Jerry Cummings Shares Stories about Blue Notes, Teddy Pendergrass in New Book

Singer worked alongside R&B legend

By: Manny Otiko, IVN

Jerry Cummings is a walking encyclopedia of Black entertainment history. Cummings, who was a singer with Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, has spent more than 50 years in and around the entertainment business. He details some of his stories in his new book “From Gold to Glory.”

In a phone interview, Cummings says that he comes from a musical family and literally has music in his DNA. His grandmother was a great aunt of R&B legend James Brown and helped deliver him. He lived a few blocks from Brown in Augusta, Ga.

Cummings also grew up in the church, both singing and playing music. Eventually, he moved up north to Washington, D.C. and formed his own band. One day he was called to a meeting with Harold Melvin. Cummings said he was surprised when Melvin offered to sign his band.

But Melvin’s long-term goal was to recruit Cummings into the Blue Notes. And one day, he was summoned to a meeting with Melvin in Philadelphia, Penn. where he was offered a contract.