Teddy Pendergrass epitomised the “lover man” school of black American soul singing. Like Barry White, he was known as “a bard of the boudoir”, and at the height of his fame in the 1970s he frequently held “ladies only” concerts at which his romantic ballads and songs of seduction produced an extraordinary reaction in his swooning audience.
His husky baritone voice exuded machismo, offset brilliantly by the silkily smooth string and woodwind arrangements of the producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, although he was also equally at home with more upbeat disco material.
He first came to fame in the early 1970s, singing with Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes on a string of hits, the biggest of which was the smoochy classic If You Don’t Know Me By Now.
As the lead singer he grew resentful of the fact that it was Melvin’s name that was up in lights and, despite a compromise under which the group was briefly known by the cumbersome title, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes featuring Teddy Pendergrass, the tension between the two headliners proved insurmountable and he left for a solo career in 1976.
As an individual performer, he was equally successful, with hits such as The Whole Town’s Laughting at Me, The More I Get the More I Want, Close the Door, I Don’t Love You Anymore, Turn Off the Lights and Love TKO.
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In 1982 an horrendous car accident left him paralysed from the waist down and confined to a wheelchair, but his voice was spared. After a lengthy period of rehabilitation he returned in 1984, helping to launch Whitney Houston’s career with the saccharine duet Hold Me. A year later he was one of a handful of black soul artists among the plethora of white rock’n’rollers on the bill of Live Aid.
He continued to record and tour and, although the hits became harder to come by, he still reached the charts with songs such as It Should’ve Been You and Believe in Love, recorded in the same lover-man style with which he had made his name.
He announced his retirement in 2007 but returned to the live stage the following year, on the 25th anniversary of his accident, in an event to raise money for his charity, The Teddy Pendergrass Alliance, which he established to help other sufferers from spinal cord injuries.
Theodore DeReese Pendergrass was born in 1950 in Philadelphia. Like most soul singers of his generation, his introduction to singing came in church and gospel choirs, although his mother was also a nightclub performer. By the mid-1960s he had joined a local group called the Cadillacs, not as a singer but as the drummer. In 1969 the Cadillacs merged with the better-known Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, in effect becoming the vocal group’s backing band. When the lead singer, John Atkins left, Pendergrass abandoned the drum kit and took over as lead singer.
Soon afterwards the Blue Notes were signed to Gamble and Huff’s Philadelphia International label. Their first release, I Miss You, in 1972, was a typical Pendergrass sermon to love. His muscular, melodramatic voice was underpinned perfectly by the group’s smooth harmonies. The follow-up, the break-up ballad If You Don’t Know Me By Now, also in 1972, was even better. With the final traces of a gospel influence eradicated and Pendergrass’s thrilling voice begging, pleading and beseeching his lady, the record came to define the sound of “Philly soul”.
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Their next big hit, The Love I Lost, in 1973, was more up-tempo and presaged the disco era. Further dancefloor anthems followed with Bad Luck and Wake Up Everybody.
After Pendergrass left in 1976, frustrated that he was getting insufficient recognition despite being the featured lead singer, the Blue Notes struggled and had only one more big hit. Pendergrass, however, went from strength to strength.
With Gamble and Huff still at the helm, he made his solo debut with the album Teddy Pendergrass (1977), an impressive mix of slinky seduction ballads such as I Don’t Love You Anymore, You Can’t Hide From Yourself and The More I Get the More I Want, and a few up-tempo disco stormers such as You Can’t Hide From Yourself.
A series of platinum albums followed. Life Is a Song Worth Singing, in 1978, included the somewhat formulaic disco of Get Up, Get Down, Get Funky, Get Loose, but the album’s biggest hit, Close the Door, was a classic song for the ladies for whom he was now playing concerts in which their menfolk were left at the door.
The album TP (1980) produced the hit singles Turn Off the Lights, Come Go With Me, Shout and Scream, It’s You I Love and Can’t We Try. It’s Time for Love (1981) included the hits Love TKO and Can’t Live Without Your Love.
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The tragedy struck when he was at the very pinnacle of his success. On March 18, 1982, he crashed his Rolls-Royce and was trapped in the wreckage for 45 minutes. When he was eventually freed he was left with severe spinal cord injuries that paralysed him from the waist down.
Two years of rehabilitation ensued, but he bravely fought his way back. By 1984 he had returned to the studio, recording with Whitney Houston. No longer with Gamble and Huff’s Philadelphia International, he was also restored to the charts with the singles Joy (1988) and 2 A.M. (1989).
His biggest hit of the 1990s was It Should’ve Been You, produced by Gerald Levert, who successfully returned him to his best lover-man style.
In 1996 he starred in the gospel musical Your Arms Too Short to Box with God and two years later he published an autobiography entitled Truly Blessed. He is survived by his wife, a son and two daughters.
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Teddy Pendergrass, singer, was born on March 26, 1950. He died of cancer on January 13, 2010, aged 59