Teddy Pendergrass: If You Don't Know Me (2018) - full transcript

KDR 96.6.
It's busy on the streets

as you make your way home
to your loved ones

but let me get you in the moody
smooth with Philadelphia's own,

Mr. Teddy Pendergrass.

♪ Close the door ♪

♪ Let me give you
what you've been waiting for ♪

♪ Baby,
I got so much love to give ♪

♪ And I wanna
give it all to you ♪

♪ Do-do-do do-do ♪

♪ 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 ♪

♪ Love ♪

♪ Close the door, baby... ♪

♪ If you don't know me by now ♪

♪ You will
never, never, never know me ♪

♪ Ooh-ooh-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 ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah ♪

You were talking
about Philadelphia, where you
came from.

Oh, my God. Filthydelphia,
that's we call it.

But I love it.

When you go back now
as superstars in your world.

I'm serious. Anybody that has
as many hit records as you have.

How are the cats on the corner,
the neighborhood?

Now that's a trip.

There's different cats now
in the neighborhood.

When I was growing up,
I used to run the neighborhood.

I was the biggest jitterbug.

Now you got guys just 16, 17.
They don't care about me.

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

- They say, "You used to."

I cannot move my mother
out of the ghetto.

I try and I say,
"Mamma, move." "No. Mm-mm."

I became pregnant,
and I lost it

and then again
and again and again.

And every time I became
pregnant, I would lose it.

Until I become
pregnant with 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 kinda go through
my life, you know.

The Mighty Mother Fuckers.

And these guys were terrorists.
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 schools.

It was just tough
trying to be...

on the right side of things.

♪ Do you wanna party,
do you wanna dance? ♪

Teddy had the bottom mouth,

talked a lot of trash.

He said,
"I'm gonna be famous one day

and I'm gonna hire you
as my bodyguard."

I looked at him.
"Get away from me! Shut up!

Been watching too many movies!"

♪ Feel like a bird in the air ♪

♪ Come on, get up ♪

♪ Get up, get down,
get funky, 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 is that of superstar.

Thank you. Thank you.

You were ordained
at the age of ten.

- Yes.
- Are you still a minister?

Uh, in some ways,
I am still spreading the word.

♪ Come by here ♪

♪ O 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 accredit it
to what I'm doing today.

♪ It was nothing but the blood ♪

♪ Of Jesus ♪

- ♪ Hallelujah! ♪

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 could see him
and he started singing

"If I Could Write
A Letter To Heaven."

And 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, the applause.

You have no idea how I felt.

The joy, to see my baby.

Ooh!

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.

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 ♪

♪ The lonely teardrops ♪

♪ My pillow's never dry
of lonely teardrops ♪

♪ Just give me another chance ♪

Jackie Wilson had such
a command of the audience

and get people to do things,

women throwing underwear up
on stage and those type things.

And that fascinated him.

Years later,
he's getting the same thing.

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

♪ Say that you... ♪

We used to just sneak
inside the Uptown Theater

and we'd just watch everybody.

- ♪ Shoo doo, shoo doo-wop ♪
- Teddy and me,

and we started out
singing on a corner.

We were doing
high school together

and that's when we got put out.

They moved us out of school

'cause we was cutting class
and singing and drinking wine

and our parents
didn't know that.

The most important thing

about any particular city
that has music talent,

it really
just boils down to community.

Philadelphia
is one of those towns

in which people stick together,

so a lot of song writers,
a lot of musicians,

um, kinda 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 Tarsier.

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.

That famous Philadelphia sound

could not have reached the
level of prominence it enjoys

without the mighty Blue Notes.

Harold Melvin was a genius.

He probably could take me and
Huff, make us the Blue Notes.

Yeah, yeah.

♪ If you don't know me by now ♪

Harold Melvin
was the person who found Teddy.

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

Teddy's voice rang out
over all the background.

It just stuck out.

Tried him on a song,
"I Miss You." And um...

I said, "Gamble, this guy,
he sounds great," you know.

I was really high on him.
Really excited about him.

"I Miss You",
that was our first record

and we got in the studio
and started like doing...

You know.
"That's it! That's it!"

♪ Ooh ♪

♪ Ooh, ooh ♪

♪ Oh, oh ♪

- ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪
- ♪ Oh ♪

♪ I miss you, baby ♪

Not only was he good-looking
but he had a presence

and uh... and uh...
he had a special voice.

♪ Ah ♪

♪ 'Cause ever since
the day you left ♪

♪ I don't know
what to do with myself ♪

♪ Oh, I wish for your return ♪

- ♪ And, oh, how I yearn ♪
- ♪ How I yearn ♪

- ♪ 'Cause I ♪
- ♪ Oh, I ♪

♪ Oh, I ♪

That was our first tune.

He came out with,
"Ladies and gentlemen,

'I Miss You' from Harold Melvin
and the Blue Notes,"

and everybody was like,
"What the hell is going on?"

It's the Blue Notes.

But Harold,
he put his name on the front,

without us knowing it.

With guest stars

Harold Melvin
and the Blue Notes.

Harold told Gamble and Huff
it was all right with the guys.

You know, he lied to Gamble.

Harold wanted to have
his identity a bit more

because Teddy
was so dominating

that people thought that he was
the leader of the group

and Harold
was the leader of the group.

We said let's rename 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 DC

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 thought
that Harold Melvin

was the lead of this band.

I couldn't piece together
that it wasn't Harold Melvin

singing those songs,
that it was Teddy Pendergrass.

Harold's success came from
the mouth of Teddy Pendergrass.

We got hits
after hits after hits.

You know, and to this day,

there ain't too many groups
can mess with us.

Gamble was
the lyric writer, basically,

and I played the keyboard,

and we'll be at Gamble's office
where that upright was.

You know, two guys in a little
room, and recording,

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 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 would say roughness

but growl that was attractive.

You gotta give a voice
like this. Raw meat.

♪ Aaah ♪

♪ Baby ♪

♪ My heart is full
of love and desire for you ♪

Teddy made a difference.

You know, he was a challenge
for Huff and myself.

- Yeah.
- We loved that, you know.

Songs like "The Love I Lost,"
you know.

♪ The love I lost ♪

- ♪ Was a sweet love ♪

♪ The love I lost ♪

♪ Was complete love ♪

♪ The love I lost ♪

♪ I will 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 I lost ♪

♪ The love, the love I lost ♪

♪ Was a sweet love ♪

♪ Yes, it was ♪

♪ The love I lost ♪

♪ Was complete love ♪

♪ 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 tried to
take the credit for everything.

Teddy was really
making the money for the group.

It was just Harold
just messing everything up.

Being greedy.

We were playing at
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... looked like
thousands of dollars.

He had 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 is so much hatred,
war and poverty ♪

If it were Teddy
Pendergrass and the Blue Notes,

that would've made a difference,

but you can't
keep a good man down.

♪ Wake up, everybody ♪

We called it
"Break Up, Everybody."

Because Teddy left Harold.

The Blue Notes left Harold.

And 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 came to me and said

that he wanted to stay
with the company

but he didn't want Teddy
to be there.

I said we can't do that.
Business is business.

- Right.
- You know, and um...

I think
we made a great 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
"I Don't Love You Anymore,"

that's it, gone.

♪ 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, um... we recorded
a record once and um...

heard no more from the producer
or the record

and we kinda just..

- That happens, though.
- But I was a kid.

Sixteen years old, it meant
a lot to me, you know.

- I stopped singing and--
- Completely?

Yeah, for a while.

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

You played drums
for other people?

Yeah. I played drums for Harold
before I sang with him.

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

I'm gonna get him to play
drums for me. No!

Oh, Harold, you got
a big one coming. That's funny.

Who plays drums for you now?

A gentleman named James Carter

and I really
wouldn't want his job,

because I am hard on him, yeah.

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

and I 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 all right.

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

Taaz Lang was the manager.

So one day I got a call saying
we need 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.

♪ Ooh ooh ooh ♪

♪ Ooh ooh ooh ♪

I was walking along 52nd Street
trying to get a gig.

- Trying to get...
- She will do anything.

- She will sing.
- Yes.

And he said, "Do you know me?"
And I said, "No."

And he said, "I'm Teddy
Pendergrass, you know.

I left Harold Melvin
and the Blue Notes

and I'm gonna be big,"
and I was like, "Yeah. OK."

In the audition he says,
"What's going on with you?"

I said, "Those guys got the job,
they're great musicians."

He says, "No." He said, "You
played what was on the paper.

You can have the job."

I remember just sitting
there and, I mean,

I'm the white boy,
I'm the youngest,

in a flannel shirt and jeans
and hiking boots.

Everybody else is looking
Italian. I just really...

We commune through the playing
because I kinda 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.

We didn't know who he was.
"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,
and we can go to Carnegie Hall."

♪ Ooh ooh ooh ♪

Taaz Lang, she said,
"Hey, you need to stay here,

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.

She had a beauty shop, like,

talkative,
make-it-happen kinda lady,

you know what I mean?

Is that
a shop we rehearsed at?

It was a show we rehearsed in,
yeah.

She was a good girl
but she was firm.

- She was very firm.
- Oh, extremely.

We had left by bus

so Taaz saw us off and we went
on Thursday evening.

And Teddy
had rode with us that time.

Was strange
that he was on the bus with us.

And soon as he got into town,
he went to make a phone call,

and he was informed
that Taaz Lang had been shot.

Killed, murdered.

Henry Evans,
Teddy's road manager,

called Teddy
and said that Taaz was dead.

And I was like... the look
that I got from both of them,

I was like, "This is not right."

It's uh...
filled with some kind of regret.

I'm looking at somebody
that's full of relieved, like...

The hits come faster

on the "Sonny Hopson Show!"

I said OK.

She had been shot.
She was killed.

There was a lot
of thug life happening,

you know, in the record industry
at that time.

He intimidated me, you know.

Sometimes I would be scared,

excuse the term, shitless,
in the studio.

Where you have money,
you have mobsters usually.

You knew you had
to be a part of things

because you're doing a show
but you didn't wanna get

9too friendly
with anybody like that.

Taaz started making threats.

She could ruin his career.

That's a big threat
for an entertainer.

"I can ruin your career,
I can change your whole life."

Who killed Taaz?

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 was violent.

You can't let anybody
steal from you.

If you do,
they had to pay a price,

either break their legs
or take their 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 kinda deals.

Didn't surprise
me about why they would kill her

because she had total control
over Teddy Pendergrass

and I had heard the rumors
that she had too much.

♪ This one's for you ♪

I was blessed to play
at her funeral,

and Cecil Du Valle
played organ.

I played 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'll fight so hard ♪

♪ To hide my tears 'cause... ♪

♪ This one is for you ♪

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,
I 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?

Give a round of applause
to the Teddy Bear Dancers!

But I hated the show.

Dancers. He was dressed 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.

I didn't wait. I just left.

So I went back down
to Philadelphia.

He lived in a penthouse.

This gorgeous lady in lingerie
opened the doors,

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
and 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 lang...
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.

There'll be times when you have
money in your pocket

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,

your best women,
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.

So we first sat down,
I told him,

"By the way, the show goes

and you gotta get rid
of the dancers."

Where I come from,
we say dance the ass off.

We were fired!

So that was how he met Karen.

They told Teddy,
"You don't need dancers.

You're a star, you can do this."

Teddy said,
"Now 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!

- Thank you!

And now the show's over I found
the promoter in the bathroom.

I said, "Hi, I'm Shep,
I'm the new manager."

He said,
"We didn't bring any cash."

I said, "What do you mean?
Do you have a check book?"

"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 till he gets the check."

I went into Teddy's
dressing room

and I said,
"What the fuck is going on?"

So, anyway, I left

and I started talking to friends
who knew that world.

Um, and they explained to me

that 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

'cause they thought they had to
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, "Fuck 'em."

Um... "We're going to play
for white promoters.

You're gonna get paid

and let 'em go
abuse somebody else."

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

"What's that?" He said, "My last
manager was shot to death."

Uh... So the table
soon turned at that moment

where I had to really think,
and I said, "Fuck 'em.

You're in, I'm in."

He said, "I'll take the ride
with you. Let's do it."

Can we have a warm welcome

for Mr. Teddy Pendergrass!

The first show we did
was at the Roxy in LA.

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.

No offense to our white brothers
and sisters but the hotel said,

"I've never seen
so many niggers in my life!"

But I'm glad we all came down.

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

Some of you in the front and
some of us in the front there.

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

We went to California
to see them perform.

- What was the place?
- Roxy.

Roxy. Yeah.

- We knew it then, we said, wow.
- Yeah.

This was not the usual.

Mm-hm. You know what
was amazing too, Gamble?

Teddy didn't even
open his mouth yet

and the females just went crazy.

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 them to it.

This is Teddy Pendergrass.
Join me, won't you?

Now that I got 'em in the hall,
how do I really get 'em crazy?

We came up with chocolate
teddy bear lollipops

that we gave out
to the audience

so the girls could lick it
and bite it and...

We sold out...

- In a second.

There has been
screaming at the Greek Theatre.

People think
they've 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 ♪

Sensuous looking and hairy

and, oh, just fantastic.

I got butterflies in my stomach.

- Something was gonna happen.
- We were gonna do something.

- 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 about him?

His body. His body. Mm-mm-mm!

They loved Teddy.
They loved Teddy.

They showed him
any way they could.

Rush the stage.
Throw panties on the stage.

He would meet a woman
and within 11 seconds,

he could get it
to a point with her

that if I had met her I'd have
to go out a couple of times,

I'd have to meet her parents.

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.

Who's the one in the shows
that's screaming and hollering?

It's the females.

So you gotta write for them.

- And that's what we did.
- And that's what we did.

May I just list the first
four songs on the album?

"Come Go With Me."

"Close the Door."

"Turn Off the Lights."

- "Do Me."
- Yes.

- Now...

- Have I got it?
- You got it!

- ♪ Turn off the lights ♪

♪ 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'll promise
to wash mine ♪

♪ 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.

I just like the way
he just sings it.

He sings it good
and I like the way

he's just altogether, you know.

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.

The guys that did come to
the show, he would say to 'em,

"I'm not here
to take your woman,

I'm just starting them up
for you."

"I'm getting them ready
for you."

"When I get finished I'm going
on the bus. They're yours!"

♪ Just do it to me ♪

♪ I'll do it to you ♪

♪ Come here, baby ♪

♪ Lay your head next to mine ♪

♪ Oh, oh ♪

♪ Oh oh, oh oh ♪

♪ Oh oh, oh oh ♪

Black male sexuality

was 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 the album reaches
the success of this one,

I'd have to ride around
in a police wagon or something.

I don't like to do that.

He was a charismatic,
strong, emoting performer

when he was center stage,

and the women
just went ga-ga over him.

They went crazy for him. Black
and white. Black and white.

We'll sing
whatever comes to your mind.

Would you say that again
in the microphone?

This lady came backstage
and I walk out the door

and she has this knife and
she pulls it out of her pocket.

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

Yeah, and she lunged at me
with this... I mean...

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 had girls pull knives, guns.

We had girls
buy maids' uniforms.

They'd be waiting for him
in the suite.

If you love
a man like that you know

that part of the real estate
is 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,
"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 it.

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.

It felt great.

It felt great,
made me feel special.

Teddy rode past me
in a blue Rolls-Royce.

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, "That's Teddy
Pendergrass, stupid."

I said, "I ran from him."

So we'd both kiss 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 ♪

♪ Caused 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 is all gone ♪

♪ Just another,
just another sad song ♪

♪ I think I'd better
let it go ♪

You're a bachelor and I
have some first-hand knowledge

as to how lonely

and miserable and boring...

- Lonely? Lonely sometimes.

- Boring? I don't think so!
- You don't like the boring?

Boring, I don't know.

There were
so many pieces to him.

He was a 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.

The next time we saw him,

he was in his coffin.

♪ I give myself away ♪

♪ Oh-oh-oh-oh ♪

♪ I give myself away ♪

♪ So you can use me ♪

He always said that

because his father
wasn't in his life,

he always wanted to be
in our lives. No matter what.

And at times he could be selfish

or he felt like it was all him,

that he had to
always do everything.

Whereas though 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 us
to go through

half of the things
that he went through.

Get funky for me one time!

I liked him most
of the time but he was a guy

that if he made you love him,
you loved him.

If he made you mad...

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.

A complicated
guy. A complicated man.

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

And I do think
a lot of those characteristics

helped him 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.
- Yes, thank you.

Platinum.

Come on.

Why don't you tell the audience
what platinum albums are?

- Platinum's better than gold.
- One million copies were sold.

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

Yes, and platinum
is twice as much.

♪ You're a fool
if you think you're helpless ♪

♪ You decide
just to live your mind ♪

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 p.m. in the afternoon.

The second you start hearing
the shrieks it's like...

"Yeah, Teddy Pendergrass
is over."

It was chaos and he ate it up.

Teddy Pendergrass
was Philadelphia's king.

Its prince.

He was a sleek-looking guy.

Brown brother.
Nice hair. Nice features.

And dressing sharp.

When you ride with Teddy
it was an adventure

'cause he would have
his drink here, his pistol here.

And whatever other
paraphernalia he had.

And I'm hanging on and he'd say,

"What's wrong, Jesse,
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.

There was some tense moments
in North Philadelphia.

I got to know the neighborhood
rather well.

I've got a couple of scars
that I can show you

from some of those days.
It was rough.

Somebody dropped a dime.

And because of the police siren,
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 stayed there five months,
I think it was.

♪ Had my dream so near ♪

♪ I could reach out
and touch it ♪

♪ I could touch it ♪

- ♪ And I lost it ♪
- ♪ And I lost it ♪

♪ And I lost it ♪

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 Teddy didn't take
any stuff from anybody

and if he felt he was right,

he was gonna
stand up for himself.

And here is this big black man
with that Rolls-Royce.

Millionaire. So the police
felt like that's a target.

♪ Whoever you are, be a star ♪

♪ In Celebrity Jeans ♪

Be free, be someone special

with Teddy Pendergrass
Celebrity Body Jeans.

- You 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 wanna 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,
because 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.

He was about to go worldwide

and he would have been
a total phenomenon.

You know, in that range

of Prince or Michael Jackson,
whatever,

he was getting ready
to take it to another level.

I could see that coming.

- ♪ Girl, you know ♪
- ♪ Girl, you know ♪

♪ You like the taste
of the wine ♪

- ♪ Girl, you know ♪
a- ♪ Girl, you know ♪

♪ You like the taste
of the wine ♪

Everything was waiting for him.
Movies, television, everything.

Now, my darling,
wherever you are...

Think I should say that again?

Said my darling,
wherever you are.

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 trying to.

We were just finding
the right couple of songs.

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 song

would have brought in
the white audience.

And the combination of the two
would have been a hit.

- ♪ Lady ♪

♪ I'm your knight
in shining armor ♪

♪ And I love you ♪

♪ You have come into my life ♪

♪ And ♪

♪ Made me whole ♪

♪ And for ever ♪

♪ 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 ♪

♪ Oh-oh ♪

♪ Lady ♪

♪ Lady ♪

♪ Lady ♪

♪ You 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
for ever and ever ♪

♪ 'Cause my love ♪

♪ Oh, my love ♪

♪ There's something
I want you to know ♪

♪ Something I've just got
to let you know ♪

♪ That you're the love
of my life ♪

We had a little ritual
that we would go to

the basketball game
to see Julius.

Watch the game and sometimes
go out afterwards.

And I said,
"Let's get out of here,"

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,

the Warwick Hotel
at 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?

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

'cause 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.

Everything got completely quiet.

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

All 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.

Slick conditions,
a lot of switchbacks.

Many people drive too quickly

so there's frequently accidents;
sometimes very bad accidents.

We arrive on scene
and we have a Rolls-Royce

into a couple of trees.

The passenger, Tenika Watson,

seemed uninjured.

The driver had been thrown
into the back seat.

We put him on a spine board

and removed him from the car.

They got us out of it

and I was thinking
maybe I can get away from here

but when I got out
Teddy whispered, 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?"

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 that 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 have to sit still,

say, "What do I do?"

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.

He is able to move parts
of his arms.

We can't define it any more
than that because it's uh...

- It's not stable at the moment.
- 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,

whatever's running through
the middle gets squished.

Once a certain level of damage

has happened to the spine
and it's unrecoverable...

I got off the elevator
and Karen and the doctor

and Mrs. Pendergrass were there.

And, um, they took me in a
room, they said, "Listen, um,

Teddy's not gonna walk again.

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

I went in.
Teddy was lying on a table.

Strapped down.

He was crying a lot,
he was very upset.

And I almost fainted there
in the room. I mean, I had to...

I had to sit down on the floor
because it just...

You don't think
it will 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 sort of
opened his eyes and...

The doctor said, "Can you hear
us? If you can, blink once."

And he blinked.

And, um, 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
get through this with him.

And that was rough.

It was the toughest moment
I've...

Yeah. That was tough.

I pulled myself together
and you couldn't move him

because he was pinned in
and you couldn't get...

So the back of his head,

I just ran my finger
under his hair like that.

And that was satisfaction
to him.

We were doing a show
in Charlotte

and I went to bed early
so I could get up.

We had to be at the airport
six o'clock in the morning

and four o'clock
in the morning the phone rang.

They said, "Turn on the radio,
turn on the radio."

So I turned on the radio

and then that's how we heard
what had happened.

They said Teddy Pendergrass
was in a very bad accident,

was paralyzed
from the waist down.

It was like,
you got to be joking, you know.

- I couldn't believe it.
- Unbelievable.

You know, it's like, so I um...

I called Henry and said,
"Teddy was in a car accident?"

He said,
"Yeah, we're gonna leave later

because I don't know how..."

None of us knew it was that bad.

- That serious.
- None of us knew it.

And he called back later and
said we're not going anywhere.

- And I was like, wow.
- 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.

He thought
he was indestructible.

But then most young men
of 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.

♪ All by ♪

♪ My ♪

♪ 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 watching my teacher
sob and cry.

I never saw anyone, especially
black people, this devastated.

They weren't going to school.

Oh, God, we were next door
to Philly International.

Everybody was devastated.

- We were in Jamaica.
- We were in Jamaica.

Writing songs for him
for his next album.

Yeah. 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.

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 is my man.

Steady 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 didn't.

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

It had no brakes.

A lot of people
believed that this accident

was a setup to get rid of him.

I think the car
was sabotaged, I 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
said 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.

- More?
- ♪ Girls, let me turn you on ♪

♪ To the big Bull buzz ♪

♪ One sip will make you

♪ It's got more taste
than beer ♪

We had a very large beer
company that sponsored Teddy.

I told them
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
the girl in the car was a guy.

And I 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 she knew my past, that's
how I got into the paper.

Everybody
believed it was a woman.

She was striking.

I wouldn't dispute
how impressive she looked.

And my assumption was,
knowing Teddy,

that he was driving with her,

put his hand down
between her legs,

felt the 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 'em in big old stacks ♪

We needed to generate
money for his family.

I sat through hundreds
of tapes

and we found tapes that
hadn't been released.

Unfortunately,
in every case, um...

his partners in those records
who had the power

chose not to pay him.

♪ All the things I wanted ♪

♪ I don't have anymore ♪

When 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 you ♪

♪ Happy birthday, 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 would have been tracheotomy
and respirator dependent.

He would just be quiet
and 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 him to be like that.

I wanted it to be like
the old times.

He said if I
want to commit suicide, I
couldn't.

And I realized he was correct.

I didn't think about it
until after. He couldn't.

He couldn't.

He was very depressed.

He had sleeping pills 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 will
never be able to walk again."

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

♪ Is this my beginning? ♪

♪ Or is this the end? ♪

♪ When will I see you again? ♪

♪ When will I see you again? ♪

♪ Sweet, sweet love ♪

♪ 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 things like that.

My heart breaks

and it did for him
because I knew

where he came from and where
he was going to end 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 shouldn't have.

But this was different.

There were no
quadriplegic therapists.

I was the only one around.

He finally decided

that he was gonna
to 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, "OK, 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 wanna 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.

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 was in the afternoon,

there was a coffee commercial.

And I said, "You know,
there's... Doggone it, you know?

It's a possibility, yeah.

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
a hold of all the video tapes

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 ♪

♪ Trying to hold on,
faith is gone ♪

♪ It's just another sad song ♪

It's not a coincidence

that Teddy Pendergrass's
accident

and the slow, quiet fade-out
of Philly International

happened at the same time.

Yeah, they've had hits
with Patti LaBelle

and The O'Jays, you know, since,

but it wasn't quite the same.

- It wasn't the same.
- No, it wasn't the same.

- The company wasn't the same.
- No.

It was very difficult because

the Kenny and Leon 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
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 uh...

without compassion.

'Cause they thought everything
was in the past, not the future.

♪ It's just another sad song ♪

I hoped that
he'd be able to sing again

and Teddy was very determined.

♪ 'Cause it looks like
to me another ♪

Teddy's vocal cords were fine

but the vocal cords 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.

♪ Ohh... ♪

Teddy couldn't do that.

♪ Oh, love me ♪

Shep Gordon,
Teddy's manager, called me

and told me what had happened
at his previous record company.

They were unsure about going
forward with Teddy Pendergrass.

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

I had heard the rumors.

I asked Shep,
"Shep, what is the truth?"

He told me what the truth is.
I said, "I am in."

Teddy had some
residual arm fluxion.

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 regained some strength.

I have accomplished something
that um...

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.

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.

♪ I'm a tried
and true romantic ♪

My focus was
I have millions of women

who love Teddy,
who know about the tragedy.

They've probably listened
to his old records every day

for the last three years
and cried,

and he's now going to speak
to that one person.

Teddy's going to talk to her.

♪ In my time ♪

♪ I've lived and loved
so much ♪

♪ And through
each high and low ♪

♪ I've let my heart
be touched ♪

♪ In my time
there isn't much I've missed ♪

The words to the song were "I've
never loved like this before."

Knowing 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

we're gonna show him in the
wheelchair, not gonna hide it.

♪ In my time ♪

♪ I've lived and loved
so much ♪

♪ And through
each high and low ♪

♪ I've let my heart
be touched ♪

♪ In my time ♪

♪ There isn't much I missed ♪

♪ I've seen love come and go ♪

♪ But heaven knows ♪

♪ I've never loved like this ♪

♪ In my time ♪

Teddy!

- We got a surprise for you.
- Holy shit!

- 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're glad that at least
part of the road to recovery

is paved in gold. God bless.

Ah! Thank you. Thank you.

♪ When the whole world
seems against you ♪

♪ And your whole life
seems unborn ♪

♪ When 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 you down... ♪

Taking performance away from me
was bad enough.

I'm a performer by heart.

That's what I've been doing
since I'm two years old.

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?

I haven't said
that I won't perform.

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

I'm still not saying.

Live Aid got announced
and one of the sites was Philly.

One song in the middle
of Live Aid

and it's goose-bump moment
for everybody.

He was so scared and everybody,

we were so reassuring of him.

"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
and get beside him

and went out
and a number of artists

and other entertainers were
excited to see him, 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 would 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

but because he was our friend,

if he thought he was ready
then we thought he was ready.

Teddy went out
at the bottom of the ramp

and he was looking really slick.

But I could see something
was wrong.

I went over to him and he said,

"I don't think I can do this.
I can't pull this off.

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

I said, "Well, we're here,
we've gotta do it."

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

I said, "Teddy, I'm wheeling
you out there.

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

Put your hands together

and give a big round
of applause

to Mr. Teddy Pendergrass!

When he rolled himself out,

I remember it was almost
like choreographed,

we kind of backed away from him.

And it was such a long applause.

More applause
than I've ever heard in my life.

Oh, listen, Ashford,
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.

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'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, we can change ♪

♪ If we start giving ♪

- ♪ Why don't you ♪
- ♪ Reach out and touch ♪

♪ Touch somebody... ♪

He was a man that did suffer,

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. Wheelchair
or no wheelchair, 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 ♪

- ♪ If you can ♪
- ♪ Would you reach out ♪

- ♪ Reach out and touch ♪
- ♪ Touch somebody's ♪

♪ Somebody's ♪

♪ Would you touch somebody's ♪

♪ Touch somebody's ♪

- ♪ A better place ♪
- ♪ Gotta be a better place ♪

♪ Reach out and touch ♪

- ♪ Somebody's hand ♪
- ♪ Somebody's ♪

♪ Make this world
a better place ♪

♪ If you can reach out ♪

♪ And touch ♪

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, said,

"Why didn't you tell me
I was a blubberbutt?"

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, thank you,
so, so, so, so, so, so.

Oh, my God! Oh, my God!

Hey!

There is a dim
light on all he has accomplished

and that light
needs to be a lot brighter

and we need to keep
his legacy alive

because these
young whippersnappers

need to see a Teddy Pendergrass

so they know
how it's supposed to be done.

We always listened
to his music,

especially growing up.

I got to meet
the original band,

original background singers.

And they are just like so
humble and they know so much.

I'm in awe because they were
telling me all these stories.

I 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 is so much hatred ♪

♪ War and poverty ♪

♪ Ohh... ♪

♪ Ohh... ♪

♪ 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 'em
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, yeah,
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 mind ♪

♪ Surely things will work out ♪

♪ They do it every time ♪

♪ The world
won't get no better ♪

♪ If we just let it be ♪

♪ Na-na-na-na na na na ♪

♪ The world
won't get no better ♪

♪ We gotta change it, yeah,
just you and me ♪

♪ Change it, yeah ♪

♪ Wake up ♪

♪ Everybody ♪

♪ Wake up ♪

♪ Everybody ♪

♪ Wake up ♪

♪ Everybody ♪

♪ Wake up ♪

♪ Everybody ♪

♪ Wake up ♪

♪ Wake up ♪

♪ 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 ♪

♪ You should be ashamed
of the way you appear ♪

♪ Look at yourself,
don't you give me no tears ♪

♪ You used to be carefree
and that was your only way ♪

♪ And now a school teacher,
you try to read a date ♪

♪ 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 the wine ♪

♪ You know that I know
that you know, yeah, 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-mm, mm-mm ♪

♪ You say
you don't recognize your pal ♪

♪ Afraid I'd 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 were 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 ♪

♪ Oh, I don't know
who you're trying to fool ♪

♪ But I know,
yeah, you know it ♪

♪ Girl, you know you like
the taste of the wine ♪