Rhythm-and-blues singer Teddy Pendergrass died at a Philadelphia, Penn.-area hospital Jan. 13, according to ABC News. He was 59.
Pendergrass' son, Teddy Pendergrass II, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that his father had a difficult recovery after having colon-cancer surgery eight months ago.
The singer became famous in the 1970s as the lead singer of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, which had hits with songs such as "If You Don't Know Me By Now;" he subsequently became a soloist, belting songs like "Turn Off the Lights." In 1982, he crashed his car, and became paralyzed from the waist down.
In 2008, Uptown's Black Ensemble Theater ran I Am Who I Am, which chronicled Pendergrass' life.
