TIMMY RICHARDSON’S TRIBUTE MIX TO TEDDY PENDERGRASS
Close The Door – Teddy Pendergrass
Somebody Told Me – Teddy Pendergrass
I’ll Never See Heaven Again – Teddy Pendergrass
If You Don’t Know Me By Now – Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes
When Somebody Loves You Back – Teddy Pendergrass
Wake Up Everybody – Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes
The Whole Town’s Laughing At Me – Teddy Pendergrass
Feel The Fire – Teddy Pendergrass & Stephanie Mills
This Gift Of Life – Teddy Pendergrass
Joy – Teddy Pendergrass
And If I Had – Teddy Pendergrass
Nine Times Out Of Ten – Teddy Pendergrass
Hold Me – Teddy Pendergrass & Whitney Houston
Bad Luck – Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes
Turn Off The Lights – Teddy Pendergrass
You’re My Latest, My Greatest Inspiration – Teddy Pendergrass
I Don’t Love You Anymore – Teddy Pendergrass
Only You – Teddy Pendergrass
The Love I Lost – Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes
Don’t Leave Me This Way – Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes
Life Is A Song Worth Singing – Teddy Pendergrass
Get Up, Get Down, Get Funky, Get Loose – Teddy Pendergrass
I Miss You – Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes
It Should’ve Been You – Teddy Pendergrass
I Want My Baby Back – Teddy Pendergrass
Love T.K.O. – Teddy Pendergrass
It’s Time For Love – Teddy Pendergrass
MIX NOTES
Words can hardly express how much suckier the world is today for me, upon hearing of the death of Teddy Pendergrass. Teddy’s voice has been with us since 1972, when he first broke through as the vocalist on Harlod Melvin & The Bluenotes “If You Don’t Know Me By Now”. He may be best known to you for some of his countless other hits, such as
“Bad Luck” 1975
“Wake Up Everybody” 1975
“Don’t Leave Me This Way” 1977
“Close the Door” 1978
“Only You” 1978
“Turn Off the Lights” 1979
“Come Go With Me” 1979
“Love T.K.O.” 1980
Aside from Barry White, Teddy was one of the first vocalists that really allowed me to connect with the slow jams of the late 70s. “Love T.K.O.” is an amazingly powerful song. Tragic and sad, yet still incredibly sexy. He captures heartbreak so well in the tone of his voice, while still making you feel like slow dancing, or slow fucking, or both. Being such a student of dance music most of my life, opening myself up to slow jams like that did wonders for allowing me to truly appreciate the downtempo side of Black American music. Simply put, if you have ever appreciated D’angelo or Mary J Blige or Maxwell or Whitney, you have appreciated Teddy.
I credit my better late than never awakening to the power of TP to my good friend Jules Gayton, a DJ and music lover of the highest order, who was not afraid to drop “Love TKO” or “Close The Door” in a club full of Hip Hop thugs, to remind everybody in the room just exactly where the soul of all these R&B slow jams lies. It certainly didn’t hurt that, at the time, Ahmad had sampled “Close The Door” for “Back In The Day”, so it was easy for thugs and lovers alike to make the connection to the source material.
In a similar tradition of spreading the love, my friend Timmy Richardson stayed up late last night and made a Teddy Pendergrass tribute mix. It’s posted on his site, and it is a perfect way to embrace TP’s memory on this sad, sad day. I urge you to give it a listen, and join us in mourning the passing of one of America’s great voices.
