Soul singer Bernie Wilson dies
Written by on December 28th, 2010 in Latest News.
Bernie Wilson, a member of the group that produced the hit single If You Don’t Know Me By Now, has died at age 64.
Wilson’s cousin, Faith Peace-Mazzccua, revealed Monday the baritone died shortly after midnight on Dec. 26.
She said he died following a stroke and a heart attack at the Kresson View Center in Voorhees, N.J.
Peace-Mazzccua said her cousin had been performing until very recently: “He didn’t take no stuff and he loved people.”
Wilson was with the five-member Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes, which blasted to fame with their 1972 ballad. The song was also successfully re-done by British group Simply Red in 1989.
In fact, the tune was chosen by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) as one of Songs of the Century.
The group first started as The Charlemagnes in the 1950s, morphing into The Blue Notes by 1954. Besides Wilson, it included singer Harold Melvin, Roosevelt Brodie, Jesse Gillis Jr. and Franklin Parker.
Teddy Pendergrass joins group
The group was reincarnated as Melvin & the Bluenotes in the 1970s with only Wilson and Melvin as returning members. New members included Lloyd Parks, Lawrence Brown and Teddy Pendergrass, who died earlier this year. Pendergrass would himself become a major solo artist after leaving the group in 1976.
The group’s repertoire of R&B, soul and disco songs were a major part of the Philadelphia sound in the 1970s. Many of their singles have been covered by other performers, including Jimmy Somerville and David Ruffin.
Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes had several other hits including I Miss You, Don’t Leave Me This Way, The Like I Lost, Wake Up Everybody and Terrible Luck.
Wilson left the band in 1977 and formed The Blue Notes, with Parks, Brown and John Atkins.
Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes, which had a revolving door of members, recorded until 1997, the year Melvin died.
With files from The Associated Press
