GOSPELCONNOISSEUR.COM SALUTE TO BLACK MUSIC MONTH

“I’ve won some, and I’ve lost some/ But us dreamers don’t complain/ We keep reaching out for passion/ No matter what the pain.”  (Teddy P)

Teddy Pendergrass started singing gospel music in Philadelphia churches, becoming an ordained minister at ten years old. From his early years as the voice of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes to his continued success as a solo artist, Teddy Pendergrass is a living musical legend. His voice has a swagger, but he also has a good range, he knew how to project, and never rushed or hurried through a ballads. Even after tragedy struck, in the form of a debilitating car accident in the early 1980s, Pendergrass defied the odds and continued to have a record-breaking career as a performer.  

He became the first black male in history to record five consecutive multi-platinum albums. His live shows was equally successful as his recording career, selling out arenas across the globe. He sold more than 10 million records in a decade-long stretch. 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.

In the early ’80s, Teddy Pendergrass could do no wrong, his the robust, husky-voiced was at it’s peak. I remember my mother playing his music and me being enraptured by the beat of the music and the sound of his voice. I was young, and didn’t fully grasp what Teddy P. was trying to say. Now I do, and as I listen to it and identify with the lyrics, I feel his joy and pain.

The clip is of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes song “To Be Free To Be Who We Are” with Teddy on lead vocals.