3BAAS Media Group is so sad to report that the incomparable 70's balladeer Teddy Pendergrass passed away today from complications following surgery for colon cancer.
With hits such as "Turn Off The Light", "Come Go With Me", "Love TKO" and "You Got What I Need", Pendergrass was definitely a legend of music in his own right.
He blessed us with his soulful voice, there will only be duplicates never another original like Mr. Teddy Pendergrass.
The singer's son, Teddy Pendergrass II, said his father died at a hospital in suburban Philadelphia. The singer underwent colon cancer surgery eight months ago and had "a difficult recovery," his son said.
"To all his fans who loved his music, thank you," his son said. "He will live on through his music."
Pendergrass suffered a spinal cord injury and was paralyzed from the waist down in the 1982 car accident. He spent six months in a hospital but returned to recording the next year with the album "Love Language."
He returned to the stage at the Live Aid concert in 1985, performing from his wheelchair.
Pendergrass later founded the Teddy Pendergrass Alliance, an organization whose mission is to encourage and help people with spinal cord injuries achieve their maximum potential in education, employment, housing, productivity and independence, according to its Web site.
Pendergrass, who was born in Philadelphia on March 26, 1950, gained popularity first as a member of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. The smooth velvet sounds that came out his mouth instantly won over black audiences.
In 1971, the group signed a record deal with the legendary writer/producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. The group released it first single, "I Miss You," in 1972 and then released "If You Don't Know Me by Now," which was nominated for a Grammy Award.
Pendergrass quit the group in 1975 and embarked on a solo career in 1976. It was his solo hits that brought him his greatest fame. He came to define a new era of black male singers with his powerful, aggressive vocals that spoke to virility, not vulnerability.
His lyrics were never coarse, as those of later male R&B stars would be, but they had a sensual nature that bordered on erotic without being explicit.
For the audiences that marveled at the Boys Choir of Harlem, it was an additional wonder that the young performers with world-class voices had emerged from some of the most difficult neighborhoods of New York. But this year, the boys are nowhere to be found.
Last week, Terrance Wright, a 39-year-old choir alumnus, picked up a microphone in front of the altar of Metropolitan Community United Methodist Church in Harlem, the choir’s last home, and delivered news that surprised few people but saddened many.
“Tell the people. Let it be known,” Mr. Wright said, glistening and exhausted after leading a Christmas concert by former singers in the choir. “There is no Boys and Girls Choir of Harlem.”
The choir’s last official performance was in 2007, around the time of the death of its founder, Walter J. Turnbull. But no one ever announced that it was gone. Board members and alumni had hoped to revive it, but they acknowledged last week that they had not had any success.
For a famous organization that politicians had vowed would outlive its founder, it had a quiet end. Many of the choir’s materials, like copies of handwritten scores and its trademark burgundy blazers, now sit in black garbage bags and open boxes in the church’s damp dirt-floor basement, amid overturned tables and sacks of plaster of Paris.
Led by Dr. Turnbull, who started the group in 1968, the choir sang at the White House for nearly every president since Lyndon B. Johnson, and it was awarded the National Medal of Arts by Bill Clinton. But it did not survive long enough to perform for the country’s first black president.
The choir’s demise as a functional organization was a result of many factors, but everyone agrees it was set in motion by a single episode...
Natalie gave more than what we could have ever imagined or prayed for last night at the beautiful Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Her comeback performance was out of this world. She commanded that stage like she had never been sick a day in her life.
When I tell you that I was "almost" in Heaven last night, then you can believe it.
On Wednesday September 10, 2009, the legendary singer and famous daughter of the incomparable Nat King Cole out performed Aretha, Patti, and Chaka. Natalie wore a deep purple gown for almost the entire show before changing into an equally beautiful turquoise mini gown. She brought out Kurt Carr and the Kurt Carr Singers, and she took us literally to church. She started to do the "Holy Dance" and shouted for about 5 minutes.
When you have been through what Natalie has been through, we know why Natalie danced and shouted all night. I think His name is JESUS. The man who saved her life; The man who gave her a new kidney; The man who delivered her from drug abuse; The man who is her all in all. Don't you know a little something about this man I am talking about?
I thank God for giving Natalie a new beginning, and I thank God for placing each one of you in my life. As Natalie said last night, "When you are going through something, you think you are the only one who is going through it. We all got problems in this world, so never give up and always know that if God did it for me, He will do it for you". Well spoken Natalie!
First Bernie Mac, Now the Black Community Loses Another Icon
Isaac Hayes, the pioneering singer, songwriter and musician whose relentless "Theme From Shaft" won Academy and Grammy awards, died Sunday in Memphis, according to Shelby County Sheriff's officials. The soulful cat that took the whole chain-wearing thing to another level was 65-years old.
We here at 3BAAS Media Group are devastated, particularly since we were working with Mr. Hayes record lapel, Concord Stax records, to pay tribute to him during the 5th Quarter Concert at the Farmers Angel City Classic next month here in Los Angeles. We are doing all the public relations and marketing for the event, which clearly now will now likely have even more high-profile artists coming out to honor this man and the incredible body of music he has left behind for all of us to share.
In the early 1970s, Hayes laid the groundwork for disco, for what became known as urban-contemporary music and for romantic crooners like Barry White. And he was rapping before there was rap.
His career hit another high in 1997 when he became the voice of Chef, the sensible school cook and devoted ladies man on the animated TV show "South Park."
The album "Hot Buttered Soul" made Hayes a star in 1969. His shaven head, gold chains and sunglasses gave him a compelling visual image.
"Hot Buttered Soul" was groundbreaking in several ways: He sang in a "cool" style unlike the usual histrionics of big-time soul singers. He prefaced the song with "raps," and the numbers ran longer than three minutes with lush arrangements.
"Jocks would play it at night," Hayes recalled in a 1999 Associated Press interview. "They could go to the bathroom, they could get a sandwich, or whatever."
Next came "Theme From Shaft," a No. 1 hit in 1971 from the film "Shaft" starring Richard Roundtree. "That was like the shot heard round the world," Hayes said in the 1999 interview.
At the Oscar ceremony in 1972, Hayes performed the song wearing an eye-popping amount of gold and received a standing ovation. TV Guide later chose it as No. 18 in its list of television's 25 most memorable moments. He won an Academy Award for the song and was nominated for another one for the score. The song and score also won him two Grammys.
"The rappers have gone in and created a lot of hit music based upon my influence," he said. "And they'll tell you if you ask."
Hayes was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.
"I knew nothing about the business, or trends and things like that," he said. "I think it was a matter of timing. I didn't know what was unfolding."
A self-taught musician, he was hired in 1964 by Stax Records of Memphis as a backup pianist, working as a session musician for Otis Redding and others. He also played saxophone.
He began writing songs, establishing a songwriting partnership with David Porter, and in the 1960s they wrote such hits for Sam and Dave as "Hold On, I'm Coming" and "Soul Man."
All this led to his recording contract.
In 1972, he won another Grammy for his album "Black Moses" and earned a nickname he reluctantly embraced. It was also during this period where Hayes had a breakout performance at Wattstax, a concert at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to cool tensions after the Watts Riots.
Hayes composed film scores for "Tough Guys" and "Truck Turner" besides "Shaft." He also did the song "Two Cool Guys" on the "Beavis and Butt-Head Do America" movie soundtrack in 1996. Additionally, he was the voice of Nickelodeon's "Nick at Nite" and had radio shows in New York City (1996 to 2002) and then in Memphis.
He was in several movies, including "It Could Happen to You" with Nicolas Cage, "Ninth Street" with Martin Sheen, "Reindeer Games" starring Ben Affleck and the blaxploitation parody "I'm Gonna Git You, Sucka."
In the 1999 interview, Hayes described the South Park cook as "a person that speaks his mind; he's sensitive enough to care for children; he's wise enough to not be put into the 'whack' category like everybody else in town — and he l-o-o-o-o-ves the ladies."
But Hayes angrily quit the show in 2006 after an episode mocked his Scientology religion. "There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins," he said.
Co-creator creators Matt Stone responded that Hayes "has no problem — and he's cashed plenty of checks — with our show making fun of Christians." A subsequent episode of the show seemingly killed off the Chef character.
Hayes was born in 1942 in a tin shack in Covington, Tenn., about 40 miles north of Memphis. He was raised by his maternal grandparents after his mother died and his father took off when he was 1 1/2. The family moved to Memphis when he was 6.
Hayes wanted to be a doctor, but got redirected when he won a talent contest in ninth grade by singing Nat King Cole's "Looking Back."
He held down various low-paying jobs, including shining shoes on the legendary Beale Street in Memphis. He also played gigs in rural Southern juke joints where at times he had to hit the floor because someone began shooting.
A family member found Hayes unresponsive near a treadmill and he was pronounced dead about an hour later at Baptist East Hospital in Memphis, according to the sheriff's office. The cause of death was not immediately known.
A new husband and father to a 2-year-old, 11 older children, and grandfather to 14, this giant (in more ways than one) will definitely be missed. (AP)
In 1972, he won another Grammy for his album "Black Moses" and earned a nickname he reluctantly embraced. It was also during this period where Hayes had a breakout performance at Wattstax, a concert at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to cool tensions after the Watts Riots.