Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #284175 in Books
• Published on: 1999-03-25
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 319 pages

Synopsis
The rhythm-and-blues singer whose enormous success was interrupted in 1982 by a car accident that left him permanently confined to a wheelchair looks back on his life and career, recounting his personal struggles and victories.

Customer Reviews

A Blessing In Deed!!!
Teddy's story really touched my heart. I now understand what people go through when they are unable to walk. My mother was confined to a wheelchair before she died and just lost feeling for life because she was unable to walk. At the time I didn't understand why, Teddy made me understand why. This book was a blessing for placing closure in my life. Thanks Teddy.

An honest, vivid and heartwarming book
As a true Teddy Pendergrass fan from the beginning, I found this book to be a eye opener into his career, his loves and his true feelings. This book gives you a clear look at the man behind the wonderful voice, and it is a must read for his fans (that just about includes everyone), for music lovers everywhere and especially for those who like to read about overcoming. I feel that certain parts of this book had to be very hard to share, and sometimes I found it hard to read (I felt it was too personal)but I came away with a greater admiration for the man and for his music.

The Essence of Manhood
This book moved me like none other in years and I read at least 2 to 3 books a month. I felt when I read it as if I were sitting across from Teddy and he was telling me how it felt to have a woman throw panties at him for the very first time. How it felt to lead a song and be the front man for Harold Melvin & the Blues Notes for the first time. I also found how deep the scars are when your life is changed in a twinkle of an eye. I felt how painful it must have felt when a woman looked at him and said "F___ you, you crippled M.F."

The book came alive for me and I knew for the first time why I was so moved when I was 18 years old and heard for the first time "Singer Teddy Pendergrass is paralyzed." Yes, I bought his albums and remember playing his live "8-track" over and over again. The reason I was so moved that day in 82' is because Teddy to me was my manhood. He was "our" manhood. He could be sensitive yet masculine. He could be both sexy and spiritual and be genuinely true to both. But what I learned after reading his book is that even now all of the things he was he is even more so. To me he is even more sexy and sensitive and masculine and spiritual because after reading the book I found out that Teddy was comfortable with himself.

Teddy Pendergrass to me is still and will always be the true essence of my manhood.