Remembering Teddy Pendergrass (26 Mar 1950 - 13 Jan 2010)

Another soul legend would have been celebrating his 74th birthday today. Teddy (Theodore DeReese) Pendergrass, born in Kingstree, SC, on 26 Mar 1950, died from respiratory failure on 13 Jan 2010 aged 59. He was lead singer of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes from 1971-1975, who had four #1 R&B hits during his tenure, before launching a solo career in 1977. 

Teddy was sadly left as a tetraplegic from a spinal injury after a car accident in March 1982. He continued to record despite his condition and released a further six albums between 1984-97 albeit he wasn't the same singer, the two albums released in 1982 and 1983 were recorded before his accident. Having viewed a documentary on his life ("If You Don't Know Me" BBC) the circumstances were suspicious as his brakes had failed and some believe may have been tampered with but that has never been proven. More tragedy and conspiracy surrounded his life earlier in 1977 when his girlfriend, and manager, Taazmayia 'Taaz' Lang was shot dead at her home which is suspected to have been a hit by the Black Mafia but no one has ever been charged with her murder. Also his father left the family when he was young and not long after they met again, when he was 11 in 1962, his father was stabbed to death in a fight. 

Pendergrass' first recording was "Angel With Muddy Feet" for Gene Lawson's Up Look label in Philly in the late 60s. I can find no trace of it apart from it being on a 2006 Grapevine compilation CD "The Up Look Records Story" which also has two other tracks by him, "We Got Love" and "Should I Go Or Should I Stay". Only a handful of singles seem to have been released on Up-Look and those that were released were all from Charles Mintz or Delegates Of Soul between 1969-70. Teddy sang backing vocals for Charles Mintz in his first session.  Lawson was also a publicist for Otis Redding and co-wrote a song "Free Me" which was posthumously released in Aug 1969 (Redding was killed in a plane crash in Dec 1967 along with members of The Bar-Kays).

He played drums for several local Philadelphia bands, eventually becoming the drummer of The Cadillacs and came to the attention of Harold Melvin in 1970. However, Melvin was impressed with his vocal ability and made him lead singer in Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes. The group joined Gamble & Huff's Philadelphia International setup in 1971 and the rest is history. 

Their first single with PIR was "I Miss You" in March 1972 (a Gamble & Huff song written for, and unbelievably turned down by, The Dells) which was a Top 10 R&B hit and made #58 Hot 100. It was followed by a #1 R&B / #3 Hot 100 hit "If You Don't Know Me By Now", another song originally intended for another i.e. LaBelle who were not able to record it owing to other commitments. Patti LaBelle eventually recorded it in 1985. With Teddy at the helm, the group had it's most successful period achieving nine R&B Top 10 hits from their following eleven singles, with four achieving the top spot and several crossing over to the Hot 100 Top 20.

By 1975 there was a rift between Pendergrass and Melvin over finances and also with Pendergrass wanting the group renamed to Teddy Pendergrass & The Blue Notes as he felt that he was constantly being mistaken as Harold Melvin. Despite one album ("To Be True") being billed as Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes featuring Teddy Pendergrass, the conflict wasn't resolved and Pendergrass left for a solo career in 1977 by which time the group left for ABC with Pendergrass staying at PIR. The group did not have any further Hot 100 entries and only minor R&B hits whilst Teddy P had a dozen top 10 R&B hits (10 top 5 with 3 #1s) and ten Hot 100 entries with another four just outside, so I think we know who won that battle.

He went on to release fourteen solo albums between 1977-98. The first five albums all went Platinum (over 1m sales) with another two ("Love Language" (1984) and "Joy" (1988)) going Gold (over 500k sales). Pendergrass retired from recording in 2008.

With so much great music to choose from, narrowing down the playlist below was a challenge as it could have been filled with the 'obvious' material that most already know and love. Therefore, vintage footage of the hits have been included, mainly from the official PIR YouTube channel, along with playlist of some of perhaps his lesser known material i.e. mainly album tracks and B sides.

Album Discography

1977 - Teddy Pendergrass

1978 - Life Is a Song Worth Singing

1978 - Live! Coast To Coast

1979 - Teddy

1980 - TP

1981 - It's Time for Love

1982 - This One's for You

1983 - Heaven Only Knows

1984 - Love Language

1985 - Workin' It Back

1988 - Joy

1991 - Truly Blessed

1993 - A Little More Magic

1997 - You and I

1998 - This Christmas (I'd Rather Have Love)

Singles Discography

Chart positions in brackets (Hot 100 / R&B), if missing then the record didn't chart. Top 10 R&B hits in bold.

1977 PIR

I Don't Love You Anymore / Somebody Told Me (41/5)

The Whole Town's Laughing at Me / The More I Get, The More I Want (102/16)

1978 PIR

Close the Door / Get Up, Get Down, Get Funky, Get Loose (25/1)

Only You / It Don't Hurt Now (106/22)

Life Is a Song Worth Singing / Cold, Cold World

1979 PIR

Turn Off the Lights / If You Know Like I Know (48/2)

Come Go With Me / Do Me (-/14)

Shout and Scream / Close The Door (-/21)

1980 PIR

Where Did All The Lovin' Go / It's You I Love (-/44)

Is It Still Good To Ya / Girl You Knew

Can't We Try / This Gift Of Life (52/3)

Love T.K.O. / I Just Called To Say (44/2)

1981 20th Century-Fox

Two Hearts (with Stephanie Mills) / I Just Wanna Say (40/3)

1981 PIR

I Can't Live Without Your Love / You Must Live On (103/10)

You're My Latest, My Greatest Inspiration / Keep On Lovin' Me (43/4)

1982 PIR

Nine Times Out of Ten / The Gift of Life (31/)

I Can't Win for Losing /  Don't Leave Me Out Along The Road (-32)

1984 PIR

I Want My Baby Back / Life Is For The Living (-/61)

1984 Asylum

Hold Me (with Whitney Houston) / Love (46/5)

You're My Choice Tonight (Choose Me) / So Sad The Song (-/15)

In My Time / Stay With Me

1985 Asylum

Somewhere I Belong / Hot Love (-/76)

Never Felt Like Dancin' /  Love Emergency (-/21)

1986 Asylum

Love 4/2 /  One Of Us Fell In Love (-/6)

Let Me Be Closer / Love Emergency (-/67)

1988 Asylum / Elektra

Joy / Let Me Be Closer (77/1)

2 A.M. /  2 A.M. (Instrumental) (-/3)

Love Is the Power / I'm Ready (-/57)

1990 Elektra

Glad to Be Alive (Edit Of Remix) (with Lisa Fischer) /Glad to Be Alive (Remix) (-/31)

Glad to Be Alive (with Lisa Fischer) / With You (with Minnie Curry) (Europe only)(-/31)

Make It with You / Love Is The Power (-/23)

How Can You Mend A Broken Heart / She Knocks Me Off My Feet

1991 Elektra

It Should've Been You (4 versions) (-/1)

I Find Everything in You (3 Versions) (-/31)

1993 Elektra

Voodoo (Single Edit) / Voodoo (Radio Edit)(-/25)

1994 Elektra

Believe in Love (Phat Phili Mix / Believe Dat Dub / Teddy Bear Club Mix / Instrumental) (105/14)

I'm Always Thinking About You (Single Edit) / LP Version (-/90)

The More I Get, The More I Want" (with KWS) (35 UK)

(Radio Edit / Original 1977 Version / Loveland Club Version / Chris King's Street's Of Philadelphia 94 Remix / Long Island Remix

1997 Surefire

Give It To Me (Remix / Album Version / The Seduction / Remix Instrumental / Acappella)

Don't Keep Wastin' My Time / Slow Ride To Heaven (90/39)

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