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“To Be Free…” REMEMBERING
TEDDY PENDERGRASS
There have been two men in soul music whose presence on the mic could stop a wild animal in its tracks - let alone a love-starved woman: “The Wicked” Wilson Pickett and Theodore “Teddy Bear” Pendergrass. The latter was a ferociously reverent soul singer of earth scorching sexuality that many longed to tame and claim, or be forever tamed and claimed by. He could be as seductive as Marvin or as silken as Reverend Al, but no one could match him for testosterone-fueled sex appeal. To the sacred table of soul, Teddy brought a righteous, gospel-hewn bravado along with a smoldering, head strong swagger. For lovers around the world, he was the platinum status standard of soul man. Born March 26, 1950 in Philadelphia, PA - a city he raised himself up from poverty within and loved with all his heart throughout - Theodore DeReese Pendergrass possessed the gift of soulful persuasion from a very early age. His mother, Ida, had him standing up on a chair in a storefront church at the age of 2 singing for The Lord. Amazingly, he was an ordained minister by 10. But at 15 he took another path, becoming the drummer for the group The Cadillacs which went on to back supper club soul stirrers Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes. It wasn’t long after Melvin got a taste of the glowing young man’s singing that he ushered Theodore on up to the front line of his vocal quintet where he would instantly become the secret weapon Star of The Blue Notes. So dominant were his aura and authority that casual fans often mistook Theodore for Harold - for surely a man with his vocal command MUST be the leader.
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BY A . S C O T T G A L L O WAY Music Editor – Urban Network
Signed in ‘72 to Kenneth Gamble & Leon Huff‘s CBS-distributed Philadelphia International Records label within a pioneering crop of talent that also included The O’Jays (f/ Eddie Levert & Walter Williams), the Intruders (f/ “Little Sonny” Brown) and Billy Paul, the Blue Notes faced stiff competition even within their own ranks. But with the musical supremacy of the company’s writers, arrangers and producers, and the lead voice of Pendergrass, the group waxed hit after hit - from the backbeat blues of “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” and “I Miss You” to the electrifying show burners “Satisfaction Guaranteed” and two of disco’s bedrock smashes “The Love I Lost” and “Bad Luck” to the uplifting message of “Wake Up Everybody.” For four pressure cooker years (1972 to 1975), the group held its own before it became all too clear that Pendergrass demanded a stage of his own. His swan song from the group was ironically titled “Don’t Leave Me This Way.” When the man dropped his 1977 self-titled debut album - dressed casually in front of a solid white background that intimated “new beginning” - he re-introduced himself as Teddy Pendergrass with an 8-song offering that found him pulpit preachin’ “You Can’t Hide From Yourself, boudoir braggin’ “The More I Get, The More I Want,” blues croonin’ “The Whole Town’s Laughing at Me,” pillow talkin’ “Be Sure”...and slingin’ a zinger
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for done-wrong bruthas that demanded it, “I Don’t Love You Anymore” - super serving all factions of fans with 360 degrees of soul mastery. Teddy eased the world into the idea of him as a solo artist by humbly opening for the Isley Brothers during their “Go For Your Guns” tour.
newer talents like Peabo Bryson, Jeffrey Osborne and Lionel Richie occupied their own lanes. With five consecutive platinum-selling albums behind him, Teddy Pendergrass was living large as Lord of the Soul Man Mountaintop.
However, it was on Life is a Song Worth Singing, Teddy’s platinum plus-selling sophomore statement of ‘78, that he blasted his likeness into the Mount Rushmore of Soul with a filler-free 7-song classic. Thom Bell & Linda Creed graced him with the inspiring title track (arranged and produced by the prolific Jack Faith who, sadly, is also recently departed), followed by the doublebarreled club thumpers “Only You” and “Get Up, Get Down, Get Funky, Get Loose,” beautifully bridged by the soul-stoking balm of compassion “Cold, Cold World.” And that was just Side 1!
It all came to a screeching halt on March 18, 1982 when in an arbor mist of mystery, Teddy ran his Rolls Royce off the road, crashed into a tree and was rendered paralyzed from the waist down. A collective shudder shot through the industry as many doubted aloud that a singer so immortalized for his sex appeal could ever resurrect his career relegated for life to a wheelchair. Pendergrass proved them wrong.
Side 2 opened with what would become one of the most fool-proof baby-making classics of all-time, “Close the Door.” Upon receiving this machismodrenched declaration of desire, a woman innately understood she had granted an imperial specimen of man the pleasure of letting him “do what I want to you” - to do what a man was put on this earth to do - to lay some sho-nuff serious lovin’ on her...in equally measured long strokes of strength and sensitivity. “Let’s bring this day to a pleasant end / Let’s get lost in each other...” The song begged up a sequel/twin titled “Turn Off The Lights” on the next album, Teddy, leading many a water cooler comedian to predict further follow-ups such as “Pull Back the Sheets,” etc.... Life is a Song Worth Singing closed with two more powerfully indelible gems: the cloud-busting “It Don’t Hurt Now” and the joyously gratifying “When Somebody Loves You Back.” The hook: “Not 70/30 - Not 60/40 - Talkin’ ‘bout 50/50 Love.” Teddy was a bona-fide superstar now, embarking on sold out “For Ladies Only” tours that his most devoted femmes of all ages and races took very seriously. Long fabled are the tales of women expressing their appreciation for his cuddly teddy bear offerings and shirtless, sweat-soaked serenades by showering him back with undergarments of gratitude. Teddy volleyed back with the ultimate souvenir the double album set Live! Coast to Coast - then came back at the top of the ‘80s even stronger with his fifth LP, TP, featuring the incomparable Cecil & Linda Womack-penned “Love T.K.O.” as well as “Can’t We Try.” Fans got a special treat the next year when he recorded the duet “Two Hearts” with pint-sized Stephanie Mills, whom he whisked off to the road for the amazing “Looks Like Another Love T.K.O. Tour” and later shared the stage with in a touring production of the musical “Your Arms Are Too Short to Box With God” (1998). As if all of that weren’t enough, his sixth album, It’s Time for Love, included what now stands as among the most requested wedding songs ever, “You’re My Latest, My Greatest Inspiration.” By this time, Marvin Gaye was awash in personal drama, Al Green had become a minister, Barry White and Isaac Hayes were slipping, and
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as he ever would post-crash and swiftly ascended to #1 on Billboard’s R&B chart, where it stayed for two glorious weeks in 1988. It was one of the sweetest triumphant comeback stories in music history. Though more albums followed, Joy marked his last knockout appearance as a soul-pop force to be reckoned with. However, in 2001 he finally embarked upon a tour of intimate venues across the United States, thrilling audiences with defiantly transcendent performances of his classic hits - funk bombs, sex downs and spirited affirmations all - before an audience that he absolutely wowed by the sheer will of his conviction, bravery and talent. I will never forget the image of him up on stage at The Wiltern Theatre – Valentine’s Day 2002 in Los Angeles - literally rockin’ his wheelchair from side to side with a newfound boogie power that delighted all in attendance and on their feet – not a one feeling he had delivered anything less than his personal best and their money’s worth. Teddy’s later years found him focusing more on family, community efforts around Philly and the Teddy Pendergrass Alliance - a non-profit organization he co-founded in 1998 to assist those ailing, as he had, with spinal cord injuries. That same year he turned inward and delivered the autobiography “Truly Blessed” (penned with Patricia Romanowski and given the same title as his 1991 CD) and lived to see a stage musical based on his life titled “I Am What I Am” premier in Chicago at the Black Ensemble Theatre. He was also humorously immortalized by Eddie Murphy in the comedy, “The Nutty Professor.” We lost Teddy Pendergrass on Wednesday evening, January 13, 2010, from respiratory failure following complications of a surgery for colon cancer. He was being treated at Bryn Mawr Hospital in suburban Philadelphia after “a difficult recovery.” He was 59. His son, Teddy Pendergrass II, states, “To all his fans who loved his music, thank you. He will live on through his music.”
After spending six months hospitalized and following extensive physical therapy, Teddy returned in 1984 with the gold-selling Love Language album on Elektra/Asylum Records, buoyed by the sexy movie theme “Your My Choice Tonight (Choose Me)“ penned by Luther Vandross and Marcus Miller, and “Hold Me,” a duet with a then up-and-coming Whitney Houston. A tellingly titled follow-up, Workin’ it Back, faired more modestly. On July 13, 1985, he took the outdoor stage of “Live Aid” with Ashford & Simpson and before an international television audience of millions, joined them on their anthem, “Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand).” Then after a three year hibernation and rehabilitation period - during which the act of making music proved pinnacle to his healing - came the Grammy-winning comeback smash, “Joy,” the infectious song produced by former Midnight Star members Reggie & Vincent Calloway. The feel-good groover revealed Teddy as close to the strength of his Philadelphia International heyday
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His final recording was a version of Edwin Hawkins’ contemporary gospel classic “Oh, Happy Day,” produced by David Nathan and Preston Glass for the Time Life various artists CD Songs 4 Worship Soul, recorded September 2008 in Philadelphia. Having spent just shy of half his Earthly life paralyzed, Teddy Pendergrass leaves behind a legacy not only as a musical giant, he was a real life “survivor.” He dealt with and proceeded forward from the pain and suffering of his cruel circumstance to continue doing what he loved - to serve his community, provide for his family, and be a light of inspiration on multiple levels. Theodore “Teddy” Pendergrass was one of the last soul men standing despite being wheelchair-bound. Now, his soul soars on mighty, magnificent wings through the Heavens - like a high-flying falcon in restoration - “Free to Be” who he is...in all his glorious totality. Down here on the ground, his music will stir the cauldrons of masculinity meeting femininity at the crossroads of fever and ardor…forever.
VOLUME VOLUME19 19NUMBER NUMBER 86