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Fronted during its peak by the great singer Teddy Pendergrass, the close vocal harmonies and lush, romantic disco style of Harold Melvin And The Bluenotes trailblazed the Philadelphia soul boom which came to international attention in the 1970s. Originally called the Charlemagnes, they promoted Harold Melvin as lead singer and had a number of minor hits for a variety of labels with a regularly changing line-up before major success arrived after they signed to Kenneth Gamble & Leon Huff's Philadelphia International label in 1972. They struck it big with Gamble & Huff's If You Don't Know Be My Now sung by Teddy Pendergrass - originally recruited as the group's drummer - and his wailing vocals supported by the falsetto voice of Lloyd Parks became the distinctive feature of their other major hits I Miss You, The Love I Lost and Don't Leave Me This Way. Pendergrass quit to launch a solo career after a row with Melvin in 1976 and David Ebo. and later, Gil Saunders, took over as lead singer; but by the early 1980s the hits had dried up. Harold Melvin continued to tour with different line-ups of the Bluenotes until he suffered a stroke in 1996 and died the following year.
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