Teddy Pendergrass

Theodore DeReese Pendergrass (March 26, 1950 – January 13, 2010) was an American soul and R&B singer and songwriter. He was born in Kingstree, South Carolina. Pendergrass lived most of his life in the Philadelphia area, and initially rose to musical fame as the lead singer of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. After leaving the group in 1976, Pendergrass launched a successful solo career under the Philadelphia International label, releasing five consecutive platinum albums (a record for any artist at the time).

In March 1982, a car crash left Pendergrass paralyzed from the chest down. Pendergrass continued his solo career until announcing his retirement in 2007. He died from respiratory failure in January 2010.

Pendergrass was born Theodore DeReese Pendergrass on March 26, 1950, in Kingstree, South Carolina. He was the only child of Jesse and Ida Geraldine (née Epps) Pendergrass. Before his birth, Ida had experienced six miscarriages. When he was still very young, his father left the family. Years later, after his mother had promised to locate him, Pendergrass met his father at the age of 11. Shortly afterward, on June 13, 1962, Jesse Pendergrass was stabbed to death at age 47 during an altercation with another man. Pendergrass was raised in an impoverished area of North Philadelphia and frequently sang in church. He hoped to become a pastor and, according to author Robert Ewell Greene, was ordained a minister at the age of 10. During the same period, he began playing drums and also served as a junior deacon in his church.

Pendergrass attended Thomas Edison High School for Boys in North Philadelphia, where he sang with the Edison Mastersingers. He left school in the 11th grade to pursue a career in music, recording his first song, "Angel with Muddy Feet". The recording was not commercially successful. He then played drums for several local Philadelphia bands and eventually became the drummer for The Cadillacs, a group unrelated to the better-known Harlem-based act of the same name. In 1970, he was noticed by Blue Notes founder Harold Melvin (1939–1997), who persuaded him to join the group as a drummer. During one performance, however, Pendergrass began singing along, and Melvin—impressed by his voice—made him the group's lead singer. Before Pendergrass joined, the Blue Notes had struggled to achieve commercial success. That changed after the group signed with Philadelphia International Records in 1971, beginning Pendergrass's collaboration with label founders Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff.

In 1972, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes released their first single, the slow, solemn ballad, "I Miss You". The song was originally written for the Dells, but the group passed on it. Noting how Pendergrass sounded like Dells lead singer Marvin Junior, Kenny Gamble decided to build the song with Pendergrass, who was only 21 at the time of the recording. Pendergrass sings much of the song in a raspy baritone voice that would become his trademark. The song also featured Blue Notes member Lloyd Parks singing falsetto in the background and spotlighted Harold Melvin adding in a rap near the end of the song as Pendergrass kept singing, feigning tears. The song, one of Gamble and Huff's most creative productions, became a major rhythm and blues hit and put the Blue Notes on the map. The group's follow-up single, "If You Don't Know Me by Now", brought the group to the mainstream with the song reaching the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, while also reaching number one on the soul singles chart. Like "I Miss You" before it, the song was originally intended for a different artist, fellow Philadelphian native Patti LaBelle and her group Labelle but the group could not record it due to scheduling conflicts. Pendergrass and LaBelle developed a close friendship that would last until Pendergrass's death.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.