R&B legend Teddy Pendergrass, dead at 59

 PHILADELPHIA – R&B singer Teddy Pendergrass, one of the most electrifying and highly successful voices in music has died of colon cancer. He was 59. Pendergrass died Wednesday at a nearby hospital in the Philadelphia suburbs, where he had been hospitalized for months.  In an interview with Associated Press, the singer’s son, Teddy Pendergrass II, said his father underwent colon cancer surgery eight months ago and had “a difficult recovery.”  Hailed as an international superstar and a sex symbol Pendergrass delivered a new breed in R&B with a powerful explosively voice, passion and the bitter-sweet stories of romance in his top songs such as: “Close the Door,” “It Don’t Hurt Now,” “Love T.K.O.” and other hits that have now favorites of many.  Pendergrass, who was born in Philadelphia in 1950, suffered a spinal cord injury in a 1982 car accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down. He continued singing and releasing albums, but lacking without the signature power in his vocals. His image once being a strong commanding entertainer with the power to captivate his audience, especially the ladies was now drawing sympathy when he took to the stage in a wheelchair. But like a champion and an inspiration to all, Pendergrass kept active and creative winning Grammy nominations. His best-known number after the car crash was the inspirational song “Life is a Song Worth Singing.” It was 19 years before Pendergrass resumed performing at his own concerts. He made his return on Memorial Day weekend in 2001, with two sold-out shows in Atlantic City, N.J. After the accident, he dedicated much of his life to helping others with spinal cord injuries and founded the Teddy Pendergrass Alliance to do just that.