A New Tune
Teddy Pendergrass wants to help those with spinal cord injury get on with their lives.
Editor's note: The great Teddy Pendergrass, an anchor of the Philadelphia R&B scene, died this week -- nearly three decades after being paralyzed in a car accident. In 2008, PW music editor Brian McManus caught up with Pendergrass.
"Lookin' back over my years/ I guess I've shedded some tears."
--Teddy Pendergrass,
"Love T.K.O."
On an overcast afternoon in May, Teddy Pendergrass' home in sleepy Narberth is a hive of activity. Several cars are parked at the end of a long winding driveway, and a man is changing bulbs in outdoor lighting fixtures that lead up to the home's front entrance.
Another man answers the door, and women in scrubs make their way up and down different staircases. Yet another woman can be heard in the distance answering phone calls. The home is modest compared to the sprawling 13-acre Gladwyne mansion Pendergrass bought from talk show host Mike Douglas in 1979, but sold in 1985 when a house of such astounding grandeur became a burden instead of a luxury.
Hanging on the mocha-colored walls of Pendergrass' living room are several oil paintings of him at his peak. There's one of Teddy in a maroon suit, posed nonchalantly next to a candle. In the candle's flame is another Teddy, performing. There's one of him in profile wearing a cowboy hat. Still another has him in all white, belting it out from two different angles, like a highly stylized version of an Olan Mills portrait.
After a few minutes Pendergrass wheels out in a mechanical chair and says hello.
Flash back 26 years. Teddy Pendergrass is the cream of the Sound of Philadelphia crop, blazing a hot trail through R&B. He's a megawatt, globetrotting force. He's the first black solo artist ever to go platinum five albums in a row--our own homegrown Marvin Gaye, playing sold-out concerts wherever he chooses to roll out his seductive, buttery rasp.
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| What a Guy: Dr. Fried stands on the roof of Magee Rehabilitation. (Photo by Michael Persico) |
And the hits, they won't stop: "Close the Door," "You're My Latest, My Greatest Inspiration," "Turn off the Lights," "Love T.K.O.," "Come Go With Me," etc.
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1. Honey said... on Mar 25, 2009 at 10:58PM
“Teddy will always be #1, no one can ever take his place. I've never heard a voice like his. There will never be a another Teddy. I play his music all the time, never get tired of hearing him sing.”
2. ksun said... on Jan 14, 2010 at 08:33AM
“Rest in peace, TP. Your courage was an inspiration.”