Wednesday Wayback
I was trying to find just the right one this week - to fit in with the "I Don't Wanna Grow Up" theme and I think this is it. In my house music was a staple. My daddy had an extensive Jazz collection and my mom's vinyl was to be envied. One person that would make my mom 'lose her religion' however was.....TEDDY PENDERGRASS.
I have vivid memories of her giving us the look of death as she crouched in front of the floor model TV when he came on Soul Train or anything else for that matter. Saturday clean up days were full of him as well. When my younger brother (Good Beds - look for him again this week) came up he could do a scorching rendition of the man - so in honor of childhood memories - I present The ORIGINAL Teddy Bear! (I prefer to remember him during that time period and as I look at him - he could have got it, lol)
Pendergrass' career began when he was a drummer for The Cadallacs which soon merged with Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes. Melvin invited Pendergrass to become the lead singer after he jumped from the rear of a stage and started singing his heart out. Months later the group signed with Gamble & Huff on the then CBS subsidiary Philadelphia International Records in 1972. The Blue Notes had hits such as "I Miss You", "Bad Luck", "Wake Up Everybody", and many more.
Following personality conflicts between Melvin and Pendergrass and a brief stint with Teddy leading a group of Blue Notes, Pendergrass launched a solo career and released hit singles like "The More I Get the More I Want", "Close The Door" also redone by Boyz ll Men in 2004, "I Don't Love You Anymore", "Turn Off The Lights", and more. Pendergrass was the first African-American singer to sell five platinum albums in a row. He also began his practice of ladies-only concerts, for which he remains well-known. His first solo album was self titled Teddy Pendergrass (1977), followed by Life Is a Song Worth Singing (1978), Live Coast to Coast and Teddy (1979), 1980's TP and the final Philadelphia International Records album It's Time For Love (1981). In august 1982 PIR also released "This one's for you" while TP was recovering. Even in 1983 the album "Heaven Only Knows" was released. This was his last album containing his pre-accident recordings.
On March 18, 1982 in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, Pendergrass was involved in an automobile accident when the brakes failed on his Rolls Royce when leaving a Philadelphia 76ers game and he hit a tree leaving him paralyzed from the waist down with a spinal cord injury. In the car with him was a transvestite, Tenika Watson, an exotic dancer with an extensive rap sheet, though he never explained his relationship with Watson. He spent six months in rehabilitation then continued to record throughout the 1980's and 90's. Pendergrass has published a biography entitled 'Truly Blessed' with Patricia Romanowski.
