Teddy Pendergrass Behind The Music FULL EPISODE VH1 Documentary

Teddy Pendergrass Biography From AllMusic.com:

Teddy Pendergrass started singing gospel music in Philadelphia churches, becoming an ordained minister at ten years old. While attending public school, he sang in the citywide McIntyre Elementary School Choir and in the All-City Stetson Junior High School Choir. A self-taught drummer, Pendergrass had a teen pop vocal group when he was 15. By his late teens, Pendergrass was a drummer for local vocal group the Cadillacs.

In the late ’60s, the Cadillacs merged with another more established group, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. In 1970, when the Blue Notes broke up, Melvin, now aware of Pendergrass’ vocal prowess, asked him to take the lead singer spot. It’s no secret that Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff wanted Marvin Junior of the Dells for their Philadelphia International Records roster. Since the Dells were signed to Chess, they were unavailable. When the gruff’n'ready vocals of Pendergrass came their way, they eagerly signed the group. Beginning with “I Miss You,” a steady stream of hit singles flowed from the collaboration of Pendergrass and Gamble & Huff: “If You Don’t Know Me by Now,” “The Love I Lost,” “Bad Luck,” “Wake Up Everybody” (number one R&B for two weeks in 1976), and two gold albums, To Be True and Wake Up Everybody.

Unfortunately, the more success the group had, the more friction developed between Melvin and Pendergrass. Despite the revised billing of the group, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes featuring Theodore Pendergrass, Pendergrass felt that he wasn’t getting enough recognition. Around 1976, Pendergrass left Melvin’s Blue Notes and formed his own Blue Notes, featuring Teddy Pendergrass. Briefly, there was some confusion as to which Blue Notes were which. The resolution came when Pendergrass disbanded his Blue Notes in favor of a solo career and Melvin’s group signed a recording contract with Source Records, distributed through ABC Records, scoring a hit with “I Want to Be Your Lover.”

Pendergrass signed a new contract with Philadelphia International Records in late 1976/early 1977. He burst back on the scene with Teddy Pendergrass, a platinum solo debut that included the top-notch singles “I Don’t Love You Anymore,” “You Can’t Hide from Yourself,” and “The More I Get the More I Want.” Around this time, Pendergrass began to institute his infamous “Ladies Only” concerts. His next three albums went gold or platinum: Life Is a Song Worth Singing (1978), Teddy (1979), and Teddy Live (Coast to Coast). The hit single “Close the Door” was used in the film Soup for One, where Pendergrass had a small role.

The singer received several Grammy nominations during 1977 and 1978, Billboard’s 1977 Pop Album New Artist Award, an American Music Award for best R&B performer of 1978, and awards from Ebony magazine and the NAACP. He was also in consideration for the lead in the movie biopic The Otis Redding Story. The ’70s ended, but Pendergrass kept racking up the hits. TP, his fifth solo album, went platinum in the summer of 1980 off the singles “Turn Off the Lights,” “Come Go with Me,” “Shout and Scream,” “It’s You I Love,” and “Can’t We Try.” It’s Time for Love gave Pendergrass another gold album in summer 1981, which included the hit singles “Love TKO” and “I Can’t Live Without Your Love.”

A 1982 car accident left Pendergrass paralyzed from the waist down and wheelchair-bound. After almost a year of physical therapy and counseling, Pendergrass returned to the recording scene, signing a contract with Elektra/Asylum in 1983. His ninth solo album and Elektra/Asylum debut, Love Language went gold the spring of 1984. Philadelphia International issued two albums of unreleased tracks, This One’s for You (1982) and Heaven Only Knows (1983). Other albums included Workin’ It Back (1985), Joy (1988, whose title track went to number one R&B for two weeks), and Little More Magic (1993). The latter half of the ’90s found Pendergrass recording for the Surefire/Wind Up label. Truly Blessed, the name of an 1991 Elektra album, is also the title of the autobiography Pendergrass co-authored with Patricia Romanowski. Apart from an appearance at a 2007 ceremony held in his honor, Pendergrass spent his later years away from the spotlight. He had difficulty recovering from colon cancer surgery and passed away on January 13, 2010.

Also, check out Teddy P’s Unsung Full Episode here.

Boy George Behind The Music FULL EPISODE VH1 Documentary

Boy George Biography From AllMusic.com:

British singer Boy George combined a strong, soulful singing voice with a provocative sense of fashion, both of which were first brought to the attention of English and American audiences in the group Culture Club, for whom he served as lead singer from 1982 to 1986. The group wrote and played impeccable pop music, and Boy George’s androgynous persona — heavy makeup and outrageous costumes — gave the group a distinct video image in the dawn of MTV. That very distinctiveness, however, made the group date quickly, and at the same time Boy George encountered highly publicized personal difficulties. He re-emerged as a solo singer in 1987 with Sold, which contained a U.K. number one cover of Bread’s “Everything I Own,” but was unable to duplicate this success in the U.S. Boy George enjoyed four British singles’ chart entries in 1987 and another three in 1988. His second album, Tense Nervous Headache (1988), was not picked up for release in the U.S.; his third, Boyfriend (1989), was a Europe-only release, though Virgin Records cobbled the second and third albums together to present a second U.S. album, High Hat (1989). In 1991 came The Martyr Mantras, another patchwork album largely made up of previously non-LP dance singles. In the U.K., it was credited to a new group, Jesus Loves You, and released on Boy George’s own More Protein record label, though Virgin in the U.S. billed it as a Boy George album. By 1992, Boy George had faded at home, and in the U.S. his solo career had never taken off. Then he was brought in to sing a version of the ’60s chestnut “The Crying Game” in a production by the Pet Shop Boys, as the title song for a movie that became the sleeper hit of the winter of 1992-1993, resulting in his first substantial U.S. hit as a solo artist. Cheapness and Beauty followed in 1995, and four years later Boy George resurfaced with the rarities collection Unrecoupable One Man Bandit. Throughout the ’90s, he delved back into the club scene that birthed his early romanticism, and made a name for himself as DJ in demand. It became more than a hobby toward the end of the millennium, and Boy George garnered attention in the U.K. and U.S. club circuits; such musical creativity was captured on Essential Mix, released in fall 2000.”

After graduating from high school, Usher released his sophomore album, My Way, in 1997. In an attempt to display his maturity and songwriting abilities, Usher co-wrote six of the nine songs and enlisted the help of producers Jermaine Dupri, Babyface, and, again, Combs. The album’s first single, “You Make Me Wanna,” reestablished Usher as one of R&B’s hottest artists, and also made him a crossover sensation; it topped the R&B charts for 11 weeks, hit number two pop, and eventually went double platinum. Both of the follow-up singles, “Nice & Slow” and “My Way,” also went platinum; the former stayed at number one on the R&B charts for eight weeks and became his first number one pop single. In the meantime, Usher launched an acting career, appearing in the 1998 horror spoof The Faculty and the 1999 urban high-school drama Light It Up.

To tide fans over, he issued a concert recording titled simply Live in 1999. Usher returned with his third proper album, All About U, toward the end of 2000. His third album, 8701 (2001), moved him from a teen pop star to a sultry R&B singer. In early 2004, Arista released the single “Yeah!” Produced by Lil Jon and guesting Ludacris, the addictive, lightly crunk cut fast became a club and radio favorite. By the time the Usher full-length Confessions dropped later that March, “Yeah!” had hit the top of the Billboard charts. The album itself was Usher’s most mature work to date and won the Grammy for Best Contemporary R&B Album in 2004, while “Yeah!” took home the best rapped/sung collaboration award. He starred in the 2005 flop In the Mix and went back to music with 2008′s Here I Stand, an album that was ultimately declared a flop, even though it topped the Billboard 200 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. Raymond v Raymond, inspired in part by the end of his marriage, was released in 2010 as three of its songs were climbing the charts. Its buzz single, “Papers,” had already topped the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart. An EP titled Versus followed later in the year.

Jennifer Hudson Behind The Music FULL EPISODE VH1 Documentary

Jennifer Hudson Biography From AllMusic.com:

Best known for her role as Effie White in the 2006 film version of the Broadway musical Dreamgirls, vocalist/actress Jennifer Hudson was first brought to the public’s attention while a contestant on the third season of the reality show vocal competition American Idol. Born in 1981 in Chicago, IL, Hudson sang from a young age, first performing in her church. Various talent shows and school musical productions followed until she eventually secured a role in a local Chicago production of the musical Big River. Prior to auditioning for American Idol, Hudson also sang professionally while working on the Disney Wonder cruise ship.

In 2004, she auditioned for and won a spot on the third season of American Idol along with eventual winner Fantasia Barrino. Though a strong contender and fan favorite from the start, Hudson would eventually become the sixth of the 12 finalists to get voted off the show. Ironically, after the show ended, there was speculation that Barrino would get the coveted role of Effie in the film version of Dreamgirls. However, Hudson won the role and went on to receive not only critical acclaim for her performance, but also both a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Her debut album, Jennifer Hudson, finally materialized on Arista in September 2008, led by the Top Ten R&B/Hip-Hop single “Spotlight.” In 2011, Hudson delivered her sophomore studio-album I Remember Me featuring the R. Kelly-penned single “Where You At.”