If you love soul music, you need to watch this documentary. It’s a pretty detailed look into the life of one of America’s greatest singers of all time.

Teddy Pendergrass was one of my mother’s favorite singers of the 1970’s. I remember every Saturday, she would wake me up by running her Kirby vacuum cleaner and blasting her music on the stereo as she helped clean our home. She would play singers like Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Barry White and later in the 70’s, Teddy Pendergrass. He took over the stereo when the other singers were fading away in popularity in the later part of the decade.

As she would sing along, I would hear how these singers made her feel. Every time I listen to these singers nowadays, I think of her and those Saturday mornings.

Teddy’s music was sexual, provocative and incredibly soulful. We all were confused back in the early 70’s. We were trying to figure out if he was Harold Melvin, since he was singing on all of the hits from Harel Melvin and The Blue Notes. This documentary clears up a lot of that confusion. Teddy leaving that group was one of the best things he did in his career.

I heard he was a drummer before and he mentioned it here in this doc. It’s too bad there isn’t any footage of him playing the kit – at least there is none that I know of. I’m curious as to which drummers he listened to growing up. I do know one thing, the drummer he chose to tour with on his live album was great. Most of his albums had amazing musicianship and songwriting. Philadelphia International Records and that whole crew at Sigma Sound Studio were no joke.

If you get a chance, and love good old soul music, find a way to watch this documentary. It’s worth watching.