Teddy Pendergrass
I just found out today that I saw him live 6 times .... more than 30 years ago. I even had a couple of conversations with him... and didn't know it.
In 1971 or 1972 (between grades 12 and 13) I visited Paradise Island in Nassau. The steady house band at the disco in the Holiday Inn I stayed at was Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes. For 6 nights in a row I caught their set at the intimate bar venue. I was impressed at how good they were....especially the lead singer who I always assumed was Harold Melvin. They definately weren't big time yet, because they were selling their album at the gig.
Each night they did a mixture of Carribean standards (Yellow Bird, etc.) and soul. One song, a slow love ballad, really stood out. So much so that people kept calling for it and they would wind up playing it twice a night. That song, "If You Don't Know Me By Now", soon after became a world-wide hit ... making Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes, international stars. I just now found out that the lead singer was actually Teddy Pendergrass. No wonder they were good. Pendergrass would have been 21 or 22 years old at the time. .
Edit: I just did some more checking and it turns out that Pendergrass was originally recruited by Melvin to be his drummer. Within a year he became lead singer. Also, the band was actually American....formed in Philadelphia. I'd always assumed they were Carribean. That would also explain why one night Pendergrass subtly indicated he wasn't too thrilled playing "Yellow Bird".
Pendergrass has since won 3 Grammies.
