![]() ![]() He came of age as the city was finding its own soul sound – a silkier alternative to rivals such as Motown, bridging the gap between funk and disco. Pendergrass described his upbringing as a “typical ghetto story”: born to a poor single mother, he barely knew his father, who was killed when Pendergrass was 12. He was 31 years old.Ĭonspiracy theories abound around Pendergrass’s crash, which is partly a reflection of the lawlessness of the Philadelphia music industry at the time. Then, in 1982, driving home one night, he crashed his green Rolls-Royce into a tree, breaking his neck. He had four platinum albums in a row, and all the trappings of success, including a huge, Graceland-like mansion, a fleet of luxury cars, a stable of horses, even his own jeans label. That same year, fed up with not getting enough of the credit or the cash, Pendergrass quit the band.Īs a solo artist, Pendergrass was often called the “black Elvis”. Perhaps that also explains why so many of their songs were covered by other artists, most notably Thelma Houston, who refashioned Don’t Leave Me This Way into a disco smash in 1976. But to this day, most people assume the guy who sang those tunes was Harold Melvin, but no: it was Pendergrass. Everybody knows their biggest hits: Wake Up Everybody, If You Don’t Know Me By Now, The Love I Lost, and Don’t Leave Me This Way. His early career is obscured by the fact that he rose to fame in a band that did not carry his name: Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. The legend of Teddy Pendergrass, who died of cancer in 2010, might be better known had it not been cruelly curtailed at both ends. “He wasn’t built like Arnold Schwarzenegger or nothing, he came out in that wife-beater T-shirt and they went crazy. “I think the tone of his voice hit a certain centre in them, or something,” suggests James Carter, who played drums in his band for seven years, and therefore had a ringside seat on the Pendergrass effect. Gordon’s big idea was to put on women-only concerts – “Spend the night with Teddy” – where women would be given chocolate teddy-bear lollies to suck as they swooned to slow jams such as Turn Off the Lights (sample lyrics: “Turn off the lights and light a candle / Tonight I’m in a romantic mood / Let’s take a shower together / I’ll wash your body and you’ll wash mine / Rub me down with some hot oils, baby, yeah / And I’ll do the same thing to you”). They disguised themselves as maids to get into his hotel room. They rushed the stage and threw their underwear at him when he performed. By all accounts, women found him irresistible, and Pendergrass felt obliged to love as many of them back as he possibly could. Think Barry White in the body of Idris Elba. He was a tall, handsome, stylish man, given to performing in a white vest and a layer of sweat. “And all the guys loved Teddy because he’d get the women in the mood for them. “One guy said to me: ‘Teddy Pendergrass was an early form of Viagra,’” says Olivia Lichtenstein, the documentary’s director. His music, especially at the peak of his solo career, was very much in the groove of smooth, seductive soul, powered by a husky, passionate-yet-effortless baritone. Gordon didn’t have to do a lot of market research to come that conclusion: Teddy Pendergrass oozed sex – in his music, in his stage act, in his lifestyle. The song encourages us to embrace the intimacy and passion in our relationships and to cherish the moments that we share with the ones we love.“W ith Teddy, we realised it was all about sex,” says his manager Shep Gordon at one point in new doc Teddy Pendergrass: If You Don’t Know Me. Overall, "Turn Off The Lights" is a classic R&B ballad that captures the essence of physical and emotional intimacy between two lovers. The song portrays a moment of intense passion and connection between two people who are deeply in love. ![]() The narrator expresses his desire to love his partner all over and over again, whispering sweet words of love and showing how much he missed her. The chorus repeats the idea of turning off the lights and getting cozy, emphasizing the desire to be close and intimate with each other. The song emphasizes the physical and emotional connection between the two lovers. He suggests taking a shower together and washing each other's bodies, using hot oils to massage each other. The narrator invites his lover to turn off the lights and light a candle as he is in a romantic mood. "Turn Off The Lights" by Teddy Pendergrass is a passionate and sensual song that describes a moment of intimacy between two people.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |