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Teddy Pendergrass, the seductive American rhythm-and-blues singer who did not gave up his recording career after being paralyzed in a 1982 car accident, has died at the age of 59.Pendergrass's son, Teddy Pendergrass II, in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper, said that his father died at a Philadelphia-area hospital. He added that his father had undergone colon cancer surgery eight months ago and had a difficult recovery.Pendergrass began his career as a drummer with a musical band but rose to fame in the 1970s when he became lead singer of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, which had hits like "If You Don't Know Me by Now" and "I Miss You."Working with Blue Notes for a long time he started to began a solo career. His solo hits, notable for his smooth baritone and sensual delivery, includes "I Don't Love You Anymore", “Close the Door”, “Turn off the Lights” and “Love TKO”.Back in 1982, Pendergrass crashed his Rolls-Royce in Philadelphia in an accident and was left paralyzed from the waist down. He resumed his recording career the next year with the album "Love Language" and returned back from his wheelchair for a stage performance at the Live Aid concert in 1985.In 1998, he started the Teddy Pendergrass Alliance to benefit victims of spinal cord injuries.The team of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff produced many of Pendergrass's hits and Huff stated the singer's solo debut at a Los Angeles nightclub."That night I saw the coming of a superstar," Leno Huff said in an interview with a radio station WDAS. "When Teddy walked out on the stage, he didn't even open his mouth and the place went crazy with screaming females. He was just so dynamic and when he started singing, he just blew them away."