Teddy Pendergrass ( real name : Theodore DeReese `` Teddy '' Pendergrass ) ( born March 26 , 1950 â `` died January 13 , 2010 ) was an American R&B and soul singer\/songwriter . Pendergrass was paralyzed from the waist down when he was severely injured in an car accident in Philadelphia in 1982 . Pendergrass was born Theodore DeReese Pendergrass at Thomas Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania .