Teddy, The Tranny, And The Accident: We Guess We’ll Never Know Now
No discussion of Teddy Pendergrass would be complete, of course, without mentioning the automobile accident that injured Pendergrass’ spine in March of 1982. After it, Teddy would never walk again — he’d recover in other ways, and even went on to help others with spinal cord injuries, but in many ways, he was never the same after it all. Part of that life-altering event was the mystery and scandal surrounding what went on the night of the accident — in many ways, it was the disco era’s equivalent of Bob Dylan’s oft-debated motorcycle accident. Varying accounts of what happened have been told over the years, but the two that will live on forever, courtesy of the Internet, go a little bit something like this…
From Wikipedia:
On March 18, 1982, in the Germantown section of Philadelphia on Lincoln Drive, Pendergrass was involved in an automobile accident. The brakes failed on his 1981 Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit, causing the car to hit a guard rail, cross into the opposite traffic lane, and hit two trees. Pendergrass and his passenger, Tenika Watson, a transsexual nightclub performer with whom Pendergrass was casually acquainted, were trapped in the wreckage for 45 minutes. While Watson walked away from the accident with minor injuries, Pendergrass suffered a spinal cord injury leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.
From Robert Huber’s “Julius Erving Doesn’t Want To Be A Hero Anymore”, in the October 2003 issue of Philadelphia Magazine, as told by Turquoise Erving:
Teddy himself told her what happened:
He was at the game that night with a woman, went out to a club afterward and ditched her for another. They left, heading for Teddy’s place, him driving. Weaving Wissahickon Drive, he put his hand up her dress, and at the moment of getting the genital news — a man! — lost control of his car
As one reader put it, “It’s hard to believe there was once a time when a guy could be in a car wreck w/ a transexual and not be absolutely castigated by local/national media.” But that is exactly what happened. For decades, Pendergrass’ voice and songs kept him a revered name in Philadelphia and the music world outside of the city. It’s a testament both to a more non-judgmental time, and also, the sweeping power of Teddy’s voice.
