The 2007 release of The Essential Teddy Pendergrass marks two anniversaries - 35 years since his first recordings as lead singer with Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes (starting in 1972, with "I Miss You" and the #1 "If You Don't Know Me By Now"), and 30 years since Teddy's emergence as a solo artist in 1977 ("I Don't Love You Anymore," from his self-titled debut album that year). The Essential Teddy Pendergrass surveys virtually his entire major label recording career over the course of 28 tracks. The two CDs represent his years with Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes (six tracks), and then focus on his solo years as a core artist at PIR (a total of 19 tracks). There are also three latter samples of his work on the Elektra and Asylum labels into the early '90s.