Died On This Date (December 26, 2010) Bernie Wilson / Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes

themusicsover December 26, 2010 0 Comments

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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