Bernie Wilson
DOB Unknown – December 26, 2010
Bernie Wilson was a member of the great R&B singing group, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes for many years, including those that gave us such soul staples as “If You Don’t Know Me By Now,” “Bad Luck,” and “The Love I Lost.” It was the Blue Notes that helped define a popular style of R&B known as The Sound Of Philadelphia or Philly Soul, which soon begat disco and later, smooth jazz and quiet storm. Other notables of the genre are/were The O’Jays, The Spinners, and McFadden & Whitehead. After signing their first record deal in 1972, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes enjoyed several years of hits, television appearances, and sold-out concerts thanks in part to the instantly recognizable hefty lead vocals of Teddy Pendergrass. But when Pendergrass left for a solo career in 1976, the group’s reign at the top of the heap came to an end. They DID enjoy a handful of hits throughout the rest of the ’70s and continued performing in one form or another through the ’90s – the later years were without Melvin, who passed away in 1997. It was Wilson who was a constant throughout the group’s various incarnations. Bernie Wilson was 64 when he died of undisclosed illness on December 26, 2010.
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