The grave of Teddy Pendergrass

What is happening on you tube? I'm free today, Lamont, we're at West Laurel Hill Cemetery here in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and I'm here to visit Teddy Pendergrass's

grave

. Teddy Pendergrass was born on March 26, 1950 here in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he was. his mother ida's only child she had six previous miscarriages before having

teddy

so she raised them the best she could he didn't really have any father in the house he had only met his father maybe twice when

teddy

was 12 years his father had been stabbed to death here in Philadelphia he was raised in the church he started sinking for his church as a child when he was 10 he was an ordained minister now of course being a kid living in the inner city Not having your father around, you'll most likely get into some trouble here and there.

He got arrested a couple of times when he was a minor, but of course his mother was basically a mother and father. She raised him well and he quickly outgrew him. He got out of all that nonsense, taught himself to play the drums, listened to music and started imitating the rhythms of the drum with his fingers on a table and then picked up some drumsticks and later became a drummer for a group here. the cadillacs name they recruited him to be their drummer and of course the cadillacs would tour with a band called harold melvin and the blue notes so he later left the cadillacs and got a job playing drums for harold melvin and the blue notes and in 1970, the lead singer of blue notes, a man named john atkins, left the band now, harold melvin originally, when he started with blue notes, i think he started in the mid '50s and he was originally the singer, It was the pianist.

He also taught himself how to do that, but for some reason I guess he felt the need to have other people sing the songs, but of course he would keep his name on the building. In the money situation, you would have a lot of people coming in and out of that band because at the end of the night you are seeing all the money that is made, most of the money goes to Mr. Melvin, so Teddy starts playing the drums to Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes and when their singer left, there was really only one person who could fill that role and that was, of course, Teddy Pendergrass.

He began to sing for the blue notes. Of course, you'll know his famous song if you don't know me. Many people, honestly, don't know me. I don't think they know that Teddy Pendergrass is the singer of that song, so you're going on tour with Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes, oh yeah, and by the way, we have a guy named Teddy Pendergrast who sings, but enough about him and Teddy, he's going on tour, he's going to be on a TV show and guess what, this guy is really handsome, he's got a fantastic voice, women love him, he's looking at these guys and he's like, why am I not getting the building?

What do I deserve? These guys around me you. I know they're basically absorbing the profits that I could make, so in 1976, Teddy says, Hey, I'm out of the band, I'm going out on my own, you know, he's leaving the band and you know the blue. notes that they went on tour but were never the same after Teddy left the band. Curious fact. uh, Teddy Pendergrass is the first black singer to have five platinum albums in a row, so he releases album after album, a couple of them very well. -known songs of course I love tko and of course he turns off the lights and in that song teddy tells you how he likes to be bathed and if you do that to him he will do it to many of you who are watching this video right now.

You may not know it, but if it weren't for Teddy Pendergrass, some of us wouldn't be here right now. Like I said before, Teddy Pendergrass, a handsome guy who becomes a billionaire, is a very flashy guy and a lot of people did it. I really don't take too kindly to him having had some problems with the Philadelphia police department, she said, she said, who knows what was going on with that, but they made him a target just because of how flashy he is, I mean, how many types are there? rolling through Philadelphia driving 80 miles an hour driving a maserati not many very famous someone some people called him the black elvis uh he would do women only concerts if you were a man hey hit the road this concert is women only it was known for doing that and he handed out black lollipops before the show, so you know, guess what the ladies are sucking on in a teddy pop, right, okay, very good, uh, definitely, womanizer and listen, uh, his wife in that moment, you know, hey, when, when. you sign up to be with teddy

pendergrass

hey when he travels from city to city hey listen, we're both those we know what's going on here he's leaving the charmer but hey, that's what you sign up for when you're with that man, a lot of women love them, including me, including my mom, she loves stuffed grass, so anyway, flashy guys, women love them and one guy who didn't really take too kindly to him was a man, a great singer, a womanizer and That was Marvin Gaye and the reason Marvin Gaye didn't like Teddy Pendergrass was not because he was necessarily jealous, but because Marvin Gaye's wife, Jan Gay, had a side fling in Merida with Teddy Pendergrass, but Well, you know, I guess so. is what it is at the end of the day, so anyway, let's talk about the infamous accident that happened to Teddy, so as I mentioned before, Teddy Pendergrass loved ladies, he loved fast cars, really fast cars around the March 10 or 11.

In 1982, Pendergrass was driving his Maserati and had a really serious accident. He wasn't hurt too much, it was mostly minor injuries, but there was one more unfortunate accident that was going to happen the following week that would change his life. and some would say his reputation forever on March 18, 1982 Teddy was leaving a club. He was driving his Rolls-Royce according to witnesses very, very fast and without another vehicle being involved in the accident, he left the road and hit a tree post at that time. He called 9-1-1 and the ambulance arrived. Two people who were in the vehicle at the time were trapped in that car for over an hour.

Teddy Pendergrass and his passenger were eventually removed from the vehicle. His passenger was a woman. tamika watkins name so the police are talking to tamika about what was going on and how they crashed and you know one of the officers is looking at tamik and says he said listen uh this is not a lady this is a guy , it's a guy dressed up as a lady, whatever word you want to use to call him, go ahead and use it to make them say, well, what's your real name? He's like John Watkins, okay, John, he's okay, what's going on here?

He just said there were no other cars. involved in the accident Teddy was driving too fast when Teddy Pendergrass was taken to the hospital. He later suffered a serious spinal cord injury. The accident left him a quadriplegic for the rest of his life. He was in the hospital for six months when he comes out, I mean let's not forget the guys when Teddy Pendergrass was singing and all that he was in his early 20s at the height of his popularity, I mean being in his 20s and then you know that you're in your You're barely 30 years old and you have a horrible accident, oh my God, so this guy, you know, you have to imagine what's going through his mind, he comes home and he's in a wheelchair and I believe in his own mind, uh, thoughts of ending it all. depression rears its ugly head he doesn't know what to do he will sing again will he be able to sing again becoming a quadriplegic? it affected his breathing a little bit and you know there were some pretty dark days for teddy um you would look at the bottles of prescription painkillers at all and he was like hey if I take too many of these I'm going to go to sleep and never wake up and that did get to him. head many times, but you know, with the help of his friends, his family. and God, you know he managed to get out of that dark hole of the abyss and, a couple of years later, after the accident, he made his first public appearance at a Live Aid concert before a hundred thousand people and there he sang, and even though he was in a chair on wheels he continued making music and made more albums and everything was fine again now going back to the tamika john watkins a lot of people looked at this guy and said well what are you doing with a transvestite in your vehicle? you're a womanizer your songs are all about the ladies the ladies the ladies next thing you know hey what's going on here I'll just say this hey whatever you want to do in your personal time or your own personal business Hey that's business Yours, not mine, so I disappeared, I never really talked about it, so maybe I was just driving it home.

Who knows, I'm pretty sure he's done interviews to discuss the situation at hand, but in the end. of the day who really knows anyway, but hey, he continued to make music and the ladies continue to love him, in fact, the ladies continued to love him so much that in 2002, he and his wife separated. They got divorced and there was an interview in a magazine where they asked his wife, you know why his wife was with them, you know through all that, you know the accident and the rehab and the warnings to end it all, they said, well, what? because?

If you let them, she said, Hey, listen, it wasn't my choice. You know, I just got tired of the ladies. That's all he said. I got tired of all the ladies, even in a wheelchair. The ladies loved Teddy Pendergrass, a very, very talented musician. talented drummer and an even more talented singer, you know one of those singers, those songs that you know you and your girlfriend are chilling on Lookout Mountain or whatever, and you put some love into it, but let me tell you this, they don't they do it. There's no music like that anymore, today's music is horrible, in my personal opinion, I know a lot of people are going to be angry because I said you know, well, what are you going to do?

It's a generation that's constantly changing and the music that's being made now. It's just that it's not about love, in my opinion it's about nonsense and you know, when people who made good music in the past die, I think we can all agree that a little piece of our childhood and adulthood early leaves and slowly fades away this is teddy pee's

grave

I am who I am that is a song I think he is saying uh he wrote for a television special that uh there were like awards or something like that dedicated to him elvis black that rest in peace teddy p and I'll be back I'll make your stone shine okay guys I hope you enjoyed the video let me know in the comments below what other singers from your era do you like to listen to?

I don't mind. if it's ar b or rock and roll, uh, I don't know, let me know who you like, Luther Vandross, anyone anyway, guys, God bless you, I'm not big anymore, I'll catch up with you in the next vlog, be good, May they be at peace. you