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.