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Hundreds gather to mourn Pendergrass

Fans gather Friday outside the Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church on Cheltenham Avenue for the public viewing for the late R&B singer Teddy Pendergrass. (Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer)
Fans gather Friday outside the Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church on Cheltenham Avenue for the public viewing for the late R&B singer Teddy Pendergrass. (Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer)Read moreDN
    by Al Lubrano, Inquirer Staff Writer
    Published 

Hundreds of people gathered outside Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church on West Cheltenham Avenue to view the body of R&B legend Teddy Pendergrass.

By noon today, around 350 mostly middle-aged mourners gathered in a quiet line outside the mammoth beige-and-white block church which can seat 5,000.

Deedra Osborne, 51, of Nicetown, said she came to represent her family, three generations of Pendergrass fans.

"His delivery was so powerful. He sang from the heart. He could captivate an audience," Osborne said. "And yes, I did throw my underwear on the stage when he performed. I'm here to celebrate his life. I've got a decade and a half of his music etched on my soul."

As people hummed Pendergrass songs, Sonny Cooper, 46, of Northeast Philadelphia, said he had to come to "pay my respects to the man whose music I grew up on."

Standing beside Cooper, William Jackson, 42, of Mullica Hill, N.J., said "he was the black Elvis. All women wanted to be with him, all men wanted to be him. He made you feel what he was singing."

Within the church, people slowly made their way past the coffin where Pendergrass lay with his well-known beard shaved off, wearing a white open collar shirt.

Among the throng in the church there was more quiet singing than weeping. Upon seeing Pendergrass, one woman exclaimed, "Oh God, Teddy looks so good!"

The public is welcome to funeral services Saturday at the church which follows a private viewing.

When Pendergrass died Jan. 13 after a fight with colon cancer, "the world lost one of the greatest and most sensual of soul singers, a gruff-voiced bedroom balladeer to whom every R&B love man from R. Kelly to Usher owes a seducer's debt," according to Inquirer music critic Dan DeLuca.

After Saturday's private viewing for invited guests and family, the 10 a.m. funeral at the church is expected to feature performances by a gospel choir, Pendergrass band leader Bill Jolly, Will Downing, Stephanie Mills, Melba Moore and Tyrese Gibson.

Burial services afterward are for family and friends only.