U.S. soul singer Teddy Pendergrass died Wednesday at the age of 59. He was one of the most famous R & B singers in the seventies and eighties. U.S. media reported his death Thursday morning.

He first gathered fame as lead singer of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. After a serious car accident in 1982 he became paralyzed.

Biography

Teddy Pendergrass was born in 1950 in Philadelphia, USA and as a teenager he sang in the choir of the church, playing drums with The Cadillacs, but soon became known as a singer. The seventies met many of his hits such as “If You Do not Know Me By Know” and “Wake Up Everybody” thanks to his hoarse voice of a soul singer and his band the Blue Notes musical talent. Pendergrass launched a solo career in 1977 with an eponymous work which won the Golden Disc in 1984 was the first singer to perform a duet with Whitney Houston ( “Hold Me”).