So incredibly sad to hear about the death of Teddy Pendergrass, the vocalist who electrified the music world in the 1970s and certainly put Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes on the map. His singing on "The Love I Lost" will always hit home with me, while the emotional charge he put into "Wake Up Everybody" makes me weepy. There's love, wisdom, and a sense of time flying by in that one--the whole ball of wax.
I have to confess that I wrote Pendergrass a letter in care of his record company not long before the 1982 car accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down. He was saying something about old school Soul music, as in Otis Redding, and I can't even remember the gist of his criticism now, but I didn't like it, and called him on it.
A few weeks later, I heard about that horrible crash, and I hoped he hadn't received my letter. So I'm sending Teddy Pendergrass this belated apology for my hasty reaction, and I thank him for some profoundly moving music that is never going to die.
I have to confess that I wrote Pendergrass a letter in care of his record company not long before the 1982 car accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down. He was saying something about old school Soul music, as in Otis Redding, and I can't even remember the gist of his criticism now, but I didn't like it, and called him on it.
A few weeks later, I heard about that horrible crash, and I hoped he hadn't received my letter. So I'm sending Teddy Pendergrass this belated apology for my hasty reaction, and I thank him for some profoundly moving music that is never going to die.
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