Teddy Pendergrass 1950-2010

Walk of Fame plaque, South Broad Street

The Sound of Philadelphia that flourished in the 1970s was projected through many voices, but none more distinct than that of Teddy Pendergrass. The man epitomized soul. The power of his raw baritone voice lay in the very sense of vulnerability that it conveyed — a quality that took on shocking real-life dimensions when an automobile accident paralyzed him in 1982. He lost his onstage flair after that, but he never lost his honesty in his singing.

Read Dan DeLuca’s appreciation in the Inquirer.

As a token of remembrance, this clip seems appropriate:

The Sound of Philly lives on.