjwilmsi-Bot, Qdiderot, GoingBatty, Outriggr, Refcheck, ClueBot NG, CactusBot, Proscribe, Theoldsparkle, BG19bot, LongLiveMusic, VIAFbot,Mchanges!, Memphisflash56, Synthwave.94, Spencieboy, Charge2charge, KasparBot and Anonymous: 47

7.2 Images• File:Uffe_Bode,_Doc_Pomus,_Sol_Yaged,_John_Levy_and_Rex_William_Stuart_1947.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Uffe_Bode%2C_Doc_Pomus%2C_Sol_Yaged%2C_John_Levy_and_Rex_William_Stuart_1947.jpg License:Public domain Contributors: Library of Congress Original artist: Gottlieb, William P.

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