Songwriter doc pomus biography

American musician (–)

Doc Pomus
Pomus in
Birth name	Jerome Solon Felder
Born	()June 27, Brooklyn, New York City, United States
Died	March 14, () (aged&#;65) Manhattan, New York City, Combined States
Genres	Blues, rock and roll
Occupation(s)	Singer, songwriter & producer

Musical artist

Jerome Solon Felder (June 27, – March 14, ), known professionally as Doc Pomus, was an American blues singer and songwriter.^[1] He is best known as the co-writer of many rock and rollhits.

Pomus was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer in ,^[2] the Songwriters Hall of Fame (),^[3] and the Blues Hall of Fame ().^[4]

Early life

Jerome Solon Felder was born on June 27, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York.

He was the son of British born Jewish immigrants.^{[5][6][7][8][9]} Having contracted polio as a boy, he was in an iron lung for a year, and walked with the aid of crutches.

For the Record …. Army and the arrival of British band the Beatles. Despite being crippled by polio at age six, Pomus loomed larger than life to his many friends and admirers. Even as rock forged on without him in the slow s and s, Pomus continued to embody the traits of the hip, all-knowing, and gentle empiricist — the guy who has seen it all yet retains a heart of gold.

Later, due to post-polio syndrome exacerbated by an accident, Felder relied on a wheelchair.^[5][9]

Pomus was homeschooled for much of elementary and junior high school. He had a high IQ, and excelled at the insult test among teens and young men, "playing the dozens".

He also was facile at creating his own lyrics for blues songs of the day.^[10] He became a fan of the blues after hearing a Big Joe Turner record, "Piney Brown Blues", which changed the direction of his life.^[6][7] He attended Bushwick High School and then Brooklyn College, where he studied harmony and learned to play piano and saxophone,^[9] from to

His brother is New York attorney Raoul Felder.^[11]

Career

Performing career

Using the stage name Doc Pomus, the teenage Felder began performing as a blues singer.^[12] His stage label was not inspired by anyone in particular; he just consideration it sounded better for a blues singer than Jerry Felder, though it included a “nod” to blues singer Doctor Clayton.^[13] He began going to Jazz clubs before working up the nerve to perform in front of mostly black audiences, doing his version of popular blues songs that were received with great enthusiasm by club patrons.^[12] The 18 year old Pomus debuted at George's Tavern in Greenwich Village.^[3] Clubs would ask him to perform, and on one occasion the great saxophonist Lester Young sat in with him.^[10]

Pomus stated that more often than not, he was the only Caucasian in the clubs, but that as a Jew with polio, he felt a special underdog kinship with African Americans, while in turn the audiences respected his courage and were impressed by his talent.

Pomus performed as a singer for years around metropolitan Recent York (), heading a band that included Mickey Baker and King Curtis.^[3][10] Gigging at clubs in and around New York City, Pomus often performed with Milt Jackson, Horace Silver, Buddy Tate,^[14] Baker, and Curtis.

Pomus is reported to have recorded more than fifty record sides of music,^[9] though others own reported the number at about forty sides,^{[citation needed]} as a singer in the s and s for Chess,^[3]Apollo, Dawn, Gotham, and other recording companies (such as Savoy, Atlantic and Coral^[3]).

In his early thirties, Pomus’ song “Heartlessly” was being played by disc jockey Alan Freed. Once the company with rights to the song learned about Pomus’ life and circumstances, they had no interest in promoting his singing career, and he realized he would need another way to make a living.^[15] He stopped performing live in ^[10]

Songwriter

In , Gatemouth Moore had recorded one of Pomus' hold songs for National Records.

In , he became one of Atlantic Records original songwriters.^[6][7] In the early s, Pomus began writing magazine articles,^{[citation needed]} as well as songwriting for Lavern Baker, Ruth Brown, Ray Charles, and Big Joe Turner (whose music had changed Pomus' life).

Charles’ recording of the R&B top ten song "Lonely Avenue" marked a national breakthrough for Pomus, though he made minuscule money.^[5][16]

In , he married an aspiring Broadway actress from Westville, Illinois, named Willi Burke.^[17] (She later performed in the Broadway play Fiorello.^[9]) They were divorced in ^[17]

His first rock and roll songwriting break came when the Coasters recorded a knock with the song "Young Blood".^[5] He had sent a demo of the song to Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, his role models for this fresh kind of songwriting.

They substantially rewrote the song for the Coasters, and Pomus only first heard about its being recorded by playing it on a jukebox.^[10] Still, Pomus had co-credit as lyricist, and soon received a royalty check for $2,^{[citation needed]} (US$27, in dollars^[18]) (reported elsewhere as $1,^[10]), an event that convinced him that songwriting was a career worth hunting.

By , Pomus had given up performing^[10] in favor of songwriting.

Pomus collaborated with pianist Mort Shuman, whom he met when Shuman was dating Pomus's younger cousin.^[19] Songwriter Otis Blackwell introduced the duo to Hill & Range Music Co./Rumbalero Harmony at its offices in Fresh York City's Brill Building.^[16][19] Pomus asked Shuman to write with him because Pomus did not know much about contemporary rock and roll, whereas Shuman was acquainted with popular artists of the day.

For the most part, Pomus wrote the lyrics while Shuman composed the melodies, but they often collaborated on both aspects of their songs. Together they wrote "A Teenager in Love", "Save the Last Dance for Me", "Hushabye", "This Magic Moment", "Turn Me Loose", "Sweets For My Sweet" (a hit for The Drifters, and later The Searchers), "Go, Jimmy, Go", "Little Sister", "Can't Receive Used to Losing You", "Suspicion", "Surrender", and "(Marie's the Mention of) His Latest Flame".^{[5][12][19][3]} They wrote regularly for Elvis Presley and The Drifters, and wrote hits for others, such as Bobby Darin, Dion and the Belmonts, and Fabian.^[5] Pomus' innovation in writing his early rock song lyrics was focusing on the realities and difficulties of being a teenager, rather than trying to paint an idealized teenage life.^[10]

"Save the Last Move for Me" has been called his crowning achievement.

The lyrics came to him at his wedding, watching his wife sway with others, Pomus being unable to dance because of polio's effects on his body.^[12][9] The song has been performed by singers as diverse as nation singer Eric Church and jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, and it was a top ten territory hit for both Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris.^[10] It is said to be the last song Leonard Cohen ever performed on stage.^[17]

Phil Spector became a protege of Pomus.^[12] During the late s and early s, Pomus wrote several songs with Spector ("Young Boy Blues", "Ecstasy", "First Taste of Love" and "What Am I To Do?"), Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber ("Young Blood" and "She's Not You"), and other Brill Building-era writers.^[20][3]

Later life

With the advent of the Beatles, the days of the Brill Building type songwriter-for-hire in rock and roll were numbered.

While he continued writing and had sporadic success, Pomus' main means of income for years was as a professional gambler, which he left after ten years as it was becoming too violent a planet. Late in his life his income increased from royalty payments when more performers started covering his songs.^[10][12][16]

In the s and s, in his eleventh-floor, two-room apartment at the Westover Hotel at West 72nd Street, Pomus wrote songs with Dr.

John, Ken Hirsch, and Willy DeVille for what he said were " those people stumbling around in the night out there, uncertain or not always so certain of exactly where they fit in and where they were headed."^{[citation needed]} These later songs ("There Must Be A Better World", "There Is Always One More Time", "That Nature Outside", "You Just Keep Holding On", and "Something Beautiful Dying")—recorded by Willy DeVille, B.B.

King, Irma Thomas, Marianne Faithfull, Charlie Rich, Ruth Brown, Dr. John (Mac Rebennack), James Booker, Jimmy Witherspoon, and Johnny Adams—are considered by some, including writer Peter Guralnick, musician and songwriter Dr. John, and producer Joel Dorn, to be signatures of Pomus's best craft.

B. B King's recording of "There Must Be A Better World Somewhere" won a Grammy in He also played an important role with John Belushi in creating the back-up band for the Blues Brothers in the s, and was Bette Midler's musical advisor, bringing her to national attention.^{[6][7][3][5][19][10]}

Pomus also focused in later animation on helping forgotten R&B artists who had fallen on difficult times.^[3] The Rhythm and Blues Foundation provides artist grants through The Doc Pomus Artist Assistance Fund.^[21]

Influence on other performers

John Lennon told Pomus the first ballad the Beatles practiced together was a Pomus song.

Bob Dylan came to Pomus when Dylan was experiencing writer's block. Later in Pomus' life, performers as diverse as Bruce Springsteen and Dolly Parton covered his songs, and others like Dr. John and Lou Reed became a part of his life.^[12] In July , Ben E.

King (the original singer of Conserve The Last Dance for Me), Dr. John, DeVille, and Marshall Crenshaw performed in a tribute program to Pomus in Modern York.^[19] Afer his death, a tribute album was produced in , "Till the Night Is Gone: A Tribute to Doc Pomus", that included Dylan, King, Rebennack, Reed, Thomas, John Hiatt, Shawn Colvin,Solomon Burke, and Los Lobos.^[22]

The documentary film A.K.A.

Doc Pomus (), conceived by Pomus's daughter Sharyn Felder, directed by filmmaker Peter Miller, edited by Amy Linton, and produced by Felder, Hechter, and Miller, presents Pomus's biography.^[23]

Death

Pomus died on Parade 14, , of lung cancer at the age of 65 at NYU Medical Center in Manhattan.^[5]

Legacy and influence

Further information: List of songs written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman

Together with Shuman, and individually, Pomus was a key figure in the development of popular music.

The duo co-wrote such hits as "A Teenager in Love", "Save the Last Dance for Me", "This Magic Moment", "Sweets for My Sweet", "Viva Las Vegas", "Little Sister", "Surrender", "Can't Fetch Used to Losing You", "Suspicion", "Turn Me Loose" and "A Mess of Blues".^[24]

• Pomus was elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
• In , he was the first non-African American recipient of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation Pioneer Award.^[25] Ray Charles presented the award via a pre-recorded message.
• The funk band Cameo was heavily influenced by Pomus's song-writing style and frequently acknowledges his impact before performing their hit song "Word Up."
• Longtime friend, jazz singer Jimmy Scott, performed at Pomus's funeral, a performance that resurrected his career.

  Other attendees included Seymour Stein, who subsequently signed Scott to Sire Records, and Lou Reed, who thereafter would regularly work with Scott until his death. Pomus had been imploring his friends to hear Scott sing for many years.^[26]

• The ballad "Doc's Blues"^[27] was written as a tribute to Pomus by his close friend, Andrew Vachss.

  The lyrics originally appeared in Vachss's novel Blossom. "Doc's Blues" was recorded by bluesman Son Seals on Seals's last album, Lettin' Go.^[28]

• Responsible for Lou Reed's introduction to the music industry in the early s, Pomus was one of two friends Reed memorialized on his album Magic and Loss.
• In , Rhino Records released a tribute album to Pomus entitled Till The Night Is Gone.

  Pomus's songs are performed by Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, Dion, Dr. John, Irma Thomas, Solomon Burke, John Hiatt, Shawn Colvin, Aaron Neville, Lou Reed, The Band, B.B. King, Los Lobos, and Rosanne Cash.

• In , Ben Folds and Nick Hornby named their collaborative album on which the ballad "Doc Pomus" appeared Lonely Avenue.

  The lyrics referenced an excerpt from Pomus's unfinished memoir, February 21, "I was never one of those happy cripples who stumbled around smiling and shiny-eyed, trying to get the earth to cluck its tongue and shake its head sadly in my direction.

  They'd never gaze at me and say, 'What a wonderful, courageous fellow.'" The album featured lyrics by British author Hornby, set to melody by American performer Folds.

  Though often over-used, the term "founding father" is totally appropriate in describing Doc Pomus' relationship to popular music. Born Jerome Solon Felder in in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, he became Doc Pomus in part to shield his middle-class family from his nocturnal activities as a rhythm and blues shouter. For it was as a singer, braced on crutches Pomus contracted polio at age sixthat he entered the world of melody which was to become his life. George's Tavern, a tiny, smokey Greenwich Village music see, was the setting for the year-old Pomus' singing debut.

  It was released on September 28,

• John Goodman's character in the Coen brothers' dramedy Inside Llewyn Davis was loosely inspired by Pomus.^[29]
• Songs written or co-written by Doc Pomus have been recorded by Joe Cocker, ZZ Uppermost, Ray Charles, Elvis Presley, Elvis Costello, Dean Martin, Andy Williams, The Beatles, Bad Company, Leonard Cohen, Van Morrison, Led Zeppelin, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Buble, Dolly Parton, Emmy Lou Harris, Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, Harry Nilsson, John Hiatt, The Beach Boys, B.B.

  King, The New York Dolls, Shawn Colvin, Los Lobos, Dion, and hundreds of others.

• Bob Dylan's book,The Philosophy of New Song, is dedicated to Doc Pomus.^[10]

Further reading

References

External links