Doc Pomus was one of the great songwriters of the pre-Beatles era, when artists relied on professionals for their material. Along with partner Mort Shuman, Pomus created some of the most memorable hits of that era, including "This Magic Moment," "Viva Las Vegas," and "Save The Last Dance For Me." Alex Halberstadt has taken the remarkable and success of Pomus as the subject of his biography, Lonely Avenue: The Unlikely Life And Times Of Doc Pomus.

Born Jerome Felder in 1925 in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, Pomus lost the use of his legs at an early age due to polio. Halberstadt easily sets the scene of young Jerome’s childhood: an overweight, handicapped Jewish kid dreaming of somehow overcoming his condition to achieve greatness. Felder turns first to books and then to music as a way of keeping himself occupied while his classmates play basketball or stickball. Working his way across the radio to the "Negro" side of the dial, Felder falls in love with the sounds of jazz and blues musicians like Fletcher Henderson and Big Joe Turner and realizes how he wants to spend the rest of his days. While keeping this a secret from his family, he fronts several bands and becomes a minor local success, even wowing all-black crowds in neighborhoods like Newark, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Brownsville.

Eventually, Pomus realizes that, for all his acclaim, he's never going to amount to anything more than a novelty act and begins writing songs. Other than a few minor successes, like Ray Charles' "Lonely Avenue" and The Coasters' "Young Blood," this proves less than fortuitous, as it coincides with the rise of rock 'n' roll, which requires him to tone down the sexual innuendo in the R&B shouts he has previously been writing. A cousin introduces him to Mort Shuman, 12 years his junior, whose elegant melodies provide the perfect vehicle for Pomus' poetic side. They struggle at first, but eventually develop a track record, beginning writing hits for the myriad Italian-American pretty boys who are all the rage, like Fabian, Frankie Avalon and Bobby Rydell. Pomus knew those songs were beneath him, but they also made him a wealthy man.

Thus begins a five-year spell in which Pomus and Shuman were among the biggest names in the Brill Building, the venerated Broadway home of the country's top songwriters, including Leiber and Stoller, and Bacharach and David. Soon they would be joined by the likes of Mann and Weil, Goffin and King, and an enigmatic genius named Phil Spector. It was a glorious time for well-crafted popular music, and Pomus had everything he had dreamed of - a loving family with a house in the suburbs, plenty of money, and the respect of his peers.