Ida Geraldine Epps: What happened to Teddy Pendergrass’ mother?

Ida Geraldine Epps is the mother of Teddy Pendergrass. Ida Geraldine Epps’s son was an American singer. He first gained the public’s attention as the lead singer of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. He launched a successful solo career under the Philadelphia International label when he left the group in 1976, releasing five consecutive platinum albums which was a record at the time for an African-American R&B artist.

Ida Geraldine Epps: Bio Summary

Who was Teddy Pendergrass’s mother?

Ida Geraldine Epps was born on 5 May 1918 in Mouzon, Williamsburg County, South Carolina, United States of America. She was married to Jesse Pendergrass. The couple were the parents of Tedy Pendergrass. When their son was very young, Ida’s husband, Jesse left the family. The singer was the only child of Ida Geraldine Epps.  Ida suffered six miscarriages before successfully giving birth to her son.

ALSO, READ; Karen Still, Teddy Pendergrass’ ex-wife

As Teddy grew older, his mother promised him that she would find his father so that they could meet and at least have a father-son moment. Ida fulfilled that promise, and Teddy met his father when he was 11 years old. Not long after, Ida Geraldine’s husband was stabbed to death on June 13, 1962, during an altercation with another man. He was 47 years of age when he was killed.

Ida Geraldine Epps kept her son in the church

Ida, a very spiritual woman kept her son Teddy in church. His true introduction to music came from singing in the church. He sang in the church and also played the drums. Teddy who dreamt of being a pastor when he grew up got his wish at the age of 10, he was ordained a minister (according to author Robert Ewell Greene). Ida Geraldine Epps’s son also took up drums during this time and was a junior deacon of his church.

What happened to Teddy Pendergrass’ mother?

Teddy Pendergrass’ mother, Ida Geraldine Epps passed away on 20 Jul 2022 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, USA at the age of 104. The news of her death was shared online by Jerry Cummings aka Emeritus AP Jeremiah Cummings, singer and former member of The Blue Notes.

Jerry Cummings wrote “Mother Ida Pendergrass, the Mother of Teddy Pendergrass just passed this life Peacefully at Home. Thank you Karen Pendergrass for calling us. Mother was 104 years old. Her Spirit will always be with Jerry & Gloria aka Emeritus AP Jeremiah Cummings, who She Referred To As Her Son.”

According to her Findagrave profile, Ida Geraldine Epps was laid to rest at Westminster Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, USA

What caused Teddy Pendergrass’s death?

Ida’s son Teddy Pendergrass passed away on January 13, 2010. He died Pendergrass died from respiratory failure at the age of 59 at Bryn Mawr Hospital in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. At the time of Teddy’s death, his mother Ida Geraldine Epps was 91 years old. It was a few months before her 92nd birthday.

Prior to his death, Pendergrass was involved in a car crash while driving his new Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit on March 18, 1982, in the East Falls section of Philadelphia on Lincoln Drive near Rittenhouse Street. The impact jammed the doors, trapping them for almost an hour until both were freed. The singer had a spinal cord injury, leaving him paralyzed from the chest down; he never walked again.

ALSO, READ; Karen Still, Teddy Pendergrass’ ex-wife

Teddy had great relationships with his three children and his mother, Ida Geraldine Epps, but yet, the will left everything he’d worked so hard for since the late 1960s, solely to the woman he was married to for the last two years of his life. — Joan Pendergrass. Ida Geraldine had three grandchildren, they are LaDonna Pendergrass, Tamon Pendergrass, Tisha Pendergrass, and, Teddy Pendergrass II