Teddy Pendergrass, who started as the lead singer for "Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes" in the 1970s and went on to a successful solo career, has died after a battle with colon cancer. He was 59.
Teddy Pendergras had been paralyzed after a 1982 car accident. He died at Bryn Mawr Hospital in Philadelphia eight months after undergoing colon cancer surgery. His son said Teddy Pendergrass II, said that his father had had a "difficult recovery" from the surgery.
Teddy Pendergrass was born in 1950 to Ida Geraldine Epps and Jesse Pendergrass. His career began when as a drummer for The Cadillacs, which later merged with Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. In 1972, the the group signed with Gamble & Huff on the then-CBS subsidiary Philadelphia International Records (PIR).
Teddy Pendergrass later launched a solo career, with his self-titled debut album in 1977. The auto accident, in 1982, derailed his career, according to Kenny Gamble, of the above mentioned production duo Gamble & Huff.
“He (Teddy Pendergrass) had about 10 platinum albums in a row, so he was a very, very successful recording artist and as a performing artist. He had a tremendous career ahead of him, and the accident sort of got in the way of many of those plans."
On March 18, 1982, in the Germantown district of Philadelphia, Teddy Pendergrass was involved when the brakes failed on his 1981 Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit. The car hit a guard rail, crossed into the oncoming traffic, and hit two trees. While his passenger, Tenika Watson walked away from the accident with minor injuries, Pendergrass suffered a spinal cord injury leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.
Later that year, in August 1982, PIR released "This One's for You," while Pendergrass was still recovering from his accident. In 1983, the album "Heaven Only Knows" was released, and was the last album containing his pre-accident recordings.
While he continued to record, his next public appearance was a performance on July 13, 1985, at the historic Live Aid concert in Philadelphia. In 1998, Teddy Pendergrass released his autobiography entitled "Truly Blessed."
In 2006, Teddy Pendergrass announced his retirement from the music business. He did appear in 2007 for "Teddy 25: A Celebration of Life, Hope & Possibilities," which was not just a 25th anniversary ceremony about his accident, but also raised money for his charity, The Teddy Pendergrass Alliance.
Written by Michael Santo
HULIQ.com
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