*Late soul singer Teddy Pendergrass rose to fame as lead singer of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes in the 1970s before a successful solo career at the end of the decade.
As a solo artist, his popularity became massive at the end of 1978. Between 1977 and 1981, Pendergrass landed four consecutive platinum albums, which was a then-record setting number for a rhythm and blues artist.
But as noted by ILOSM, Teddy’s world came crashing down March 18, 1982, when the brakes on his Rolls-Royce failed, causing the car to hit a metal guardrail, cross into oncoming traffic, and ram into a tree. Pendergrass suffered a broken neck, a crushed spinal cord, and damage to vital nerves. He was comatose for eight days, only to awaken to the unfortunate news that he was paralyzed and would be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
Pendergrass became quite depressed about his physical condition, and he lost the will to live. He decided the only way out of his misery was by checking out permanently via suicide.
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Teddy revealed in his 1998 autobiography, “Truly Blessed,” that he tried to convince his then-wife, Karen, to assist in the suicide by giving him an overdose of sleeping pills, most likely because he couldn’t do it himself due to his paralysis. Of course his wife denied his request and Teddy continued to suffer severe depression and insomnia for years.
“We cried and decided that wouldn’t be the best thing to do.” He credited Karen with helping him “through a lot of hard times.,” Pendergrass said
The turning point came when he realized that his voice was still in tact, — and the discovery was made when he decided to flex his vocals while singing along to a coffee commercial.
Although he had been warned by doctors that he might not ever be able to sing again, Pendergrass realized that: “Nothing ever sounded as sweet to my ears as my version of that silly damn jingle,” he wrote in “Truly Blessed.”
With the help from a quadriplegic therapist, Teddy was able to rid himself of the suidical thoughts.
He subsequently founded the Teddy Pendergrass Alliance, a foundation that helps those with spinal cord injuries.
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