Teddy Pendergrass Way: The new name for a portion of Philly’s South Broad Street
The block now bearing the “Love T.K.O.” hitmaker’s moniker is located down the street from the former site of Philadelphia International Records, which released some of Pendergrass’ platinum albums.
Teddy Pendergrass is back on Broad Street.
The famed R&B singer’s name now adorns the 400 block of South Broad, officially renamed Teddy Pendergrass Way in a ceremony Saturday. The block now bearing the “Love T.K.O.” hitmaker’s moniker is down the street from the former site of Philadelphia International Records, which released Pendergrass’ first five platinum solo albums.
“We wish to recognize Teddy Pendergrass where he walked these streets, where he made this galactic music,” Black Music Month founder Dyana Williams said at Saturday’s ceremony.
The block also sits among others named after some of Pendergrass’ famed associates. The adjacent 300 block of Broad Street has been known as Gamble and Huff Walk, after label founders Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, since 2010. And the 200 block in 2019 was renamed Patti LaBelle Way in honor of the legendary soul singer.
With the street’s renaming, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said Saturday, Philadelphia has moved beyond just saying it loves Pendergrass — it’s showing it.
“It’s not 70-30, it’s not 60-40. This is a 50-50 love that we have with Teddy,” Parker said, referencing Pendergrass’ 1978 hit “When Somebody Loves You Back.”
The block’s renaming is a late honor for the famed singer, who died at 59 of complications from colon cancer in 2010. Councilmember Mark Squilla introduced a City Council resolution renaming the block in honor of Pendergrass’ musical legacy in May, and it passed unanimously, city records indicate.
Saturday’s ceremony took place on the corner of Broad and Pine, where 100 or so fans of the singer known as Teddy Bear gathered. There, Squilla read the proclamation renaming the block, and posed a question to the crowd: “This is something that we probably should have done 20 years ago, right?”
“With perseverance, faith, and love, this dream is now a reality,” said Pendergrass’ widow, Joan Pendergrass. “Today, the 400 block of South Broad … will forever be known as Teddy Pendergrass Way.”
Born in Kingstree, S.C., Teddy Pendergrass was raised in North Philadelphia by his mother, Ida. She worked at Sciolla’s Supper Club in Northeast Philadelphia, where Pendergrass saw acts like Jackie Wilson and Connie Francis growing up — and, at 13, snuck into the showroom to teach himself to play drums, The Inquirer has reported. In the late 1960s, he began working as a touring musician after dropping out of high school.
After initially making it big with Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes in the early 1970s with hits including “If You Don’t Know Me by Now” and “The Love I Lost,” Pendergrass struck out on a solo career. He would go on to become one of Philadelphia International Records’ biggest solo artists, releasing his self-titled debut with the label in 1977.
“If there wasn’t no Teddy, there wouldn’t have been no big-time Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff either,” Gamble said in a statement on social media. “Teddy had power, presence, and pure soul. He gave everything — in the studio, on stage, and in life.”
In 1982, at what is largely considered the height of his career, Pendergrass was paralyzed from the waist down after breaking his neck in a car crash on Lincoln Drive. He returned to the spotlight in 1985 with a performance at Live Aid in South Philly, performing publicly for the first time since the crash.
Pendergrass continued to release music into the late ’90s, and went on to establish the Teddy Pendergrass Alliance, which was founded to aid people with spinal cord injuries, in 1998. Though he struggled with depression in the wake of the 1982 crash, Pendergrass was known for his positive attitude and admired for how he lived with its effects.
“This is not a cartoon. This is not a movie. This is real life,” Pendergrass said in 2007. “I want to know, after something happens like this, how do you have a productive life in the meantime?”
Now, Philadelphians can forever be reminded of Pendergrass’ music, and what he went through to encourage others, said WDAS-FM host Patty Jackson, who helmed Saturday’s event.
“When you drive by this way, you will see Teddy Pendergrass Way,” Jackson said.