ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
One of the most distinctive R&B voices of the 1970s has died. Teddy Pendergrass gained international attention as the lead singer for Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. He went on to a wildly successful solo career that ended abruptly when an auto accident left him partially paralyzed.
NPR's Allison Keyes has this remembrance.
ALLISON KEYES: The first thing that struck you about Teddy Pendergrass was the voice. It was raw and gravelly, but not in a way that would hurt in a way you wanted to touch especially if you were one of the legions of screaming female fans that flocked to his shows.
(Soundbite of music)
Mr. TEDDY PENDERGRASS (Musician): (Singing) (unintelligible)
(Soundbite of screaming)
KEYES: Women famously threw, well, undergarments on stage when Pendergrass sang, mesmerized by a voice that somehow seemed more manly, more virile than other soul singers like Marvin Gaye, whose vocals were more vulnerable and safer. In 1983, even comedian Eddie Murphy had to recognize the power of Pendergrass.
(Soundbite of show)
Mr. EDDIE MURPHY (Comedian): I like dudes with masculine voices, like a Teddy Pendergrass.
(Soundbite of cheering)
Mr. MURPHY: Teddy would just come out and take the lyrics and go, you got, you got, you what I need. Throw your panties on the stage.
KEYES: Pendergrass discovered early that he wanted to be a performer. Born Theodore DeReese Pendergrass in 1950, he was raised in Philadelphia. He sang in church as a child, and thought he wanted to preach. But when he was a teenager, he saw Jackie Wilson perform.
Mr. PENDERGRASS: And he just controlled the stage. His audience was in the palm of his hands.
KEYES: Pendergrass told WHYY's Fresh Air in 1998 the show changed his life, particularly the reaction of women who ran to the front when Wilson intentionally rolled off the stage.
Mr. PENDERGRASS: To see the ladies run through the guardrails and just lay on top of him and appear to make mad, passionate love to him in the middle of the floor at whatever time it was that morning, my jaws dropped. I was, like, my god.
KEYES: Pendergrass dropped out of high school, got a gig as a drummer with the Cadillacs and, in the early '70s, ended up as lead singer with Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes.
(Soundbite of song, "If You Don't Know Me by Now")
Mr. PENDERGRASS: (Singing) All the things that we've been through, you should understand it like I understand you.
KEYES: Producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff architects of the 1970s style that became known as the sound of Philadelphia told WHYY's Fresh Air that Melvin was miffed that Pendergrass was getting all the attention.
Mr. PENDERGRASS: He used to come to me and say: Man, they think that Teddy is Harold Melvin. I said: Well, you know, don't worry about it. That was that power.
KEYES: That power led Pendergrass to a solo career.
(Soundbite of song, "Love T.K.O.")
Mr. PENDERGRASS: (Singing) Looking back over my years, I guess I've shedded some tears. I told myself time and time again, this time I'm going to win.
KEYES: His million-selling albums produced a string of hits from "Close the Door" to the smash anthem "Turn Off the Lights" to 1980s "Love T.K.O."
(Soundbite of song, "Love T.K.O.")
Mr. PENDERGRASS: (Singing) Looks like another love TKO.
KEYES: Then, in 1982, Teddy Pendergrass was partially paralyzed in an automobile accident. He continued to sing from a wheelchair, but it was 19 years before he gave another full concert. It was difficult for the singer to project his voice the way he once had. But Pendergrass said a lot more changed after the accident.
Mr. PENDERGRASS: I know I see life much different because I'm experiencing life much, much differently. But I feel good about me because I'm not going to let this keep me from being the person I know I can be.
KEYES: Teddy Pendergrass set up a foundation to help others with spinal cord injuries. He died yesterday in suburban Philadelphia eight months after surgery for colon cancer. He was 59 years old.
Allison Keyes, NPR News.
(Soundbite of song, "This Gift of Life")
Mr. PENDERGRASS: (Singing) And I want to thank you for giving me the privilege just to live.