Tyrese to Star in Teddy Pendergrass Biopic with Lee Daniels Producing

*Tyrese Gibson has been tapped to portray Teddy Pendergrass in an upcoming biopic, Deadline reports.

Warner Bros. acquired the life rights of the late singer, who rose to fame in the early 1970s as the lead singer Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes before he went on to achieve success as a solo artist. A near-fatal car crash in 1982 left him paralyzed from the chest down but that didn’t stop the singer from continuing to perform for two decades until announcing his retirement in 2007. He also established the ‪Teddy Pendergrass‬ Alliance to help those with spinal cord injuries prior to his death in 2010.

“I am honored to take this journey… this is the role that I feel I was born to play,” Gibson said in a statement. “Teddy Pendergrass embraced me and before he passed put the responsibility on my shoulders to tell his story. Being here in this time and in this space and moment with Lee Daniels, Donald De Line, Little Marvin and Warner Bros is an answered prayer. Teddy, I just hope we make you, your wife and family proud… Here we go!!”

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( see the full announcement link in my IG bio) Took everything in me to keep this all on the low….. On the last day of #BlackHistoryMonth I’m proud to announce! Warner Bros. Pictures has acquired the life rights to the ‪ Teddy Pendergrass‬ story for ‪Tyrese Gibson‬ to star- The iconic Philadelphia born R&B singer/songwriter. Gibson will produce VOLTRON PICTURES along with Donald Deline (Ready Player One) via his De Line Pictures studio banner. Lee Daniels, creator of the hit series Empire and director of The Butler and Precious is attached to direct and produce. The studio has tapped Little Marvin (creator of Amazon’s series Them) to write the screenplay. The story will chronicle the amazing life journey of Theodore DeReese Pendergrass, who rose to initial fame in the early 1970’s as the lead singer of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes before skyrocketing to stardom as a solo artist. After releasing four consecutive platinum albums between 1977 and 1981 (then a record for an African-American R&B artist), which included numerous hits such as his #1 selling R&B single “Close the Door”, ‪Teddy Pendergrass‬ firmly established himself as a top male sex symbol in music. But on March 18, 1982, he lost control of his Rolls Royce on Lincoln Drive in the East Falls section of Philadelphia and his career was suspended after a near-fatal car accident left him a paralyzed from the chest down. He would continue his successful solo career until announcing his retirement in 2007 and established the ‪Teddy Pendergrass‬ Alliance to help those with spinal cord injuries prior to his death in 2010.

A post shared by TYRESE (@tyrese) on Feb 28, 2019 at 4:51pm PST

Tyrese will co-produce the biopic along with Lee Daniels and Pendergrass’ widow Joan will serve as executive producer. Little Marvin will pen the screenplay.

Gibson, a six-time Grammy nominee, announced the project on his Instagram page.

“Took everything in me to keep this all on the low….. On the last day of #BlackHistoryMonth I’m proud to announce! Warner Bros. Pictures has acquired the life rights to the ‪ Teddy Pendergrass‬ story for ‪Tyrese Gibson‬ to star,” he wrote.

See his full post via the IG embed above.

Tyrese is also known for his role in the blockbuster “Fast and Furious” film franchise.

As noted by Yahoo, further details of the Pendergrass project, such as a title, director, and release date, have yet to be announced.