In the music business this whole deal of crossing over for black musicians is a puzzle. Could you tell me what it means for you?

Let me, let me tell you about why it's such a thing as, ah, it goes back to a fight that black music people and black music has had for decades and that is getting white radio to play our music. I know, for me during the seventies and early eighties, our biggest fight was trying to get pop radio, which has a larger listening audience, to accept our music without criticizing it or categorizing it. What would be said was, it's _____, it's too R and B which means, it's too black, we don't want to play it because during that time the music that was being played on pop radio was very bubble gum type, you know, music and…

The music at the time pop radio was playing was just very different than the music that R and black, R and B singers were, were singing, ah. And the two didn't meet. So what people tried to do was try to find that middle ground where we could produce, write and produce music that would be accepted by pop radio and where we could reach a larger audience. Fortunately, for me, well before I talk about me, you go back to artists of the fifties, sixties and on through, music was always done, a lot of music was done by black artists but, ah, white radio never played it. And it has always become squashed and, ah, the other music was allowed to, to prevail and become the prominent music. So it was always a struggle just to get our music played on pop radio. So you would always want to try to create some kind of music that found a middle ground that would be accepted by your stations that had a, a wider listening audience. Fortunately, for me, I was able to bridge that gap by doing what I do and that is because I had a lot of great help, management teams, ahm, a lot of people just started to accept the music for music's sake and, and not patting myself on the back because you have a lot of great artists who were before me that just couldn't break through that, that whole barrier but I was able to consecutively put together platinum albums in a row which meant that you had reached a larger audience and we had gone beyond gold records because that's as far as black music went. You got a gold record you had it all while on the other side you found a lot of white musicians, they were selling two and three million records without even played, never get played on black stations. But you find black music being played on white stations just was not something that was being done. So it was just people trying to, trying to find a larger piece of the pie. So it was very honest and it wasn't something that somebody was trying to do in terms of selling out or trying to be something that you weren't it was just trying to find a way to, to get your music accepted. So fortunately, what has happened during the eighties and, and especially now with a new generation of kids buy music and with, for my, this is my opinion only, with a new format for power radio stations who now have become a major part of, of the business. They're reaching a larger demographic so the demographics now that are listening to the stations are not just blacks, not just an urban station it is a station that's reaching black audiences, white audiences, Asian audiences, Latin audiences. So the music they're playing are being heard by all sorts of people and which is great. That means you're giving, we're giving, they're giving a people an opportunity to hear black music which is all we've ever wanted, just give them a chance to hear it. Let the public decide to determine whether or not it's valid. You know don't tell me it's R and B, it's too R and B so we won't play it. Without getting really long winded about it, it's, it's been like that for a lot of years. So now, thank goodness, things have been turning around and some of your biggest albums, you look at the charts, great black music which is the way it should be. Country music should be heard for country music's sake. Black music should be heard for black music's sake. All music should be given an equal opportunity to be heard and let the judge be the people who listen to it and not make any kind of prejudgments about it.

Question about technology and as far as you can see it's changed. Are you still operating with live musicians or do you use a machine?

I think the inception of technology is great. I think it gives you a lot more versatility, it gives you an opportunity to use more colors, it gives you an opportunity to be a lot more creative. But as anything else, ahm, you put something in the hands of the wrong people it goes the wrong way. You put a gun in the hands of one man, he'll feed his family. You put it in the hands of another man, he'll kill you. So, it's one of those things when we got, when technology became such a new phenomenon then people found ways to use it and music was involving and changing and, and, you know, it, it, people were trying to find ways of using it. Unfortunately, what happened was, you got a lot of people who were not musical using it. And, what did they do? They incorporated computers with sampling and therefore what do we have? We have robotic music. And it is non-musical and it wasn't created from somebody's soul, from their head, something they thought about, gave thought to, sat down and wrote a lyric, sat down and played the piano, came in with their own chord changes, their own expression. What it was, it was a computer playing a drum loop over and over and over again and somebody just putting whatever they felt like on top of it and it became new music. It was exciting. And the industry said, oh, oh, here's something different and they went for it. So I say that to say I think the industry is settling back down now and I think that we can comfortably utilize technology, musicianship and, and keep creativity alive and well because what happens is, and this will always happen, is that cream will always rise to the top and when it's all said and done only the cream will be there in the end. So with all the other things that come and go, that's what happens with it, it comes and goes, you know, but those of us who come from a different place wind up remaining when it's all said and done. So, you know, James Brown is still around, you know, you find the Aretha Franklins still around, you find those legitimate artists are still around and a lot of the kids who are calling themselves, New Age or they got something new, they've yet to be proven. So, you know, time will tell but when, as I said, the cream always rises to the top.

In this show we're also about the markers of the era, when I say, "What's Going On? What comes to your mind?

Ah, one of the greatest albums, concept albums, ever history of music. But when you say "What's Going On" you have to just, you have to say Marvin Gaye when you say, "What's Going On". Well then when you say "What's Going On" you know it's Marvin Gaye but Marvin Gaye himself is an innovator and there are not a whole lot of innovators, a lot of duplicators, a lot of people who follow trend but "What's Going On" clearly, ah, is one of those albums that spoke about the times as they were, people's consciousness, what people were thinking, how they felt. It really made people aware of where you were in the scheme of what was going on around the world. It was truly, truly remarkable piece of work and I know what year it was, I think, if I, I know where I was, I know, I know exactly where I was and where I was going when I heard it so it had a tremendous impact on me and I was very glad that Marvin became a good friend of mine.

What was so special about Marvin?

What's special about Marvin? It's like what's special about James, what's special about, certain people who create and innovate and, ah, they just have their own way of expression. They say what it is they say in their own unique way. It would never call Marvin Gaye a person that would funky music except for, ah, ah, one song, [sings] Let's keep dancing - "Got to Give It Up" is his brand of funk but that's not what he's noted for, he's noted for more of a person who would give you more, ah, heartfelt type music and he just was extremely good at that and his way of doing it was just unparalleled by anybody and could never be duplicated. There's some people that just, you know, exist or have been here, who have gone on or they're here today that you cannot duplicate. You just can't because originators are originators and will always be.

Is there anything that you can remember by Stevie Wonder that stopped you in your tracks?

There's a lot, a whole lot, a whole lot. Ah, as a matter of fact I thought of one the other day, ahm, was this one, oh my God, I mean you can go, the first one stopped me in my track was "Fingertips" when he was 12. I mean those kinds of songs are everlasting. But he had one, ah, ah, "My Cherie Amour", there's so, so many, so, so many. I would be doing him an injustice if I didn't name them all because I don't want to pick one and say, that's more, you know, prevalent to me than, than another. Ahm, but there's one particular that I'm trying to recall. You will know love will live, "You Will Know" That's one. Then there's another one that, just heard about it the other day, escapes me now but there's just so, so many. You know you just, it, it's really unfair to him to try and pick one.

When "Living for the City" came up, did you…

Yeah, sure, yeah, you know, totally, story tellers, people who can take a situation and bring it, and give it to you in four minutes on vinyl you know and it's kind, kind of gives you a whole insight to who they are, where they came from, what they're thinking, you know.

I want to thank you.

I need you to say your name to the camera.

Hi, my name is Teddy Pendergrass.

One more time.

Hi, my name is Teddy Pendergrass.

One last question, in your mind what is rock and roll?

What is rock and roll? Honestly, I cannot answer that question. To me rock and roll is, it's so many different expressions of music. It is, it is like going into an art gallery and seeing many different painter's works on a wall and calling that an art gallery. To me I guess rock and roll is the same parallel when it comes to music, it's so many different ways of expressing one's thoughts and ideas and feelings through music and it comes in so many different forms so it's hard to really, I think it defies definition. What is rock and roll? Rock and roll is a feeling, it's an emotion, it's a story, it's, it's, it's all that. It's everything.