Can't Get Used To Losing You - The Untold Story of Pomus & Shuman - Episode 1

Singer Andy Williams salutes one of American pop music's greatest ever songwriting teams - Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman - whose songs shaped the musical landscape from the early days of rock 'n' roll, through to the height of the swinging 60s. They've been described as the ultimate "odd couple" yet the physically challenged blues shouter and the rebellious philosophy student became one of the most successful songwriting partnerships of the modern era. They composed over 500 songs, including Can't Get Used to Losing You, Viva Las Vegas, Suspicion, Surrender, Sweets for My Sweet, Save the Last Dance for Me, and Lonely Avenue. They collaborated with musical heavyweights Leiber & Stoller and Phil Spector, as well as writing hits for some of the biggest names in pop music including Andy Williams, Elvis Presley [despite penning more than a dozen hit singles for Elvis, the pair never met him], Ray Charles, The Drifters, Ben E King, Bobby Darin, The Searchers, The Beach Boys, The Hollies, Dusty Springfield, Janis Joplin, David Bowie, Dionne Warwick, Robert Plant, Dr John and B.B. King. Born Jerome Felder, Doc Pomus suffered polio as a child and was later confined to a wheelchair. Doc's brother Raoul Felder tells how as a teenager, Jerome became this hip midnight character Doc Pomus, sneaking out of the house on his crutches, going to bars in the roughest neighbourhoods, where he would sing to pay for his beer. As a blues shouter, Doc was well respected on the circuit and counted jazz and blues legends Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Ray Charles and Big Joe Turner among his friends. Mort Shuman, eleven years Doc's junior, joined him in the 50s to pen their first breakthrough hit, Teenager In Love, for Dion & The Belmonts. Doc knew Mort had his finger on the pulse (as far as the pop market was concerned) and recognising his genius for music, soon made him a full partner. Doc's disability coloured his work throughout his life; most notably in his solo hit for Ray Charles, Lonely Avenue, and also in the lyrics for Save The Last Dance For Me, which he scribbled at his wedding reception when he was unable to dance with his new bride. Mort's youthful edge and passion for mambo music, meanwhile, gave their hits a vibrancy which is still evident today. Part one closes with the advent of the 60s, when the cracks began to show in the partnership. The decade also heralded a sea change within the pop industry, where a new breed of singer-songwriter in the guise of Bob Dylan sounded the death knell for the Brill Building writers. The series features interviews with Doc's daughter Sharyn Felder; his brother Raoul Felder; his former wife actress Willi Burke; and Mort Shuman's widow Maria Pia Shuman; all of whom give an insight into why the pair worked so well together. Alex Halberstadt, the author of Doc's biography, describes their place in musical history; a legacy which Mort's friend, writer Ray Connolly, is clear about: "..without Pomus & Shuman we wouldn't have had Lennon and McCartney, they were that important." There is archive material from Pomus and Shuman themselves, as well as Ben E. King (The Drifters), singer Dion Di Mucci, Jack Good (TV producer), Jerry Leiber (songwriter/record producer) and lyricist Don Black. And, of course, there will be the music, including Elvis Presley's outtakes of Suspicion and Little Sister), and early Pomus & Shuman demos of Teenager in Love and the Elvis classic (Marie's The Name) His Latest Flame.