After a long illness, Teddy Pendergrass dies at 59.

Pendergrass, known for smash love ballads such as “Turn Off the Lights” and “Love TKO,” died after a long illness, according to Lisa Barbaris, who described herself as a close friend and his last publicist. He died at a hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he was born.

In 1972, Pendergrass’s baritone could be heard on the classic Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes song “If You Don’t Know Me by Now.”

“Many of you young people are around today because of Teddy.”

h/t Bob Parks @ Black & Right