Lenny Pakula is still alive.
Either luck or God is the reason, he’ll tell you. He can’t decide.
Diabetes, colon cancer, poverty, hunger, malnutrition — the 73-year-old former musician has somehow survived it all. Once, he was widely known as the keyboards player for Philadelphia International Records, and you can still hear him on such songs as “Me and Mrs. Jones” by Billy Paul, “I’ll Be Around” by the Spinners, or “TSOP” (“The Sound of Philadelphia”) by MFSB, also known as the theme song for the show Soul Train.