antiquity
01-18-2003, 10:39 AM
Pendergrass doesn't allow disability to derail his career
By Kevin McKeough
Special to the Tribune
January 17, 2003
"I am the kind of person that doesn't' like to lose at anything," Teddy Pendergrass says. "For many years I felt as though I was robbed."
That sense of loss came in the wake of a 1982 car crash that left Pendergrass -- at the time one of the biggest stars of R&B -- paralyzed from the chest down. The competitive fire he describes drove him to return eventually to performing concerts, including the one he'll give Friday night at the Chicago Theatre, despite the disability that still keeps him in a wheelchair.
It's his first concert here since his accident, the latest in a series of occasional shows that began in 2001 with two sold-out Memorial Day weekend performances in Atlantic City.
Although he declines to provide details about his rehabilitation, Pendergrass acknowledges that the 19-year journey from the hospital to the stage has been arduous.
"People with disabilities are more motivated than the average person, because you have to work harder for it," he says.
Pendergrass, 52, was born in Philadelphia and began performing there when he was a teenager. By 1970, he was singing with the soul group Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, with whom he recorded such hits as "If You Don't Know Me By Now" and "Wake Up Everybody."
In the mid-'70s, he began a highly successful solo career, pioneering the silky-smooth loverman persona that has been a staple of R&B ever since with such hits as "Close the Door" and "Turn Off the Lights" and performing a series of sold-out "Ladies Only" concerts. In the process, he became the first African-American male singer to release five consecutive platinum records, beginning with his self-titled 1976 debut through his 1980 career high point, "TP."
All that changed when he crashed his Rolls Royce into a median barrier while driving in his hometown. "I was devastated," he says of his initial reaction to his spinal cord injury. With the help of physical therapy and counseling, though, he returned to recording within a year, releasing the gold record "Love Language" in 1984, and he has continued to put out CDs every few years since.
Pendergrass made his first post-accident concert appearance at the Live Aid benefit in 1985, and he took part in a touring production of the show "Your Arms Too Short to Box With God" in 1987. But it wasn't until nearly two decades after the accident that he gave a full-length solo concert.
"For me, it was a matter of feeling really comfortable with what has to be done, with the grueling schedule, with all the things it takes to do it," Pendergrass explains. "It was feeling that I was strong enough, that I could deal with the reaction. It's very personal and it could have been devastating for me. It took a long time before I got to a place where I felt good enough and the circumstances were such that the right offers."
Even then, he felt a great deal of anxiety about his first comeback performance. "I did not know how it was going to turn out," he says. "I had no idea how people were going to react."
He quickly realized that the crowd was rooting for him, but Pendergrass doesn't want to depend on his audience for sympathy. "My purpose is that people don't see me as a man in a wheelchair, that you get past the wheelchair and see the show. Come out and enjoy yourself, have a good time."
He has an abundance of crowd-pleasing hits at his disposal, thanks largely to Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, the songwriting and producing team at the helm of Philadelphia International Records, Pendergrass' home from his Blue Notes days until his accident.
Gamble and Huff penned most of Pendergrass' hits, giving the music an urbane gloss and romantic lushness. "They're great songs, and great songs don't die," Pendergrass says. "I start singing, no matter what song it is, and people sing with me."
The experience of Pendergrass' concerts now has been documented with the release of "From Teddy, With Love," a CD and DVD recording of a performance last Valentine's Day. While it shows that Pendergrass' voice has become huskier and unsteady, he's still capable of stunning singing.
More important, the enthusiasm evident in his animated performance is a heartening demonstration that having a disability doesn't equal the loss of vitality.
"There's a lot that I need to prove as a person with a disability," Pendergrass says. "Having a full productive life is what I advocate at all costs."
http://new.blackvoices.com/news/bv-yahoo-pendergrass030117,0,1853337.story?coll=bv-news-black-headlines
By Kevin McKeough
Special to the Tribune
January 17, 2003
"I am the kind of person that doesn't' like to lose at anything," Teddy Pendergrass says. "For many years I felt as though I was robbed."
That sense of loss came in the wake of a 1982 car crash that left Pendergrass -- at the time one of the biggest stars of R&B -- paralyzed from the chest down. The competitive fire he describes drove him to return eventually to performing concerts, including the one he'll give Friday night at the Chicago Theatre, despite the disability that still keeps him in a wheelchair.
It's his first concert here since his accident, the latest in a series of occasional shows that began in 2001 with two sold-out Memorial Day weekend performances in Atlantic City.
Although he declines to provide details about his rehabilitation, Pendergrass acknowledges that the 19-year journey from the hospital to the stage has been arduous.
"People with disabilities are more motivated than the average person, because you have to work harder for it," he says.
Pendergrass, 52, was born in Philadelphia and began performing there when he was a teenager. By 1970, he was singing with the soul group Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, with whom he recorded such hits as "If You Don't Know Me By Now" and "Wake Up Everybody."
In the mid-'70s, he began a highly successful solo career, pioneering the silky-smooth loverman persona that has been a staple of R&B ever since with such hits as "Close the Door" and "Turn Off the Lights" and performing a series of sold-out "Ladies Only" concerts. In the process, he became the first African-American male singer to release five consecutive platinum records, beginning with his self-titled 1976 debut through his 1980 career high point, "TP."
All that changed when he crashed his Rolls Royce into a median barrier while driving in his hometown. "I was devastated," he says of his initial reaction to his spinal cord injury. With the help of physical therapy and counseling, though, he returned to recording within a year, releasing the gold record "Love Language" in 1984, and he has continued to put out CDs every few years since.
Pendergrass made his first post-accident concert appearance at the Live Aid benefit in 1985, and he took part in a touring production of the show "Your Arms Too Short to Box With God" in 1987. But it wasn't until nearly two decades after the accident that he gave a full-length solo concert.
"For me, it was a matter of feeling really comfortable with what has to be done, with the grueling schedule, with all the things it takes to do it," Pendergrass explains. "It was feeling that I was strong enough, that I could deal with the reaction. It's very personal and it could have been devastating for me. It took a long time before I got to a place where I felt good enough and the circumstances were such that the right offers."
Even then, he felt a great deal of anxiety about his first comeback performance. "I did not know how it was going to turn out," he says. "I had no idea how people were going to react."
He quickly realized that the crowd was rooting for him, but Pendergrass doesn't want to depend on his audience for sympathy. "My purpose is that people don't see me as a man in a wheelchair, that you get past the wheelchair and see the show. Come out and enjoy yourself, have a good time."
He has an abundance of crowd-pleasing hits at his disposal, thanks largely to Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, the songwriting and producing team at the helm of Philadelphia International Records, Pendergrass' home from his Blue Notes days until his accident.
Gamble and Huff penned most of Pendergrass' hits, giving the music an urbane gloss and romantic lushness. "They're great songs, and great songs don't die," Pendergrass says. "I start singing, no matter what song it is, and people sing with me."
The experience of Pendergrass' concerts now has been documented with the release of "From Teddy, With Love," a CD and DVD recording of a performance last Valentine's Day. While it shows that Pendergrass' voice has become huskier and unsteady, he's still capable of stunning singing.
More important, the enthusiasm evident in his animated performance is a heartening demonstration that having a disability doesn't equal the loss of vitality.
"There's a lot that I need to prove as a person with a disability," Pendergrass says. "Having a full productive life is what I advocate at all costs."
http://new.blackvoices.com/news/bv-yahoo-pendergrass030117,0,1853337.story?coll=bv-news-black-headlines