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| Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes featuring Teddy Pendergrass |
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| Theodore Pendergrass was born on March 26, 1950 in Philadelphia, Pa. He grew up in a devoutly religious family. Like most incredible black singers from the fifties and sixties he began singing gospel in the local church. Eventually becoming an ordained minister at the age of 10, Teddy also taught himself to play the drums. And by the age of 15 had formed his own band. While attending public school, he sang in the citywide McIntyre Elementary School Choir and in the All-City Stetson Junior High School Choir. After graduation he devoted himself to music, landing a drumming gig with a local band, The Cadillacs. In 1969 The Cadillacs were asked to join Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes as their backing band. Teddy worked in the background as a drummer and backup vocalist for the next two years as the group kicked around looking for a label deal. In 1971 two original members left and were replaced with Lloyd Parkes, and Melvin now aware of Pendergrass' vocal prowess, asked him to take the lead singer spot. It's no secret that Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff wanted Marvin Junior of the Dells for their Philadelphia International Records roster. Since the Dells were signed to Chess, they were unavailable. When the gruff-n-ready vocals of Pendergrass came their way, they eagerly signed the group. The group's first album for the label was 1972's "Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes." A fantastic debut that wasn't meant to be. Most of these songs were originally written for the Dells, but the deal fell through. The way Pendergrass tore into these songs, nobody remotely suspected that these love dramas were written for anybody but Teddy. He sounds like he's about to lose it when he sings "I Miss You" as he pleads with his ex-love about how he has changed. The poignant "If You Don't Know Me By Now" was the first million seller for the Blue Notes and did even better years later for Simply Red. "Be For Real" is one of the finest recorded pieces in R&B history; it's not a song, it's a pleader where a guy admonishes his woman for looking down on people. They dusted off "Let Me Into Your World" for the Blue Notes; this one was not written for the Dells, as Gamble & Huff had recorded it a few years earlier with the O'Jays for Neptune Records. A hard-hitting package that established the group as a force to be reckoned with. Lots of goodies on 1973's "Black & Blue," the second album under the auspices of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. "Satisfaction Guaranteed (Or Take Your Love Back)" is tight, as is the questioning "Is There A Place For Me." Lyricist Cary Gilbert collaborates with Gamble & Huff on "I'm Weak For You," a slow jam that Teddy and the crew tear up. The driving force here is the epic "The Love I Lost," a heart-rending tear-jerker with an incomparable beat that established them as dance floor material. The only clunker is a hokey MOR production of "Cabaret." This totally inappropriate disaster will have you howling every time and wondering what the hell they were thinking?. Spending all of 1974 touring to back their sudden popularity, their next release wasn't until 1975's "To Be True." The third album from the melodramatic vocal quintet features an array of R&B classics. While Teddy was featured on this album, he did not lead every song. The three releases were "Where Are All My Friends, " "Bad Luck" and "Hope That We Can Be Together Soon." All three were Billboard R&B top ten winners with the "Bad Luck" reaching number one. "Where Are All My Friends" and "Bad Luck" mirror each other in that both are uptempo dance numbers that depict the misfortunes of a man. The former has a smoother vocal presentation with a mid-verse rhythm change-up. The latter has an incessant groovin' rhythm where Teddy cuts into the lyric with conviction with his robust delivery as he does on each selection he leads. "Hope That We Can Be Together Soon" features the velvety smooth vocals of Sharon Paige on this easy-flowing number. While Harold Melvin carries most of the vocal duties, Pendergrass steps in for a one-liner and closes out on the vamp. Whereas most ballads climax towards the end of the song, the most climatic part of this number one song is the string and horn intro. This album marked the debut of Sharon Paige who would do additional recording with the group before releasing her own 12" singles in 1980. Making up for lost time the group released a second album in 1975. "Wake Up Everybody" was the final chapter of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes featuring Theodore Pendergrass.Even though they were an R&B group with much soul, the message in their music was truly profound, uplifting, thought provoking, and full of love. This album featured only two singles. The title track is a plea to the world to come together and rid the society of all its ills. Written by the prolific writing team of McFadden/Whitehead/Carstarphen, it conveys a message in line with the ideology of the album's producers. The connection felt when listening to the song permeates the soul, and will momentarily produce thoughts in one to make a change. This is a very moving song. It held on to the number one spot on the Billboard R&B charts for two consecutive weeks. The aggressive arrangement of "Tell The World How I Feel About 'Cha Baby" carried it to number seven on the charts. Other notables are "Keep On Lovin' You," "To Be Free To Be Who We Are" and "I'm Searching For A Love." Sharon Paige is featured on the the latter ballad. "Don't Leave Me This Way" was yet another disco favorite that became a bigger hit for Thelma Houston. By the end of 1975 tension was building within the group. The heavily spotlighted Pendergrass was hungry for separate billing, but Melvin, still the group's chief organizing force, turned him down. In 1976, Pendergrass left the Blue Notes for a solo career, which signaled the end of Melvin's relationship with Philadelphia International. Melvin soldiered on, helming several more albums of new material for several labels up through 1984, although his group only managed one more significant hit, 1977's "Reaching For The World." Melvin continued to tour with versions of the Blue Notes steadily into the 1990's. Pendergrass signed a new contract with Philadelphia International Records in late 1976/early 1977. He burst back on the scene with "Teddy Pendergrass," a platinum solo debut that included the top-notch singles "I Don't Love You Anymore," "You Can't Hide From Yourself," and "The More I Get The More I Want." Around this time, Pendergrass began to institute his infamous "For Ladies Only" concerts. His next three albums went gold or platinum: "Life Is A Song Worth Singing" (1978), "Teddy" (1979), and "Teddy Live (Coast to Coast)." The hit single "Close The Door" was used in the film "Soup For One," where Pendergrass had a small role. The singer received several Grammy nominations during 1977 and 1978, Billboard's 1977 Pop Album New Artist Award, an American Music Award for best R&B performer of 1978, and awards from Ebony magazine and the NAACP. "TP," his fifth solo album, went platinum in the summer of 1980 off the singles "Turn Off The Lights," "Come Go With Me," "Shout And Scream," "It's You I Love," and "Can't We Try." "It's Time For Love" gave Pendergrass another gold album in summer 1981, which included the hit singles "Love TKO" and "I Can't Live Without Your Love." A 1982 car accident left Pendergrass paralyzed from the waist down and wheelchair bound. After almost a year of physical therapy and counseling, Pendergrass returned to the recording scene, signing a contract with Elektra/Asylum in 1983. His ninth solo album, his Elektra/Asylum debut, "Love Language" went gold the spring of 1984. Philadelphia International issued two albums of unreleased tracks, "This One's For You" (1982) and "Heaven Only Knows" (1983). Other albums included "Workin' It Back" (1985), "Joy" (1988, whose title track went to number one R&B for two weeks), and "A Little More Magic" (1993). The latter half of the 1990's found Pendergrass recording for the Surefire/Wind Up label. "Truly Blessed" (the name of an 1991 Elektra album) is the title of the autobiography Pendergrass co-authored with Patricia Romanowski. 1997 brought the hit disc "You And I" while 1998 brought Teddy's first holiday release with "This Christmas I'd Rather Have Love." Teddy continues into the new millenium going strong with the 2002 release "From Teddy, With Love." Melvin however suffered a stroke and never fully recovered; he passed away on March 24, 1997, in his beloved hometown of Philadelphia. The magic these two men created have changed the soul and disco landscape forever and no DiscoMuseum would be complete without honoring them....thank you gentlemen! |
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