The one-time singer with Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes passed away at a Philadelphia hospital after what has been described as a "difficult recovery" from colon cancer surgery.

With the Blue Notes, Pendergrass was one of the leading names of the Sound of Philadelphia, which emerged in the early Seventies via CBS-affiliated label Philadelphia International run by songwriters and producers Gamble & Huff. Other acts on the label included the O'Jays and Three Degrees.

Melvin & The Blue Notes ...