Original subtitles

[engine starts]

[man on radio] 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" by 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... ♪

- [tires screech] - [car crashes]

[silence]

♪ 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 ♪

[man] 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.

[laughs]

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." - [audience laughs]

I cannot move my mother out of the ghetto.

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

[woman] 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.

[Teddy] 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.

[Teddy]

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.

[man] 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? ♪

[Mikido Soto] 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 ♪

[man] 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.

[audience applauds]

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.

[audience laughs]

[church congregation sings]

♪ Come by here ♪

♪ O Lord ♪

♪ Come by here ♪

[Teddy] 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 ♪

- [applause] - ♪ Hallelujah! ♪

[Ida] 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."

[♪ introduction to song ♪]

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.

[cheering and applause]

You have no idea how I felt.

The joy, to see my baby.

Ooh!

[man] The New Testament says repent.

It is time for America to repent now.

[Teddy]

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.

[whistle blows]

Sending them 8,000 miles away,

to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia

which they had not found

in Southwest Georgia and East Harlem.

[Teddy]

[Jackie Wilson] ♪ My heart is crying, crying ♪

♪ The lonely teardrops ♪

♪ My pillow's never dry of lonely teardrops ♪

[Teddy]

♪ Just give me another chance ♪

[Teddy]

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.

[laughs]

♪ Say that you... ♪

[Teddy]

[man] 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.

[Teddy]

[man] The most important thing

about any particular city that has music talent,

it really just boils down to community.

[♪ funk bass ♪]

[man] 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.

[man on TV] 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.

[man 2 on TV] That famous Philadelphia sound

could not have reached the level of prominence it enjoys

without the mighty Blue Notes.

[man] 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."

[Huff] 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.

[Lloyd Parks] "I Miss You", that was our first record

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

[sings high-pitched notes]

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 ♪

[Lloyd Parks] 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.

[man on TV] 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.

[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.

[Lloyd Parks] 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.

[woman] 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.

[Questlove] 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.

[♪ introduction to "Don't Leave Me This Way" ♪]

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

[Lloyd Parks] We got hits after hits after hits.

You know, and to this day,

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

[Huff] 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 ♪

[Joe Tarsia] 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 ♪

[Gamble] 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.

[♪ introduction to "The Love I Lost" ♪]

♪ The love I lost ♪

- ♪ Was a sweet love ♪ - [mouths words]

♪ 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 ♪

[Lloyd Parks] 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.

[Teddy]

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.

[Teddy]

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."

[Teddy]

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.

[Teddy]

♪ Wake up, everybody ♪

♪ No more sleeping in bed ♪

[Joe Tarsia] 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 ♪

[Questlove] 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.

[Mikido Soto] 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.

[Gamble] 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.

[Jerry Cummings] 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!

[audience laughs]

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.

[laughs]

When I met Teddy, he said,

"Good, you're gonna be all right.

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

[Teddy]

Taaz Lang was the manager.

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

[man] 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.

[indistinct chatter and laughter]

♪ Ooh ooh ooh ♪

♪ Ooh ooh ooh ♪

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

[all laugh]

- 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."

[♪ guitar riff ♪]

[man] 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."

[brass instruments play]

[man] 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.

[woman] 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 ♪

[Teddy]

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

it's gonna be good."

[woman] 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.

[James Carter] I knew Taaz pretty good.

She had a beauty shop, like,

talkative, make-it-happen kinda lady,

you know what I mean?

[Robert LeGrand] 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.

[Teddy]

[Alfie Pollitt] We had left by bus

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

[James Carter] 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.

[Mikido Soto] 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...

[sighs]

[man on radio] The hits come faster

on the "Sonny Hopson Show!"

[Sonny Hopson]

I said OK.

[siren wails]

[Teddy] She had been shot. She was killed.

- [gun clicks] - [gunshot]

There was a lot of thug life happening,

you know, in the record industry at that time.

[Joe Kohanski] He intimidated me, you know.

Sometimes I would be scared,

excuse the term, shitless, in the studio.

[man] 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.

[Mikido Soto] 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."

[Teddy]

[woman] Who killed Taaz?

[man] 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. [sniffs]

[Alfie Pollitt] 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.

[Tyree Johnson] 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.

[Teddy] ♪ 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 ♪

[Alfie Pollitt] Jesse Jackson preached the eulogy.

♪ And I'll fight so hard ♪

♪ To hide my tears 'cause... ♪

[Teddy]

♪ This one is for you ♪

[♪ heavy rock music ♪]

[man] 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.

[Teddy] Would you do me a very big favor, please?

Give a round of applause to the Teddy Bear Dancers!

[♪ upbeat funk music ♪]

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.

[♪ upbeat funk music ♪]

[Teddy]

[Shep] 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 ♪

[Shep] And three days later, Teddy collapsed.

I managed him the rest of his career.

[laughs]

So we first sat down, I told him,

"By the way, the show goes

and you gotta get rid of the dancers."

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

We were fired! [laughs]

[laughs] 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.

[Shep] We went to our first show.

[man] Teddy Pendergrass!

- [crowd cheers] - [Teddy] 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.

[Shep] 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."

[applause]

[man] Can we have a warm welcome

for Mr. Teddy Pendergrass!

- [cheering] - [♪ song intro ♪]

[Shep] 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!"

[screaming and cheering]

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. [laughs]

[Gamble] We went to California to see them perform.

- What was the place? - [Huff] Roxy.

Roxy. Yeah.

- We knew it then, we said, wow. - [Huff] 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.

[wild screaming]

[Shep] I thought, "Wait a second.

Let's just do shows for women only."

[man] 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...

[laughs] We sold out...

- [clicks fingers] - In a second.

[reporter] 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 ♪

[woman] Sensuous looking and hairy

and, oh, just fantastic.

[LeGrand] 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.

[cheering]

[woman] Every show was jam-packed.

And the women were just... I thought they were nuts.

- Oh! - [man] What appeals about him?

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

[♪ upbeat funk ♪]

They loved Teddy. They loved Teddy.

They showed him any way they could.

[Daniel Markus] 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.

[♪ upbeat funk ♪]

[indistinct]

[cheering]

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... - [audience laughs]

[applause]

- Have I got it? - You got it!

- ♪ Turn off the lights ♪ - [cheering]

♪ 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.

[man] 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." [laughs]

"I'm getting them ready for you."

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

[both laugh]

♪ 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 ♪

[Questlove] 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.

[man] 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.

[indistinct]

Would you say that again in the microphone?

[Teddy] 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."

[laughter]

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

This was a black lady and it was a black knife.

- [laughter] - That long, huh?

[Mikido Soto] 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.

[Dyana Williams] 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.

[Karen] 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.

[Edy Roberts] When Ted came into a room, you knew it.

It was like a hurricane literally walked in.

[woman] 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.

[laughs]

It felt great.

It felt great, made me feel special.

[woman] 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 ♪

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

as to how lonely

and miserable and boring...

- Lonely? Lonely sometimes. - [laughs]

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

Boring, I don't know.

[Karen] 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.

[congregation] ♪ I give myself away ♪

♪ Oh-oh-oh-oh ♪

♪ I give myself away ♪

♪ So you can use me ♪

[Teddy]

[man] 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.

[Teddy] Get funky for me one time!

[♪ funk music ♪]

[James Carter] 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...

[laughs] He made you mad!

[man] 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.

[Joe Kohanski] 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? ♪

[man] Five platinum albums in a row!

- That's some kind of record. - [Teddy] Yes, thank you.

Platinum.

[man] Come on. [indistinct]

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.

[applause]

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

♪ You decide just to live your mind ♪

[Questlove] 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." [laughs]

It was chaos and he ate it up.

Teddy Pendergrass was Philadelphia's king.

Its prince.

[man] 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.

[Edy Roberts] 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.

[man] 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.

[Teddy]

Somebody dropped a dime.

[siren wails]

And because of the police siren, everybody ran.

Well, then Teddy ran too.

[Teddy]

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.

[Ida] 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.

[Teddy]

♪ 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 ♪

[Edy Roberts] The police would come by the house,

and, of course, it escalated and next thing you know,

they're taking him off in handcuffs.

[Karen] 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.

[dramatic TV theme music]

[woman on advert] ♪ Whoever you are, be a star ♪

♪ In Celebrity Jeans ♪

[man on advert] Be free, be someone special

with Teddy Pendergrass Celebrity Body Jeans.

- [cheering] - You got them Teddy jeans?

♪ Whoever you are, be a star ♪

[Daniel Markus] 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.

[Teddy] 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.

[♪ upbeat rhythmic music ♪]

[man] 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.

[♪ introduction to "Lady" ♪]

Now, my darling, wherever you are...

[cheering]

Think I should say that again?

Said my darling, wherever you are.

[wild cheering]

Won't you please... listen to my song?

[Cecil Du Valle] 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.

[♪ introduction to "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 song

would have brought in the white audience.

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

[clicks tongue]

- ♪ Lady ♪ - [cheering]

♪ 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 ♪

[backing singers] ♪ 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 ♪

[backing singers] ♪ 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 ♪

[applause]

We had a little ritual that we would go to

the basketball game to see Julius.

[cheering]

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.

[Teddy]

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."

[car engine hums]

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.

[Teddy]

- [tires screech] - [car crashes]

[silence]

[Sonny Hopson]

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.

[sirens wail]

[man] 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.

[siren wails]

[Sonny Hopson]

[voices over police radio]

[Larry Shellenberger] The passenger, Tenika Watson,

seemed uninjured.

The driver had been thrown into the back seat.

[Sonny Hopson]

[Larry Shellenberger] We put him on a spine board

and removed him from the car.

[Tenika Watson] 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?"

[voice over police radio]

[siren wails]

[man] Everybody knew who he was.

I intubated him myself to make sure that his airway

was established safely

without damaging that wonderful voice.

[Karen] 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?"

[indistinct]

[Daniel Markus] 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. - [woman] 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.

[Sam Reed] 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. - [Sam Reed] Unbelievable.

You know, it's like, so I um... [sniffs]

[woman] 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 ♪

[backing singers] ♪ Don't leave me ♪

♪ Here alone ♪

♪ So I'm standing here, standing here ♪

♪ All by myself ♪

♪ Don't wanna be ♪

♪ All by myself anymore ♪

[LT Brinkley] 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 ♪

[applause]

♪ If you don't know me by now ♪

[Teddy] 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.

[Tenika Watson] 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.

[Tenika Watson] 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.

[Jerry Cummings] A lot of people believed that this accident

was a setup to get rid of him.

[Linda Wills] 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.

[Linda Wills] 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 ♪

[Shep] He lived a big life

and he had really used up most of his funds.

- [all] More? - ♪ Girls, let me turn you on ♪

♪ To the big Bull buzz ♪

♪ One sip will make you [indistinct] ♪

♪ It's got more taste than beer ♪

[Shep] 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!

[Tenika Watson] 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.

[Larry Shellenberger] 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 ♪

[Shep] 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 ♪

[Sedonia Walker] 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.

[man] ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪

[Teddy]

♪ 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.

[Teddy]

[♪ introduction to "When Will I See You Again" ♪]

[Teddy]

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.

[LT Brinkley] 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.

[Karen] 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."

[wind chimes jingle]

[man] 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.

[Karen] 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.

[Teddy]

He was determined to be able to sing.

Everybody with whom he consulted except for me,

told him it was impossible.

[♪ music plays on advert ♪]

[Teddy] 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.

[♪ song plays on advert ♪]

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 ♪

[Questlove] 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.

[Daniel Markus] 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.

[Joe Tarsia] With the accident and not being able to secure

another deal with CBS Records,

time had run out. For everybody.

[woman] 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 ♪

[Dr. Sataloff] I hoped that he'd be able to sing again

and Teddy was very determined.

♪ 'Cause it looks like to me another ♪

[Dr. Sataloff] 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."

[Dr. Sataloff] 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.

[man] This is his first live television interview

since the car he was driving crashed 26 months ago.

He was left paralyzed.

[Shep] 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.

[Teddy] 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 ♪

[Shep] 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... ♪

[Shep] 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 ♪

[knocking at door]

Teddy!

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

- What is this? - [laughs]

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 ♪

[cheering]

♪ 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.

[interviewer] 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.

[cheering]

[Shep] 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.

[LaDonna] 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.

[Shep] 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."

[Ashford] Put your hands together

and give a big round of applause

to Mr. Teddy Pendergrass!

[wild cheering]

[Valerie Simpson] 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.

[cheering]

Oh, listen, Ashford, thank you so much.

[Karen] 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.

[cheering]

♪ Reach out and touch ♪

♪ Somebody's hand ♪

♪ Make this world a better place ♪

- ♪ If you can ♪ - [cheering and whistling]

♪ 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... ♪

[Dr. Gottlieb] 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.

[Petey Dent] 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 ♪

[wild cheering]

[LaDonna] 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!" [laughs]

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?"

[laughs]

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

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

[applause]

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

[woman] Oh, my God! Oh, my God!

Hey!

[Valerie Simpson] 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.

[woman] 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 ♪