One of the most popular R&B singers of our time, Teddy Pendergrass is dead at 59 from colon cancer. EOnline explains that, Teddy Pendergrass – who’s voice has been favorably compared to that of the late Barry White and called “Teddy Bear” – had what his son Teddy, Jr. described as a rough recovery from surgery for colon cancer eight months ago. The music legend and signpost of the Zeitgeist died Wednesday at Bryn Mawr Hospital in Philadelphia, his home town.