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Doc Pomus (June 27, 1925 - March 14, 1991) was an American blues singer and songwriter, active throughout the 20th century. He is best known as the lyricist of many Rock and Roll hits. Pomus was inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame in the category of non-performer in 1992.^[1]

Born Jerome Solon Felder in Brooklyn, New York of Jewish heritage,^[2] he became a fan of the blues after hearing Big Joe Turner on record. He had polio as a boy and got around on crutches. Due to post-polio syndrome, exacerbated by an accident, he eventually used a wheelchair. He died in 1991 from lung cancer. His brother is the famous New York attorney Raoul Felder.

Using the stage name "Doc Pomus," he began performing as a teenager, becoming one of the most successful white blues singers of his time. In the 1950s, Pomus started songwriting in order to make enough money to support his wife. 24 performances by Pomus in the late '40s and early '50s can be heard on the 2006 CD released by Rev-Ola (Cherry Red Records) titled "Doc Pomus Blues in the Red." This title is available as of this writing through iTunes.

By 1957, Doc had given up performing in order to devote himself full-time to songwriting. He collaborated with pianist Mort Shuman to write for Hill & Range Music Co./Rumbalero Music at its offices in New York City's Brill Building. Their songwriting efforts had Pomus write the lyrics and Shuman the music, although occasionally they worked on both, and produced the hit songs: "Teenager in Love"; "Save The Last Dance For Me"; "Hushabye"; "This Magic Moment"; "Turn Me Loose"; "Sweets For My Sweet"; "Can't Get Used To Losing You"; "Little Sister"; "Suspicion"; "Surrender"; "Viva Las Vegas"; and "His Latest Flame (Marie's The Name)". Their songs were recorded by, among many others, Dion, Andy Williams, Bobby Rydell, James Darren, Twiggy, Lorraine Ellison, Brook Benton, The McCoys, Alexis Korner, Bobby Charles, Lil Green, Gatemouth Moore, Bobby Darin, Fabian, Dusty Springfield, Ray Charles, The Byrds, Connie Francis, Brenda Lee, The Lovelites, The Crowns, Laverne Baker, Major Lance, Manfred Mann, Amen Corner, The Birds, Big Joe Turner, The Beach Boys, The Mystics, Ben E. King, Cissy Houston, The Flamingos, Ike and Tina Turner, The Coasters, The Drifters and Elvis Presley. A compilation of some lesser known, but excellent recordings of songs by Pomus and Shuman is to be released in June by Ace Records of London.

During the late '50s and early '60s Pomus also wrote with Phil Spector ("Youngboy Blues"; "Ecstasy"; "Here Comes The Night"; "What Am I To Do?"), Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber ("Young Blood" and "She's Not You") and other Brill Building era writers. He wrote Lonely Avenue which became a 1956 hit for Ray Charles.^[3]

In the 1970s and 1980s out of his eleventh-floor two-room apartment at the Westover Hotel at 253 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 of not always so certain of exactly where they fit in and where they were headed." These later songs ("There Must Be A Better World" and "There Is Always One More Time" in particular), which were recorded by B.B. King, Irma Thomas, and Johnny Adams, are considered by some to be signatures of his best craft. Pomus wrote "Save the Last Dance for Me," although he could not walk, and the lyrics to "Viva Las Vegas" thirty years before ever going west of Newark, New Jersey, and never, incidentally, to Las Vegas.

Together with Shuman and individually, Doc Pomus was a key figure in the development of popular music. They wrote such hits as Save the Last Dance for Me, This Magic Moment, Sweets for My Sweet, Viva Las Vegas, Little Sister, Surrender, Can't Get Used to Losing You, Suspicion, Turn Me Loose and A Mess of Blues.^[4] He was elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The songs written and co-written by Pomus are referenced as standards of songwriting by token of sheer prolific consistency, and continue to be covered by musicians of every generation, including: Charlie Rich; Dwight Yoakam; The Dead Kennedys; Led Zeppelin; ZZ Top; Bruce Springsteen; Michael Buble; Tom Jones; The Residents; The New York Dolls; Doyle Bramhall; Ramsey Lewis; The Grascals; Pharaoh Sanders;'Fathead' Newman; Stray Cats; Harry Connick, Jr.; Elvis Costello; Irma Thomas; Emmylou Harris; The Misfits; Dolly Parton; Diana Ross, and many others. He was personally responsible for Lou Reed's exposure to the music industry in the early 1960s, and is one of two friends memorialized on Reed's 1992 album Magic and Loss (the other being Rotten Rita).

The song Doc’s Blues ^[5] was written as a tribute to Pomus by his close friend, Andrew Vachss. The lyrics originally appeared in Vachss’ 1990 novel Blossom. Doc’s Blues was later recorded by bluesman Son Seals, on Seals' last album, Lettin’ Go. ^[6]

In 1995, Rhino Records released a tribute album to Pomus titled Till The Night Is Gone. It offers performances of Pomus songs 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.

Due out in North America in March 2007 from DeCapo Press is the book "Lonely Avenue: The Unlikely Life And Times Of Doc Pomus" by Alex Halberstadt. The book will be released in the U.K. by the Random House imprint Johnathan Cape in June 2007.

This article is missing citations or needs footnotes. Using inline citations helps guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies.

• All Music Guide
• Songs Written By Doc Pomus
• Doc Pomus Biography
• Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman
• Leibowitz's Canticle: "Save the Last Dance for Me"