[ Engine starts ] -KDR 96.6.

It's busy on the streets as you try to make your way home to your loved ones.

But let me get you in the mood to schmooze with Philadelphia's own Mr.

Teddy Pendergrass.

[ "Close the Door" by Teddy Pendergrass playing ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -♪ Close the door ♪ ♪ Let me give you what you've been waiting for ♪ ♪ Baby, I got so much love to give ♪ ♪ And I want to give it all to you ♪ -♪ Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo ♪ -♪ Close the door ♪ ♪ No need to worry no more ♪ ♪ Let's bring this day to a pleasant end ♪ ♪ Girl, it's me and you now ♪ ♪ I've waited all day long ♪ ♪ Just to hold you gently in my loving arms ♪ ♪ And it's exactly like I thought it would be ♪ ♪ Me loving you and you loving me ♪ ♪ Loving me ♪ ♪ Loving ♪ ♪ Close the door, baby ♪ ♪♪ [ Tires screech ] [ Metal crashes, glass shatters ] -♪ If you don't know me by now ♪ ♪ You will never, never, never know me ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ -♪ All the things that we've been through ♪ ♪ You should understand me ♪ ♪ Like I understand you ♪ ♪ Now, baby, I know the difference ♪ ♪ Between right and wrong ♪ ♪ I ain't gonna do nothing to upset our happy home ♪ -♪ Oh ♪ -♪ Oh, don't get so excited ♪ ♪ When I come home a little late at night ♪ ♪ 'Cause we only act like children ♪ ♪ When we argue, fuss and fight, hey ♪ -You were talking about Philadelphia, where you come from.

-Oh, my God.

Filthy-delphia.

That's what we call it.

-When you go back now, as, you know, superstars in your world... -[ Laughs ] -I'm serious.

In terms of anybody that has had as many hit records as you guys have.

How are the cats on the corner?

I mean, you know, the neighborhood?

-Now, that's a trip.

There's new -- There's different cats now in the neighborhood than when I -- See, when I was growing up, I used to run the neighborhood.

You know, I was the biggest jitterbug in the neighborhood.

Now you got guys that are 16, 17.

They don't care about me.

You know, I say, "I used to run this neighborhood."

They said, "Well, that's right, you used to."

[ Laughter ] I cannot move my mother out of the ghetto.

I tried.

I said, "Mama, move."

"No.

Mnh-mnh."

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

-I became pregnant and I lost it.

And then again and again and again.

And every time I become pregnant, I would lose it until I become pregnant to Teddy.

He was the seventh, but he was the first birth.

My husband walked away, and I was left to raise a son all by myself.

-What I'd like to do is start from the very beginning and just kind of talk from childhood, just kind of go through my life, you know?

-The Mighty... And these guys were terrorists.

These guys, if they couldn't get you, they would come to your house and get your family.

-It was a tough neighborhood.

You either had to be predator or prey.

It was tough going to school.

It was just tough trying to be... on the right side of things.

-♪ Do you want to party?

♪ ♪ Do you want to dance?

♪ -Teddy had the bottom mouth, talk a lot of trash.

He says, "You know what, man?

I'm gonna be famous one day, and I'm gonna hire you as my bodyguard."

I looked at him and, "Get away from me, man.

Shut up.

[ Laughs ] You're watching too many movies."

-♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Come on, get up ♪ ♪ Get up, get down and get loose ♪ -Teddy Pendergrass, one of the most popular singers in all of pop music.

He doesn't like labels like soul or R&B or rock 'n' roll.

But the one label that's undeniable when you come to Teddy Pendergrass is that of superstar.

[ Cheers and applause ] -Thank you.

Thank you.

-I learned that you were ordained at the age of 10.

-Yes.

-Are you still a minister?

-Uh, in some ways, I'm still spreading the word.

[ Laughter ] -♪ Come by this place, Lord ♪ -♪ Come by here ♪ ♪ Oh, Lord, come by here ♪ -In church, in black churches, the major thing is being able to stand up in front of a group of people and move them.

I mean, so much so until they feel the spirit as the spirit is to whatever your belief is.

And that training and that experience, I credit it to what I'm doing today.

-♪ It was ♪ -♪ Nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ -♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ [ Cheers and applause ] -First time they called that little baby boy to sing, we were sitting on our pew.

I got up and stood him on a chair because he was so little, everybody to see him.

And he started singing "If I Could Write a Letter to Heaven."

-♪ Dear Lord, just a few lines ♪ -He couldn't hear my voice.

He stopped and looked up at me, and he said, "Sing, mother, sing."

And then he kept on singing.

When he finished, they applauded us.

You have no idea how I felt.

The joy to see my baby... Whoo.

-The New Testament says... repent.

It is time for America to repent now.

-The promises of the Great Society have been shot down on the battlefields of Vietnam.

We were taking the Black young men who had been crippled by society and sending them 8,000 miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia, which they had not found in southwest Georgia and East Harlem.

-♪ My heart is crying, crying ♪ ♪ Lonely teardrops ♪ ♪ My pillow's never dry of lonely teardrops ♪ ♪ Come... ♪ ♪ Hey ♪ -♪ Hey oh wee ♪ -♪ Just give me another chance ♪ -Jackie Wilson had such a command of the audience and get people to do things.

You know, the women throwing their underwear up on stage and those type of things, and that fascinated him.

Then years later, he's getting the same thing.

I mean, people would throw all types of things on the stage.

[ Laughing ] -♪ Shoo-doo, shoo-de-doo ♪ -We used to just sneak inside the Uptown Theatre and just watch everybody.

Teddy and me, we started out singing on the corner.

We went to high school together, and that's when we got put out.

They booted us out of school because we was cutting class and singing and drinking wine.

And our parents didn't know that.

-I think the most important thing about any particular city that has music talent, it really just boils down to community.

[ R&B music plays ] ♪♪ Philadelphia is one of those towns in which people stick together.

So a lot of songwriters, a lot of musicians, um, kind of work with each other and network with each other and collaborate with each other.

That's what makes Philadelphia special.

♪♪ -This gentleman is Kenny Gamble.

Over here is Leon Huff, and the gentleman in the middle is Joe Tarsia.

This is perhaps the happiest triumvirate you'll ever meet.

The recordings these guys have made together are played on every radio and television station in the world.

-♪ If you don't... ♪ -That famous Philadelphia sound could not have reached the level of prominence that it currently enjoys without the mighty Blue Notes.

-Now, Melvin was -- was a genius.

You know, he probably could take me and Huff, make us the Blue Notes.

You know what I mean?

-Yeah, yeah.

-♪ If you don't know me by now ♪ -Harold Melvin is the person who found Teddy.

Huff called me up and said, "Man, you got to hear this guy."

-Teddy's voice rang out over all the backgrounds.

It just stuck out.

I tried him on a song.

"I Miss You."

And, um, I said, "Damn, well, this guy sounds great."

You know?

I was really high on him.

Really, really, really excited about him.

-"I Miss You" -- that was our first record, and we got in the studio and then I started, like, doing, ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Hoo hoo, woo woo woo ♪ You know?

And he said, "Oh, that's it, that's it."

[ "I Miss You" playing ] ♪ Oooooh ♪ -♪ Oh, I ♪ -♪ Woo woo woo ♪ -♪ Oh, I ♪ -♪ Woooo ♪ -♪ I miss you, baby ♪ -Not only was he good looking, but he had a presence and -- and, uh, and, uh, he had a special voice.

-♪ Ahhhh ♪ -♪ 'Cause ever since the day you left ♪ ♪ I don't know what to do with myself ♪ ♪ Oh, I wish for your return ♪ -♪ Oh, how I hurt ♪ -♪ 'Cause I ♪ -♪ Oh, I ♪ -♪ Oh, I ♪ -♪ Oh, I ♪ -That was our first tune.

And then it came out with, "Ladies and gentlemen, 'I Miss You' from Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes."

And everybody was looking around like, "What the hell is going on?"

It's the Blue Notes.

But Harold, he put his name out front without us knowing it.

-With guest stars Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes.

-Harold told Gamble and Huff it was alright with the guys.

You know?

He lied to Gamble.

-Harold wanted to have his identity a little bit more, because Teddy was so dominating that people thought that he was the leader of the group.

And Harold was really the leader of the group.

So Harold and I, we talked about it.

I said, "Well, let's name it Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes."

-But at that particular time, we were so happy to be out there.

We didn't know later on down the line it was gonna bite us in the butt.

-I was on the radio in Washington, D.C.

when I first heard Teddy and played his music.

Many people thought those vocals belonged to Harold when they, in fact, were Teddy.

Harold did sing some leads, but the big hits belonged to Teddy.

So I didn't know if Teddy was Harold Melvin or Harold Melvin was Teddy.

-I just naturally thought that Harold Melvin was the lead of his band.

I couldn't piece together that it wasn't Harold Melvin singing those songs, that it was Teddy Pendergrass.

-[ Vocalizing ] ♪♪ -Our success came from the mouth of Teddy Pendergrass.

-We got hits after hits after hits, you know?

And to this day, it ain't too many groups out there can mess with us.

-Gamble was the lyric writer, basically.

And I'd be at the keyboard and we'll be at Gamble's office where the upright was.

You know, two guys in a little room and you record it, and then the whole world is singing your song.

-♪ Don't leave me this way ♪ ♪ I can't survive ♪ ♪ Can't stay alive without your love ♪ -It was like lightning struck.

The studio was running seven days a week, 20 hours a day.

Very hard on a marriage.

I came home one night and all my clothes were on the front lawn.

But that's another story.

-♪ Don't leave me this way ♪ ♪ No ♪ ♪ Don't leave me this way, hey ♪ -Teddy had a certain clarity and a certain... I don't want to say roughness, but growl that was attractive.

-You got to give a voice like this raw meat.

-♪ Ahh, baby ♪ ♪ My heart is full of love and desire for you ♪ -Teddy made a difference, you know?

It was a challenge for Huff and myself, you know?

-Oh, yeah.

-And we loved that.

You know, like songs like "The Love I Lost," you know?

-[ Vocalizing ] Pow!

[ Vocalizing ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ The love I lost ♪ ♪ Was a sweet love ♪ ♪ The love I lost ♪ ♪ Was complete love ♪ ♪ The love I lost ♪ -♪ Lost ♪ -♪ I'll never ♪ ♪ No, no, never ♪ ♪ Love again ♪ ♪♪ -♪ I can remember planning ♪ ♪ Building my whole world around you ♪ ♪ I can remember hoping ♪ ♪ That you and I could make it on through ♪ ♪ But something went wrong ♪ -♪ We loved each other ♪ ♪ We just couldn't get along ♪ -♪ Take a good look at me ♪ ♪ I'm in misery Can't you see?

♪ The love ♪ The love, the love, the love I lost ♪ -♪ Was a sweet love ♪ -♪ Yes, she was ♪ -♪ The love I lost ♪ ♪ Was complete love ♪ ♪ The love I lost ♪ -♪ The love I lost ♪ -♪ I will never ♪ -♪ Never ♪ -♪ No, no, never ♪ -♪ Never ♪ -♪ Love again ♪ -♪ I can't remember nothing, no, no, no ♪ ♪ But the good times we used to share ♪ -Harold just tried to take the credit for everything.

Teddy was the one that was really making the money for the group.

It was just Harold just messed everything up.

Being greedy.

-We were playing The Total Experience in Los Angeles, and, um, a royalty check had come in and Harold had cashed it.

Bernie, Teddy and Larry were staying in motels, and Teddy walked to the Beverly Wilshire where Harold was staying in a suite.

-And Harold said, "I don't think I got it.

I'm a little low on cash, but I'll go upstairs and check it out."

-And he saw these -- Look like thousands of dollars.

-Yeah.

A stack of money on the bed.

I mean, stacks of what they have in the banks, you know, with the little wraps on them.

-Harold gave him $200 and told him not to tell us.

-♪ Wake up everybody ♪ ♪ No more sleeping in bed ♪ -I had to remind myself that that was a Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes song.

Because it's really a Teddy song.

-♪ What it used to be ♪ ♪ There's so much hatred, war and poverty ♪ -You know, if it were Teddy Pendergrass and the Blue Notes, that would have made a difference.

But you can't keep a good man down.

-♪ Wake up everybody ♪ -We call it "Break Up Everybody."

Because Teddy left Harold.

The Blue Notes left Harold.

Then Teddy went on his own.

The Blue Notes went on their own.

Harold started up another group.

-Teddy was preparing to leave Harold, and Harold had made some serious threats about what would happen to Teddy if he did so.

His life, threatening his life.

-Harold Melvin came to me and said that he wanted to stay with the company, but he didn't want Teddy to be at the company.

I said, "We can't do that."

Business is business, you know?

-That's right.

-And, uh, I think we made the right decision.

-Harold was very angry and didn't wish Teddy well when he went on his own, said that he would fall on his face.

But then once I heard, um, "I Don't Love You Anymore," I said, "Go on."

-♪ I don't love you anymore ♪ ♪ It's just that simple ♪ ♪ No, no, no, not like before ♪ ♪ Such a shame ♪ ♪ Dirty shame, yeah ♪ -You quit singing for a while.

How come?

-Yes.

Uh, we, uh, recorded a record once and, uh, heard no more from the producer or the record, and I kind of just... -That happens, though.

-Yeah, but I was a kid, 16 years old.

It meant a lot to me, you know?

So I stopped singing.

-Completely?

-Yeah, for a while.

I said, "Well, I'm just gonna play drums and just beat my troubles away."

-And you played drums for other people?

-Yeah.

-Who for instance?

-As a matter of fact, I played drums for Harold before I sang with the group.

-Harold Melvin?

I bet you don't play drums for him after this.

-I'm gonna get him to play drums for me.

No.

-[ Laughter ] -Oh, Harold, wherever you are, you've got a big one coming.

That's funny.

Who plays drums for you now?

-Uh, a gentleman named James Carter.

And I really wouldn't want his job because I'm really kind of hard on him.

Yeah.

-I was 21 years old, you know, at the time.

And I probably -- probably was a little tiny bit more handsome than I am now.

Not much more.

When I met Teddy, he said, "Good, you're gonna be alright.

They say drummers with gaps in their teeth can play."

♪♪ -Taaz Lang was the -- the manager.

So one day I got a call saying that we needed to put a band together.

-Teddy knew that I was a band leader at the Uptown, and Teddy asked me to take over the band, and I did.

And that's how it got started.

We're here for a particular purpose.

To record.

We want everybody... -♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ -I was walking on 52nd Street trying to get a gig, at Mr.

Silk's... -[ Laughter ] -Trying to get a... -She will do that.

She will sing.

-Yes.

-And he said, "You know me?"

And I said no.

And he said, "I'm Teddy Pendergrass.

I'm -- You know, I just left Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes and I'm gonna -- I'm really gonna be big."

And I was like, "Yeah, okay."

[ Guitar playing ] -In the audition, he says, "What's going on with you?"

I said, "Well, I know those guys got the job.

They're great musicians."

He says, "No."

He said, "You played what was on the paper."

He said, "You could have the job."

♪♪ -I remember just sitting there and, you know, I mean, I'm the White boy.

I'm the youngest.

I'm wearing a flannel shirt and blue jeans and my hiking boots, and everybody else is looking Italian.

You know, I mean, I just really -- We communed through the playing because I kind of understood, you know, the music.

♪♪ -One night, Teddy saw us performing, and Taaz, his manager, called the studio and asked if we would dance with him.

And we didn't know who he was.

We're like, "Well, who is he?"

But what clicked for us was they said, "Well, he's opening at Carnegie Hall," and we thought, "Carnegie Hall.

Yes, we'll dance.

We can go to Carnegie Hall."

-♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Taaz Lang.

And she said, "Harriet," she said, "You need to stay here."

She said, "It's gonna be good."

-Ted loved Taaz.

He always made it very clear how important that she was.

One of the most important relationships in his life is how he had put it to me.

-I knew Taaz pretty good.

You know, she had a beauty shop like, you know, talkative, talkative, make it happen kind of lady, you know what I mean?

-Isn't that one of the shops that we rehearsed at in the basement?

-It is one of the shops we rehearsed in, yeah.

She was a good girl, but she was -- She was, uh, she was firm.

She was very firm.

-Oh, extremely.

♪♪ -We had left by bus, so Taaz saw us off.

It was, like, on a Thursday evening.

-And, uh, Teddy had rode with us at that time.

A little strange, but he was on the bus with us, and as soon as he got into town, he went to make a phone call or whatever, and he was informed that, uh, Taaz Lang had been shot.

Killed.

Murdered.

-Henry Evans, Teddy's road manager, called Teddy and said Taaz was dead.

And I was like... The look that I got from both of them, I was like, "This is not right."

Instead of, uh, feeling some kind of regret, I'm -- I'm looking at somebody that's feeling relieved, like, "Ahh."

-The hits come faster on the Sonny Hopson show.

-I said, "Okay."

[ Siren wailing ] -She had been shot.

She was killed.

[ Gunshot ] -There was a lot of thug life happening, you know, in the record industry at that time.

[ Funk music playing ] -It actually intimidated me.

You know, sometimes I would be scared -- excuse the term -- ...in the studio.

-Where you have money, you have mobsters usually.

You know, you knew you had to be a part of things because you're doing a show, but you didn't want to get too friendly with anybody like that.

-Taaz started making threats.

She could ruin his career, you know.

And that's a big threat for an entertainer.

"I can ruin your career.

I can change your whole life."

-Who killed Taaz?

-Oh, it was the Black Mafia.

Just I don't know who.

Just don't know who.

Never found out who did it.

Their main business was drugs, and the business is violent.

You can't let anybody steal from you.

If you do, they had to pay a price -- either break the legs or take the life.

-The story never came out.

-Never came out.

It's one of those unsolved mysteries, like it's been said.

Those who say don't know and those who know don't say.

One of those kind of deals.

-It didn't surprise me about why they would kill her, because she had really total control over Teddy Pendergrass, and I had heard the rumor was that she had too much.

-♪ This one's for you ♪ -I was blessed to play at her funeral.

And Cecil Du Valle played the organ, and I played the piano, and Teddy sang "This One's for You."

-And you could tell the emotions that Teddy put into that song for Taaz.

Wow.

It was very sad playing that song.

-♪ That I'm the one who cries ♪ ♪ And I... ♪ -Jesse Jackson preached the eulogy.

-♪ And I fight so hard to hide my tears ♪ ♪ 'Cause ♪ ♪ This one is for you ♪ ♪♪ [ Heavy-metal music playing ] ♪♪ -[ Screams ] -I was fairly successful as a young manager who got a reputation of being different, and Alice was one of the artists I managed.

So I got on a plane and went to Philadelphia to see Teddy Pendergrass.

I didn't realize till I got to the show that it was the lead singer of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, who happened to be one of my favorite groups in the world.

-Would you do me a very big favor, please, and give a round of applause to the Teddy Bear Dancers?

[ Cheers and applause ] [ R&B music playing ] ♪♪ -But I hated the show.

Dancers, he left in a cape.

I didn't like it at all.

But I go backstage.

All the Jewish managers in the business are at the backstage door, so I didn't even wait, I just left.

So I went back down to Philadelphia.

Of course, he lived in the penthouse.

This gorgeous lady in, like, a lingerie opens the door.

It's like a set of a movie and I come in.

And then Teddy walks in the room and in person, Teddy is overwhelmingly handsome, overwhelmingly sexual, overwhelmingly magnetic, remarkable.

I had no idea what to say, so I came up with the most outrageous thing I could possibly think of.

"You have no way to tell which one of us Jews is telling you the truth.

It's like a foreign land.

And the guys you had there, they're all the best at lying.

And I happen to be one of them.

The one thing you probably know how to do is get high.

And I know how to do that, too.

You probably get higher than you should, and there'll be times when you have money in your pocket from the show, and someone may take it from you.

I get as high as you, but I keep it together and I make sure I have the cash.

So when you wake up..." And he just looked at me like, "What?"

I said, "Meet me somewhere.

Bring your best drugs.

Bring your best women.

Bring whatever you want and we'll see who goes down first."

-♪ Come on and get down ♪ ♪ Down down down down down ♪ -And three days later, Teddy collapsed.

I managed him the rest of his career.

[ Laughing ] So when we first sat down, I told him, "By the way, the show goes.

And the first thing you got to do is get rid of the dancers."

-Where I come from, we say they dance their ass off.

-We were fired.

-So that was how I met Karen.

-You know, they told Teddy, "You don't need dancers.

You're a star.

You can do this."

And that's when Teddy said, "Well, now that you don't work for me, will you go out with me?"

And that's how we started dating.

-We went to our first show.

-Teddy Pendergrass.

[ Cheers and applause ] -Thank you.

-And now the show is over, I found the promoter, who happened to be in the bathroom, and I said, "Hi, I'm Shep, I'm the new manager.

I'd like to get..." And he said, "We didn't bring any cash."

"What do you mean you didn't bring any cash?

Do you have a checkbook?"

"We'll send it to him."

"You'll do what?"

And finally got a little crazy, and he ended up giving me his ring.

He said, "Tell Teddy to keep the ring until he gets the check."

And I went into Teddy's dressing room, and I said, "What the...is going on?"

So anyway, I left and I started talking to friends of mine who knew that world.

Um, and they explained to me about this thing that I had heard somewhere in the back of my head, but never really thought about, which was the Chitlin' Circuit.

And it was Black promoters, Black record companies getting Black artists to play their venues basically for free because they thought they had to do it to promote their records.

-They had to work for something, you know.

And sometimes they would work for almost nothing.

-I just didn't want to be a part of it.

So that night I said to Teddy, you know, "...him.

Um, we're gonna play for White promoters.

You're gonna get paid and they can go -- let them go abuse somebody else."

And he said, "Listen, I didn't tell you this before."

I said, "What's that?"

He said, "My last manager was shot to death."

Uh... so the tables sort of turned in that moment where I had to really think.

And I said, "...it.

If you're in, I'm in."

And he said, "I'll take the ride with you.

Let's do it."

-Let me have a warm welcome for Mr.

Teddy Pendergrass.

[ Cheers and applause ] -The first show we did was at The Roxy in L.A.

White promoters.

We got death threats.

FBI protected us.

We got security from them.

But we got through it and sort of opened the floodgates.

And at least at the live level, the concept of Chitlin' Circuit was gotten rid of.

For me, that's the most important thing to get out about Teddy.

He risked his life to make it easier for Afro-American artists after him.

And that's big.

-I'll tell you a secret they told me.

This is no offense to our White brothers and sisters, but they said at the hotel, they said, "I've never seen so many...in my life."

[ Laughter ] But I'm glad we all came out.

And it's nice to see that we can all sit together.

See some of you in the front and some of us in the front.

We don't ride the back of the bus no more.

[ Cheers and applause ] -We went to California to see him perform.

What was the name of that place?

-Roxy.

-Roxy.

Yeah.

-Mm-hmm.

-We knew it then.

We said wow.

-... -This was -- This was not the usual.

-Mnh-mnh.

You know what was amazing, too, Gamble?

-Mm-hmm?

-Teddy didn't even open his mouth yet, and the females just went crazy.

[ Women screaming ] -I thought, "Wait a second.

Let's just do shows for women only."

-There was a full-page ad with a teddy bear and an invitation.

We had a recorded message from Teddy with a phone number and you called it, and he invited 'em to it.

-Hello, this is Teddy Pendergrass.

Join me, won't you?

-And I said, "Now that I got them in the hall, how do I really get them crazy?"

So we came up with these chocolate teddy bear lollipops that we gave out to everybody in the audience so the girls could, like, lick it and bite it, and... [ Laughs ] We sold out [snaps fingers] in a second.

-There has been a lot of screaming at The Greek Theatre the past couple of nights.

Most people think they found a new king, a successor to Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley.

He is Teddy Pendergrass.

-♪ You ♪ ♪ You got, you got, you got what I want ♪ ♪ You got, you got, you got what I need ♪ ♪ Only you, baby, only you ♪ ♪ Only you, you, you, you, you, you-u-u-u-u ♪ -Sensuous-looking and hairy and... Oh, he's just fantastic.

-I would get butterflies in my stomach every day because I knew something was gonna happen.

-We knew we was coming to do something.

-Yeah.

Something was gonna happen.

-We was coming to do it.

♪♪ -Every show was jam-packed, and the women were just... I thought they were nuts.

-Oh!

-What appeals to you about him?

-His body.

His body.

Mm-mm-mm.

♪♪ -They loved Teddy.

They loved Teddy.

-And they showed him in any way they could.

-Rush the stage, throw their panties on the stage.

He would meet a woman and in 11 seconds, he could get to a point with her that if I met her, I'd have to go out a couple of times.

I'd have to meet her parents.

You know, I'd have to go through all this just to get to the point where he was in 11 seconds.

It wasn't even fair.

♪♪ -[ Yells indistinctly ] [ Cheers and applause ] -Who was the one in the shows screaming and hollering?

It's the females.

-That's right.

-So you got it right for them.

-And that's what we did.

-That's what we did.

-May I just list the first four songs in the album?

"Come, Go with Me," "Close the Door," "Turn Off the Lights," "Do Me."

-Yes.

-Now, I mean... [ Laughter ] Have I got it?

-You got it.

♪ Let's turn off the lights ♪ [ Cheers and applause ] ♪ And light a candle ♪ ♪ Just like that, baby ♪ ♪ Tonight I'm in a romantic mood ♪ ♪ Yes ♪ ♪ Let's take a shower ♪ ♪ Shower together ♪ ♪ I'll wash your body ♪ ♪ If you promise to wash mi-i-i-i-i-ne ♪ ♪ Rub me down in some ♪ ♪ In some hot oils, baby ♪ ♪ And I'll do the same thing to you ♪ -Teddy was the guy that other men wanted to be like and women wanted.

-Oh, yeah.

I just like the way he just sings it.

He sings it really good.

And I like the way -- Just altogether, you know?

-Now, this is billed as a for-women-only concert.

-That doesn't mean anything.

Here's my lady right here.

I want to see him just as bad as she does.

-And the guys that did come to the show, he would say to him, you know, "I'm not here to take your woman.

I'm just starting 'em up for you..." -"I'm getting them ready for you."

-"When I get finished, I'm going on the bus, I'm going on the tour.

They're yours you need to handle after that."

[ Both laughing ] -♪ Just do it to me ♪ ♪ I'll do it to you ♪ ♪ Come here, baby ♪ ♪ Lay your head next to mine ♪ Oh ho!

Oh ho, oh ho!

Oh ho, oh ho!

-Black male sexuality is such a threatening issue in America that to present something so in-your-face and so, uh...just blatantly Black is risky.

-♪ See, I know what to do with it ♪ -But if you look at Teddy's career, it worked like gangbusters.

-♪ If you ever let me get it ♪ ♪ Give it up now ♪ -If, God forbid, I get another album that has the success of this one, I don't -- I don't know.

I'd have to ride around in a -- in a police wagon or something, and I don't like to do that.

-He was a charismatic, strong, emoting performer when he was sent to stage and the women just went -- went gaga over him.

They went crazy for him.

Black and White.

Black and White.

-We'll just sing whatever comes to your mind.

-[ Speaks indistinctly ] -Would you say that again in the microphone?

This lady came backstage and I'm walking out the dressing-room door, and she has this knife, and she pulls it out of her pocketbook.

She says, "If I can't have you, nobody can."

[ Audience murmuring, laughing ] Yeah.

And she lunged at me with this -- I mean, this -- this -- this was a Black lady, and it was a black knife.

-That long?

Huh?

-I seen some things that my dog wouldn't bark at.

We've had girls pull knives, guns.

We had girls buy maids, uh, uniforms and be waiting for him in the suite.

-If you love a man like that, you got to know that part of the real estate is there are a lot of other homes.

That he is the property owner of many residences.

-I would not go on the road.

He would even call me and say, you know, "I want you to come out" and I would not go.

I'm like, "Don't send for me."

I would not go on the road.

I didn't want to be a part of that.

-When Ted came into a room, you knew it.

It was like a hurricane... literally walked in.

-Just adorable.

I loved the way he smelled.

I loved the way he laughed.

And I loved the way his face would light up when he saw me.

[ Giggles ] It felt great.

It felt great.

It made me feel special.

-Teddy rode past me in a blue Rolls-Royce, and he called me to his car and I got nervous.

I ran from him.

I thought he was a pimp.

A pimp.

My sister showed me an album.

I said, "That's the man who stopped me."

She said, "Oh, that's Teddy Pendergrass, stupid."

I said, "I ran from him."

So we both kissed the album.

But he was very handsome, I must say that.

There was something magical about him.

-♪ Tried to take control of the love ♪ ♪ Love took control of me ♪ ♪ 'Cause me to lose all thought, all sense of time ♪ ♪ I had a change of mind ♪ ♪ But taking the bumps and the bruises ♪ ♪ And all the things ♪ ♪ Of a two-time loser ♪ ♪ Trying to hold on, faith was all gone ♪ ♪ Just another, just another sad song ♪ ♪ Think I'd better let it go ♪ -♪ Let it go ♪ -You're a bachelor.

And I have some firsthand knowledge as to how lonely and miserable and boring... -Lonely?

Lonely sometimes.

But boring, I don't -- I don't think so.

-You don't know about the boring.

-Boring, I don't know about.

-There were so many pieces to him.

He was kind, wonderful, sexy, arrogant.

There was just a whole spectrum of people wrapped up in that one person.

He talked about not knowing his father and that troubled him.

And when he met his father, he didn't like how his father handled him with his mom.

-I promised him, "Before I leave this world, I'm gonna let you see your dad.

I'm gonna look him up and I'm gonna find him, and I'm gonna let you see your father."

And I did just that when he was 11 years old.

And we dressed to kill that day.

Wow.

And I turned to Teddy and I said, "This is your father."

And he looked up at him and he dropped his head real quick.

And I said, "Honey, look at your father.

Make sure when you see him again, you will know who he is."

Me and Teddy, we went on a trolley and started back for home.

Next time we saw him, he was in his coffin.

-♪ I give myself away ♪ -♪ Lord ♪ -♪ I give myself away so you can use me ♪ -You know, he always said that because his father wasn't in his life, he always wanted to be in our lives, no matter what.

You know, at times, he could be, uh, selfish.

Or he felt like it was all him, that he had to always do everything.

Whereas though, you know, that probably came from the fact that he didn't have anybody to lean on growing up.

So it made him strong, but it also made him feel like he was all he had.

-He just wanted to protect us from the world.

I guess he lived and he saw it all and he just didn't want to go -- He didn't want us to go through half of the things that he went through.

-Get closer for me one time.

[ Funk music playing ] ♪♪ -I liked him most of the time, but Teddy was the kind of guy that if he made you love him, you loved him.

If he made you mad... [ Laughs ] ...he made you mad.

-Teddy had a tremendous ego.

He also had a tremendous talent.

And I was trying to imagine what it would have been like to be thrust into the limelight, into being a star at the pace that it happened for him.

-What a complicated guy.

What a complicated man.

A weird combination of -- of ego and vulnerability at the same time.

And I do think, you know, a lot of those characteristics are what helped them put those songs over.

-♪ Life is a song worth singing ♪ ♪ Why don't you...sing it ♪ ♪ Life is a song worth singing ♪ ♪ Why don't you...sing it?

♪ -Five platinum albums in a row.

-That's some kind of record.

-Thank you.

[ Cheers and applause ] Platinum.

-Come on, Cal, let me -- -Do you -- Why don't you tell the audience what platinum albums are?

Maybe they don't understand.

-Platinum is better than gold.

-1 million copies were sold.

-Yes.

Gold is... -Gold is 500,000.

-Platinum is twice as much.

-Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

-♪ You're a fool if you think you're helpless ♪ ♪ You decide destiny with your mi-i-i-i-i-i-nd ♪ -My elementary school was on 315 Broad Street.

Philly International, I believe, was 313.

So all Broad Street knew when Teddy Pendergrass was in proximity, because the sound of shrieking women shouldn't be that loud at 12:00 p.m.

in the afternoon.

The second you start hearing these shrieks, it's like, "Oh, yeah, Teddy Pendergrass is over."

[ Laughs ] Like, it was chaos.

And he ate it up.

Teddy Pendergrass was Philadelphia's king, its Prince.

-He's a sleek-looking guy.

Brown brother.

Nice hair, nice features and dressing sharp.

When you ride with Teddy, it was an adventure because he would have his drink here, his pistol here and whatever other paraphernalia he had.

It's rattling.

I'm hanging on.

He said, "What's wrong, Jess?

You scared?"

"Goddamn right."

-The only thing I ever worried about with Ted is the police gave him such a hard time in Philadelphia that I never knew when something might happen.

Whenever they saw his car, they were right behind us and they were following him and just looking for an opportunity.

-I lived in Philadelphia from '65 to '70, some tough years down there for relations between the races.

-Yes.

-And as you know, there were some very tense moments in North Philadelphia on Diamond Street.

I got to know the neighborhood rather well.

-I've got a couple scars that I can show you that show from some of those days, but it was rough.

-Somebody dropped a dime.

And because the police sirens, everybody ran.

Well, then Teddy ran, too.

-He was innocent.

He didn't do what the police said he did.

Somebody was robbed or something, and he fit the profile and he was locked up.

-When we had the hearing, Teddy told the story.

The judge said, "But you shouldn't have run."

So they took him to the Youth Study Center.

He called me, "Mom, come and get me."

He said, "There are five months," I think it was.

-♪ Had my dream so near ♪ ♪ I could reach out and touch it ♪ -♪ Out and touch it ♪ -♪ And I lost it ♪ -♪ And I lost it ♪ -♪ And I lost it ♪ [ Siren wailing ] -The police would come by the house, and, of course, it escalated.

And next thing you know, they're taking him off in handcuffs.

-The police harassed him a lot.

And, you know, Teddy didn't take any stuff from anybody.

And if he felt he was right, he was gonna stand up for himself.

And here's this big Black man with a Rolls-Royce, millionaire.

So the police felt like, you know, that's a target.

♪ "Set Me Free" by Teddy Pendergrass playing ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -♪ Whoever you are ♪ ♪ Be a star in Celebrity Jeans ♪ ♪ Teddy Jeans ♪ -Be free.

Be someone special in Teddy Pendergrass Celebrity Body Jeans.

-We got them Teddy Jeans.

♪ Whoever you are, be a star ♪ -We were ready, and we had all these elements.

And we had a clear path to stardom.

-You could just feel that he was gonna be what I used to call the Great Black Hope.

-My market is very loyal to me and I'm very, very grateful to that.

And I would never, ever leave.

But what I want to do is expose my way of doing things to other marketplaces and give them a chance to say whether they like it or not.

-He was positioned to be really a major artist, crossover artist.

'Cause he had that talent and he had the music behind him and he had the right management team.

-His job was to become, at least I felt, and I think he felt the same, to become the Black Elvis.

[ Funk music playing ] ♪♪ -He's about to go worldwide.

And he would have been a total phenomenon.

You know, that range of, uh, Prince or Michael Jackson or whatever.

He was getting ready to take it to another level.

You know, I could see that coming.

-♪ Yeah, you know it ♪ -♪ You know it ♪ -♪ You like the taste of the wine ♪ ♪ Yeah, you know it ♪ -♪ You know it ♪ -♪ You like the taste of the wine ♪ -I mean, everything was waiting for him -- movies, television, everything.

[ Somber music playing ] ♪♪ -And, my darling, wherever you are... [ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪ I think I should say that again.

Said my darling, wherever you are... [ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪ ...won't you please... listen to my song?

-We were on the way, but we still didn't cross over yet.

It was -- It was -- It was trying to.

We're just finding the right couple of songs.

[ Playing Lionel Richie's "Lady" ] ♪♪ Teddy had asked me to do an arrangement on "Lady," and it made a lot of sense to do that, because Teddy's voice would have brought in the Black audience, but the choice of songs would have brought in the White audience, and the combination of the two would have been a hit.

Tsk.

-♪ Lady ♪ [ Cheers and applause ] ♪ I'm your knight in shining armor ♪ ♪ And I love you ♪ ♪ You have come into my life and ♪ ♪ Made me whole ♪ ♪♪ ♪ And forever ♪ ♪ Let me wake to see you ♪ ♪ Each, each and every morning ♪ ♪ Let me hear you whisper softly ♪ ♪ In my ear ♪ ♪♪ -♪ In my eyes ♪ -♪ But in my eyes ♪ ♪ I see no one else but you ♪ ♪ There's no other love like our love ♪ ♪ Oh, yes ♪ ♪ Oh, yes, I'll always want you near me ♪ ♪ I've waited for you ♪ ♪ For so long ♪ -♪ Lady ♪ -♪ Lady ♪ ♪ Lady ♪ ♪ See, your love ♪ ♪ Your love is the only love that I'll ever need ♪ ♪ And right here ♪ ♪ Right here beside me ♪ ♪ Oh, that's where ♪ ♪ That's where I want you to be ♪ ♪ Forever and ever ♪ ♪ 'Cause, my love ♪ ♪ Oh, my love ♪ ♪ There's something I want you to know ♪ ♪ Something I just got to let you know ♪ ♪ That you're the love of my life ♪ ♪♪ [ Cheers and applause ] -You know, we had a little ritual that we would go to the basketball game to see Julius.

-Julius in a steal.

[ Cheers and applause ] -Watch the game and sometimes go out afterwards.

And I said, "Well, let's get out of here" and let's stop at this little club we knew.

While I was sitting in the lobby, I saw this person and everything she had on was too revealing.

-I saw Teddy again at a club in the Warwick Hotel, 17th and Locust.

He was with this girl named Yvette and one of Teddy's friends, Brinkley.

And he asked me did I want a drink?

-No, I didn't feel any threat from any other woman.

Are you kidding me?

[ Laughs ] Teddy treated me like a princess.

-So he says, "Well, I'm gonna take one lady home and then take the other lady to my house."

-Um, he was driving kind of fast, and so I said to him, "Slow down.

Slow down."

And so he slowed down.

He, uh, got me home, walked me to the door, kissed me good night.

And I said, "Make sure you call me when you get home."

-I was wondering why he didn't drop me off first.

Because I only lived about three, four blocks from the club.

But I just went along for the ride.

So on our way back, the car started going really, really fast.

[ Tires screech ] [ Metal crashes, glass shatters ] -Everything got completely quiet.

I didn't know how bad the car was damaged.

Only I know we both were alive.

And I was thanking God for that.

And out of nowhere, a man came up to the car.

-Approximately 1:30 in the morning, Engine 19, Ladder 8, Battalion 9 and Medic 16 were dispatched to Lincoln Drive.

Lincoln Drive is a notorious section of highway where there's a lot of accidents.

It's slick conditions, a lot of switchbacks.

Many people drive too quickly.

There's frequently accidents, sometimes very bad accidents.

We arrive on scene and we have a Rolls-Royce into a couple trees.

[ Indistinct conversations ] The passenger, Tenika Watson, seemed uninjured.

The driver had been thrown into the back seat.

We put him on a spine board and then eventually removed him from the car.

[ Police radio chatter ] -And they got us out of it.

And I was thinking, "Maybe I can get away from here."

But when I got out, Teddy whispered to me, he said, "Don't leave me.

Don't let them hurt me."

And I was like, "Who is they?"

It was like a fear came over him.

I don't know why he said it, but it kind of made me nervous, too.

Like, "Who wants to hurt you?"

-Channel 6?

-Yeah.

Channel 6.

-Sonny Hopson.

How you doing?

-Okay.

Warren Trent.

[ Indistinct conversations ] -Everybody knew who he was.

I intubated him myself to make sure that his airway was established safely without damaging that wonderful voice.

-My mother called me.

What they had heard on the news was there was a girl in the car with Ted, and everybody thought it was me.

You know, you're just, like, in shock for a moment.

And, you know, you just, like, have to sit still and say, "What -- What do I do?

What do I do?"

-Does this time frame that you're talking about... -We can't tell you.

-I get out of the cab and go through the hospital revolving door, and the doctors are already doing a press conference.

-We don't know the answer because only time will tell us.

Only time will tell the neurosurgeon.

He has some limitation of movement in his arms.

Uh, he is able to move parts of his arms.

We can't define it any more than that because it's -- it's -- uh, it's not stable at the moment.

-But not his hands?

-He broke his neck.

If you think of the spinal column as a tube, if you tear it and then shift it, then whatever is running through the middle gets squished.

Once a certain level of damage has happened to the spine, and it's unrecoverable.

-When I got off the elevator, Karen and the doctor and Mrs.

Pendergrass were there, and they took me in a room and they said, "Listen, um, Teddy's not gonna walk again.

We're going in the room now to tell him."

And I -- Phew.

Whoa.

I went in and Teddy was lying on a table, um, strapped down.

-He was crying a lot.

He was very upset, and I almost fainted right in the room.

I mean, I had to get down.

I had to sit down on the floor because it just -- You know, you don't think it'll ever happen until reality sets in.

And just seeing him that way, I was pretty woozy.

-His eyes were closed, and it was the weirdest thing.

He heard us come in, and he sort of opened his eyes and the doctor said, "Can you hear us, Teddy?

If you can, blink once," you know.

And he blinked, and we told him that he would never walk again and that he had to start his rehabilitation, but he was gonna live, and we were gonna all get through this with him.

And that was rough.

It's the toughest moment I've... That was tough.

-I pulled myself together and you couldn't move him because he was pinned in and he couldn't get it -- So the back of his head, I just run my finger under his head like that.

And that was satisfaction to him.

♪♪ -We were doing a show in Charlotte, and I had went to bed early so that I could get up because we had to be at the airport at like 7:00, 6:00 in the morning, and 4:00 in the morning, the phone rang.

They said, "Turn on the radio.

Turn on the radio."

So I turned on the radio and that's how we heard, you know, what had happened.

-They said Teddy Pendergrass was in a very bad accident and was paralyzed from the waist down.

That was like, "You got to be joking, you know?"

I couldn't believe it.

-Unbelievable.

-You know, it's like... So I, uh... [ Sniffles ] ♪♪ -I called Henry, and I said, "Henry, Teddy was in a car accident?"

He said, "Yeah, we're probably gonna leave a little later, because I don't know how --" -Because none of us knew it was that bad.

-Yeah.

That serious.

-None of us knew it.

-And then, uh, he called back later and said, "We're not going anywhere."

And I was like, "Wow."

-And we never went anywhere again.

-♪ But those days are gone ♪ -♪ Don't leave me ♪ -♪ Here ♪ ♪ Alone ♪ ♪ So I'm standing here ♪ ♪ Standing here ♪ ♪ All by myself ♪ ♪ Don't wanna be ♪ ♪ All by myself anymore ♪ -He had everything he wanted, you know.

He thought he was indestructible.

And most young men, at that age, you have a certain amount of fame and money, you think nothing can happen to you.

And what happened to him was the cruelest of all, because he became a prisoner in his own self.

-♪ Again ♪ ♪ All by ♪ ♪ Self ♪ -♪ If you don't know me by now ♪ -Thank you.

-♪ You will never, never, never know me ♪ -I was 11 years old, sixth grade.

And to watch my teacher sob and cry... I never saw anyone, especially Black people, this devastated.

And even when going to school, Oh, God.

We were still next door to Philly International.

Everybody was -- was devastated.

-We were in Jamaica.

-We were in Jamaica writing songs for him for his next album.

And that was a sad day.

-All day the talk on the street was about Teddy.

-I really liked him.

I thought he was really a good singer and a good man.

I'm really sorry.

-I just hope he sings again.

That's all.

-I'm praying for him a lot, and I hope for a speedy recovery.

Because he's my man.

Teddy.

Teddy.

-He had been drinking, but he wasn't intoxicated.

No.

-I would not have allowed him to drive me in his car if he had been drunk.

-They didn't find anything in his system.

They didn't say he had drugs in him.

I know I didn't.

He had had trouble with that car ever since he bought it.

It had no brakes.

-There are a lot of people that believed that his car accident was set up to get rid of him.

-I think the car was sabotaged.

I really think it was because of other cars that he had.

I mean, every car that you have, something's gonna happen to the car?

Really?

-He pulled his Corvette out one day and the brake lines were cut.

He had a Mercedes 450 SL, brake lines were cut.

-A friend of mine said that it was an organization that wanted to kidnap him for ransom.

So all types of things were happening.

He didn't know who his friends were or who his enemies were.

-I don't put anything past show business during that time in Philadelphia.

-♪ He's my man ♪ -He lived a big life, and he had really used up most of his funds.

-♪ Bull?

♪ -♪ Girls, let me turn you on to the big, bold bull ♪ ♪ It's simple, make it clear ♪ ♪ The bull's got more taste in beer ♪ -We had a very large beer company sponsor.

And I called him up and told him what happened to Teddy.

And we were gonna have to cancel.

And would they put together an endowment for the kids?

And they said, "Yes, we'll definitely do something.

We'll do some kind of a fund, some kind of charitable donation."

Then I woke up in the morning and the newspaper said, "Girl in the car was a guy."

And I sort of knew I'd never hear from the beer company again.

-There was a police lady, and she said that she had arrested me before and that she knew my past.

That's how it got into the paper.

-Everybody on scene certainly believed it was a woman.

She was striking.

I know I wouldn't dispute how impressive she looked.

-My assumption was, knowing Teddy, that he was driving with her, put his hand down between her legs, felt a penis and had the accident.

-I started hormones when I came to Philadelphia.

And five years after I started hormones, I had my surgery.

That was 1977.

I'm a woman.

I've been a woman, completely a woman, for 40 years now.

-So my whole theory went right out the window.

-♪ I used to have lots of money ♪ ♪ I had them in big old stacks ♪ -We needed to generate money for his family.

And I sat through hundreds of tapes and we found tapes that hadn't been released.

Unfortunately, in every case, his partners in those records who had the power, chose not to pay him.

-♪ All the friends I once had ♪ ♪ I don't have anymore ♪ -And this one person is your company, and he pays everybody, and then something happens to him, everything goes down.

Shep stayed with him.

You know, the record labels, they left.

You know, everyone else left.

The people that really cared about him stayed.

And that was few.

-♪ Happy birthday to... ♪ ♪ Dear Teddy ♪ I'm primarily an opera singer.

♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ Teddy had a big problem, but it could have been worse.

If it had been a little higher, he would not have been able to breathe and he would have been tracheotomy and respirator dependent.

[ "When Will I See You Again" by The Three Degrees playing ] ♪♪ ♪♪ -He would just be quiet and would keep to himself.

You know?

He had a sad look on his face and people had to feed him.

And he was just sitting there.

He was paralyzed forever, and I didn't want it to be like that.

I want it to be like the old times.

-He said, "If I wanted to commit suicide, I couldn't."

And I realized he was correct.

I didn't think about it until af-- He couldn't.

He couldn't.

-He was very depressed.

You know, he had sleeping pills that he would have to take to sleep at night.

And he would ask me to give him all the sleeping pills.

And I was like, "No, no way."

You know, we cried and we boo-hooed and I tried to read the Bible and make sense of all this.

And he kept saying, "I'll never be able to walk again."

And I said, "But you're alive."

-♪ Is this my beginning ♪ ♪ Or is this the end?

♪ -♪ Is this the end?

♪ -♪ When will I see you again?

♪ ♪ When will I see you again?

♪ ♪ Sweet, sweet love of mine ♪ -♪ When will I see you again?

-Dr.

Gottlieb.

God, thank you.

Dr.

Gottlieb got in touch with him and told him, "No, Teddy, don't give up."

-I have a visceral reaction when I hear of things like that.

My heart breaks.

And it -- And it did for him -- because I knew where he came from and where he was going to wind up.

To be honest with you, it was just a few years after my accident.

I knew what he was going through, but I was also in the depths of my depression.

And at the deepest level, saving his life felt like saving my own.

And an average therapist who had these feelings would not treat that patient.

Probably should not.

But this was different.

There were no quadriplegic therapists.

I was the only one around.

He finally decided that he was gonna take his life.

But I said to him, "Teddy," I said, "If you're going to do this, you have a moral obligation to talk with your mother, Karen, and your son about this decision."

And he agreed.

They all came in.

We had a family session.

They all cried.

They all understandably tried to talk him out of it.

They begged him, especially his poor son.

Um, and he didn't cry in that session.

Um, which is more troubling.

So at the end of the session, Teddy says, "I probably won't see you again."

And I heard that word... probably.

And I said, "Teddy."

I said, "Get your ass back in here!"

So he came in.

I said, "What do you mean, probably?"

And that's when I made the proposal to him.

I said, "We're gonna stage a funeral for you so you'll know what it's like for them."

-Little Teddy, Mom, myself and Teddy had to invite all of the people we felt, you know, were our closest friends, family, whoever.

And he put a sheet over Teddy and he said, "Okay, you're dead."

And he said, "You can't say anything."

And one by one, we had to walk up and express to Teddy what we felt about him taking -- about him being dead.

-Our job was to tell him how we feel about him and what life would be like without him.

-I remember a lot of people being mad, angry, hurt because everybody felt that he had so much to live for, and they took that sheet off of his face, and Teddy sat up in that chair and said, "I don't want to die."

He said, "I want to live."

I don't know what that did to him.

But death was not even a question after that.

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

-He was determined to be able to sing.

Everybody with whom he consulted except for me told him it was impossible.

♪♪ -A couple of months after it happened, I tried singing.

I was scared to death.

And I remember it.

It was in the afternoon.

It was a coffee commercial.

-I guess the kids are up.

-♪ The best part of waking up ♪ ♪ Is Folgers in your cup ♪ -And I said, you know, this -- Doggone it.

You know?

It's a possibility.

Yeah.

We, you know, if given the opportunity, yeah, we can do this.

-I thought it was unlikely that he was going to be able to sing fully the same way that he had before, but that we would get him singing again.

And then he would have to decide whether that was a good enough sound to go back into the studio and to go out in public.

So the next thing I did was get ahold of all the videotapes that I could to study his voice and his technique and find out what we were trying to restore.

-♪ Taking the bumps and the bruises ♪ ♪ And all the things ♪ ♪ Of a two-time loser ♪ ♪ Tryin' to hold on, faith is gone ♪ ♪ It's just another sad song ♪ -It's not a coincidence that both Teddy Pendergrass' accident and the slow, quiet fade out of Philly International happened at the same time.

Now, yeah, they've had hits with Patti LaBelle and the O'Jays and, you know, since, but... it wasn't quite the same.

-It wasn't the same.

-No, it wasn't the same.

The whole company wasn't the same.

-No.

-It was very difficult because Kenny and Leon's record label was distributed by CBS, and there was a lot of fighting back and forth.

-With the accident and not being able to secure another deal with CBS Records, time had run out for everybody.

-Your record company, they left.

They walked away.

Right?

"So long.

You can't do it for us anymore.

Goodbye."

That must have hurt.

-Tremendously.

Tremendously.

-It was depressing how people thinking he had no career left, just were completely without compassion because they thought everything was in the past, not in the future.

-♪ It's just another sad song ♪ -I'd hoped that he'd be able to sing again one way or another.

And Teddy was very determined.

-♪ 'Cause it looks like to me another ♪ -Teddy's vocal folds were fine, but the vocal folds are only a small part of the voice.

You have to blow through it, and you do that with the air in your lungs, controlled by the muscles of your chest and abdomen and back.

-♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ -Teddy couldn't do that.

-♪ Oh, why me?

♪ -Shep Gordon, Teddy's manager, called me and told me what had happened, uh, at his previous record company, uh, that they were unsure about going forward with Teddy Pendergrass.

I was not really aware of how serious Teddy's problems were.

I had heard all the rumors.

I asked Shep, I said, "Shep.

What is the truth?"

He told me what the truth is.

I said, "I'm in."

-Teddy had some residual arm flexion.

He was able to use his biceps.

So we created for him a belt-like apparatus that went around his waist.

So when he needed more support for his singing voice, he flexed his arms and everything around his abdomen and back tightened and he was able to sing again.

-This is his first live television interview since the car he was driving crashed 26 months ago.

He was left paralyzed.

-Teddy got his voice back and he started to regain some strength.

-I've, uh... I've accomplished something that, uh, was at first unsure that I'd be able to do.

People would say, "Oh, the guy's dead.

He's gone.

He won't be back.

That's it for him.

Wash out.

He's gone."

And I set out to prove that nobody will determine when I'm done but me.

-So I went back to Bob Krasnow and I said, "I think we can do an album."

-This album is a product of two years of thinking.

I've received a lot of love, and I hope to give that love back through my music.

♪ A tried and true romantic ♪ -My focus was I have millions of women who love Teddy, know about the tragedy, have probably listened to his old records every day for the last three years and cried.

And he's now gonna speak to that one person.

Teddy's gonna talk to her.

-♪ In my time ♪ ♪ I've lived and loved so much ♪ ♪ Through each high and low ♪ ♪ I let my heart be touched ♪ ♪ In my time ♪ ♪ There isn't much ♪ -The words of the song were, "I've never loved like this before."

Knowing that every woman would start crying immediately.

-♪ I've never loved like this ♪ -And we go to his high school gymnasium, and we make a very conscious decision that we're gonna show him in the wheelchair.

We're not gonna hide it.

-♪ In my time ♪ ♪ I've lived and loved so much ♪ ♪ Through each high and low ♪ ♪ I let my heart be touched ♪ ♪ In my time ♪ ♪ There isn't much I've missed ♪ ♪ I've seen love come and go ♪ ♪ But heaven knows ♪ ♪ I've never loved like this ♪ ♪ In my time ♪ Hey.

-Have we got a surprise for you.

-What is this?

-A little gold record for you.

-Teddy, we're really pleased to give you your first gold record with us.

And we all want you to know that we're glad that at least part of the road to recovery is paved in gold.

God bless you.

-Oh.

Thank you.

Thank you.

-Bless you.

-Look at this.

Look at this.

♪ When the whole world seems against you ♪ ♪ And your whole life seems unborn ♪ ♪ And all you ever wanted was a little peace ♪ ♪ I can understand just how you feel ♪ -♪ Don't let ♪ ♪ This cold world get you down ♪ -♪ Be strong, hold on ♪ -♪ Don't let ♪ ♪ This cold world get you down ♪ -♪ Don't let it get... ♪ Taking performance away from me was -- was bad enough.

I'm a performer by heart.

You know?

That's what I've been doing since I was 2 years old.

I've been doing it 32 years.

So I had to come to grips with not being able to perform.

-How painful is that for you now?

-Well, I haven't said that I won't perform.

At the time, I didn't know whether or not I will or I won't.

I still -- I'm still not saying.

[ Cheers and applause ] -Live Aid got announced and one of the sites was Philly.

One song in the middle of Live Aid was Goosebump Moment for everybody.

-He was so scared and everybody -- We were so, like, reassuring of him.

It was like, "Dad, you can do it.

And we're so happy for you.

You can do it.

We love you."

-We were like a mini entourage.

Mini family entourage.

We would get behind him, get beside him, and we went out and a number of artists and other entertainers were excited to see him, just to see him out.

You know, he always had a certain standard and he wanted to continue that standard.

So of course he was nervous.

How will people receive him in the wheelchair?

-Oh, he was nervous.

He was...nervous.

-I was nervous.

So I can't imagine what he was feeling.

Uh, but because he was our friend, if he thought he was ready, then we thought he was ready.

-Teddy -- We're down at the bottom of the ramp and he was looking really slick, but I could see something was wrong and went over to him and he said, "I don't think I can do this.

I can't pull -- I don't think I can pull this off.

I don't think I have the power to pull it off."

And I said, "Well, we're here.

We got to do it."

And he said, "I don't know."

And I said, "Well, Teddy, I'm wheeling you up there.

You don't have to sing, but you're gonna be there."

[ Laughs ] -Put your hands together and give a big round of applause to Mr.

Teddy Pendergrass!

[ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪ -And when he rolled himself out there, I remember we kind of -- It was almost, like, choreographed.

We kind of backed away from him, and it was such a long applause.

There was more applause than I'd ever heard in my life.

[ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪ -Oh, listen, thank you so much.

-When he rolled out on that stage, everybody just cried.

We just lost it.

But it was like a happy time.

We were so proud of him.

-I am truly grateful to be here today.

And I want you to know I feel your love.

And I'm very glad to be sharing the stage with Ashford and Simpson.

♪ Reach out and touch somebody's hand ♪ ♪ Make this world a better place if you can ♪ ♪ Reach out and touch ♪ ♪ Touch somebody's hand ♪ -It was the perfect song and it was his personal life.

You know, he was reaching out.

-♪ Reach out and touch ♪ ♪ Somebody ♪ -♪ Somebody's hand ♪ -♪ Somebody ♪ ♪ Make this world a better place ♪ ♪ If you can ♪ ♪ Reach out and touch somebody's hand ♪ -♪ Make this world a better place ♪ -♪ If you can ♪ ♪ Take a little time from your busy day ♪ ♪ To give encouragement ♪ ♪ To someone who's lost their way ♪ ♪ Would you do that?

♪ ♪ Or would I be talking to a stone ♪ ♪ If I asked you to share a problem that's not your own ♪ -♪ Oh ♪ -♪ Oh ♪ ♪ We could change if we start giving ♪ ♪ Why don't you ♪ -♪ Reach out and touch ♪ -♪ Touch somebody ♪ -He was a man that -- that suffered.

And like most of us, it's not the suffering.

It's how you deal with the suffering.

And he dealt with it at first by wanting to die.

And now I watched him deal with it by shifting his outlook towards life.

-When I seen him on Live Aid, it was, "He's back.

He's back."

You know what I'm saying?

Wheelchair or no wheelchair, he's -- he's -- he's back.

-♪ Oh, we can change things ♪ -♪ Change things ♪ -♪ If we start giving ♪ -♪ Giving ♪ -♪ Why don't you ♪ -♪ Why don't you ♪ -♪ Reach out and touch ♪ -♪ Touch ♪ -♪ Somebody's hand ♪ -♪ Touch somebody's hand ♪ -♪ Make this world a better place ♪ -♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ -♪ If you can ♪ -Come on.

Would you reach out?

-♪ Reach out and touch ♪ -♪ Touch somebody ♪ -♪ Somebody's hand ♪ -♪ Would you touch somebody?

♪ ♪ Touch somebody ♪ -♪ A better place ♪ ♪ Reach out and touch ♪ -♪ Somebody's hand ♪ -♪ Somebody ♪ ♪ Make this world a better place ♪ ♪ If you can ♪ ♪ Reach out and touch ♪ [ Cheers and applause ] -So many people are afraid.

Like, if something happens to them, they just give up.

And he didn't give up.

He was a fighter.

And we always go, "Don't we know?"

-So by the time we got back home, his part came on television.

It was now broadcasting.

So we got to see it on TV and we're laying there watching it, and he looks at me and said, "Why didn't you tell me I was a blubber butt?"

And I'm like, "I didn't even realize you were that big."

So immediately he was like, "I'm going on a diet."

-Thank you.

I thank you so, so, so so, so, so much.

-Oh, hell no.

[ Indistinct conversations ] -There is a very dim light on all that he has accomplished.

And that light needs to be a lot brighter.

And we need to keep his legacy alive, because these little young whippersnappers, they need to see a Teddy Pendergrass so they know how it's supposed to go down, how it's supposed to be done.

-We always listen to his music, especially growing up.

I got to meet the original band, the original background singers, and they're just, like, so humble and they know so much.

I was just sitting there in awe because they were telling me all these stories and it was like, "Wow."

-♪ Wake up everybody ♪ ♪ No more sleeping in bed ♪ ♪ No more backward thinking ♪ ♪ Time for thinking ahead ♪ -♪ The world has changed so very much ♪ ♪ From what it used to be ♪ -♪ There's so much hatred, war and poverty ♪ -♪ Ohhhhh ♪ ♪ Wake up all the teachers, time to teach a new way ♪ ♪ Maybe then they'll listen to what you have to say ♪ -♪ 'Cause they're the ones who's coming up ♪ ♪ And the world is in their hands ♪ ♪ So when you teach the children ♪ ♪ Teach them the very best you can ♪ -♪ The world won't get no better ♪ ♪ If we just let it be ♪ ♪ The world won't get no better ♪ ♪ We gotta change it ♪ ♪ Just you and me ♪ -♪ Wake up all the doctors ♪ ♪ Make the old people well ♪ ♪ 'Cause they're the ones who suffer ♪ ♪ And who catch all the hell ♪ -♪ 'Cause they don't have so very long ♪ ♪ Before their judgment day ♪ ♪ So won't you make them happy before they pass away?

♪ -♪ Wake up all the builders ♪ ♪ Time to build a new land ♪ ♪ I know we can do it if we all lend a hand ♪ -♪ The only thing we have to do is put it in our minds ♪ ♪ Surely things will work out ♪ ♪ They do it every time ♪ -♪ The world won't get no better ♪ ♪ If we just let it be ♪ -♪ No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no ♪ -♪ The world won't get no better ♪ ♪ We gotta change it now ♪ ♪ Just you and me ♪ -♪ Change it, yeah ♪ ♪ Wake up ♪ -♪ Everybody ♪ ♪ Wake up ♪ ♪ Everybody ♪ ♪ Wake up ♪ ♪ Everybody ♪ ♪ Wake up ♪ ♪ Everybody ♪ ♪ Wake up ♪ ♪ Wake up ♪ [ "Girl You Know" by Teddy Pendergrass playing ] ♪♪ ♪♪ -♪ Now, wait just a minute ♪ ♪ What is this I see?

♪ ♪ Is that you?

Don't you remember me?

♪ ♪ You're not the same person that I knew ♪ ♪ So where'd you go?

What'd you do to yourself?

♪ ♪ You were much better when we used to get down ♪ ♪ Remember then, there was nothing in your sound ♪ ♪ Girl you know ♪ -♪ Girl you know ♪ -♪ You like the taste of the wine ♪ ♪ Oh, I don't know who you're trying to fool ♪ ♪ Girl you know ♪ -♪ Girl you know ♪ ♪ You like the taste of the wine ♪ -♪ Mm-hmm ♪ ♪ You should be ashamed of the way you appear ♪ ♪ Look at yourself ♪ ♪ Don't you give me no tears ♪ ♪ Used to be carefree ♪ ♪ And that was your only way ♪ ♪ And now a school teacher, you try to be today ♪ ♪ There were times we rocked all night long ♪ ♪ So don't pretend that the feeling is gone ♪ ♪ Girl you know ♪ -♪ Girl you know ♪ -♪ You like the taste of wine ♪ ♪ You know that I know that you know ♪ ♪ Girl you know ♪ -♪ Girl you know ♪ ♪ You like the taste of the wine ♪ ♪♪ -♪ Do it ♪ ♪ The way you used to ♪ ♪ Do it ♪ ♪ The way I remember you ♪ ♪ Oh, yeah ♪ ♪ Mm-hmm, mm-hmm ♪ ♪ You say you don't recognize your pal ♪ ♪ Afraid I'll tell you were my good time gal ♪ ♪ I see you changed, the image is true ♪ ♪ You don't smoke, you don't drink ♪ ♪ What else don't you do?

♪ ♪ 'Cause you're the one who could never get enough ♪ ♪ It was good to you then ♪ ♪ So don't you pull no stuff ♪ ♪ Girl you know ♪ -♪ Girl you know ♪ ♪ You like the taste of the wine ♪ -♪ Do it, do it, the way I remember you ♪