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Teena Marie (born Mary Christine Brockert on March 5, 1956) is an American Grammy Award-nominated singer�songwriter�producer. Marie, nicknamed Lady T, is a proteg�e of late funk legend Rick James, and is notable as one of the few successful Caucasian performers of R&B;, or blue-eyed soul. She sings R&B; with big, robust vocals, and plays rhythm guitar, keyboards and congas. She also has written, produced, sung and arranged virtually all of her songs since her 1980 release Irons in the Fire. She has quoted this as being her favorite album. She has a daughter named Alia Rose.
BiographyMarie, was born in Santa Monica, California. She is of Belgian, Portuguese, Irish, Italian, and Native American ancestry.[ newspaper = Jet ] Marie grew up in Oakwood, a neighborhood in West Los Angeles that was nicknamed Venice Harlem because of its majority Black population. As a child, she had an acting role in Beverly Hillbillies, credited as Tina Marie Brockert. She also sang at the wedding of actor Jerry Lewis's son when she was 10 years old.
Marie worked briefly at Pup 'n' Taco in the mid 1970s while attending Venice High School, where she joined the Summer Dance Production, and also had a role in the school's production of The Music Man. The singer-songwriter-producer, who had changed her name to Teena Marie, was just seventeen, trying to get a deal at Motown, when she met her mentor and paramour-to-be, Rick James, who ended up doing all of the writing and producing of her debut album of 1979, Wild and Peaceful.
1979�1981: Motown EraTeena Marie initially signed with Motown Records in 1976 as a back-up singer, but later released her debut album on the label
. Her first release, Wild and Peaceful, scored Teena her first top-ten R&B; hit, a duet with mentor Rick James, "I'm Just a Sucker for Your Love" (#8 Black Singles Chart). Neither the album nor its packaging showed a picture of Teena Marie, figuring black audiences wouldn't be compeled to buy an album by a white artist. In fact, many radio programmers assumed Teena was African American during the early years of her career. This myth was dispelled when, in 1980, her sophmore album, "Lady T", sported a picture of her on the cover.
Marie's second album is noted for having production from Richard Rudolph (husband of R&B; singer Minnie Ripperton who passed a year earlier). Rudolph intended for the song he pinned, "Now That I Have You", to be sung by his wife, but was later given to Marie.. Rudolph also co-composed the single "Behind The Groove", which reached number 21 on the black singles chart.. The song was also included on the soundtrack of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on the Fever 105 station. . Another noteable track, "Too Many Colors," featured Rudolph and Ripperton's then 7-year-old daughter, Maya Rudolph, who became Teena Marie's god-daughter.
Also in 1980, Marie released her third LP, "Irons in The Fire", in which she handled all writing and production herself, including the horn and rhythm arrangements of her band and all backing vocals . The single "I Need Your Lovin'" (#37 Pop, #9 Black Singles) brought Teena her first top 40 hit. That same year, Teena Marie appeared on James' hugely successful album Street Songs with the steamy duet "Fire and Desire." The two would perform the single at the 2004 BET Awards, which would be the two's last TV appearence with one another as Rick James passed later that year.
Marie continued her success with Motown in 1981 with the release of "It Must Be Magic"(#2 Black Albums Chart), her first gold record, which included her then biggest hit on R&B;, Square Biz (#3 Black Singles). Other noteable tracks include "Portuguese Love", which received airplay on R&B; radio, the title track "It Must be Magic" (#30 Black Singles), and album only track "Yes Indeed" which Marie cites as a personal favorite.
In 1982, Marie got into a heated legal battle with Motown records over her contract and disagreements on releasing her new material. The shuffle resulted in "The Brockert Initiative", which makes it illegal for a record company to keep an artist under contract without releasing new material for that artist. The artist would then be able to sign and release with another label instead of being held back by an unsupportive one. Teena Marie commented on the law in an LA Times article, saying, "It wasn't something I set out to do. I just wanted to get away from Motown and have a good life. But it helped a lot of people, like Luther Vandross and the Mary Jane Girls and a lot of different artists, to be able to get out of their contracts".
Epic RecordsAfter leaving in 1982, she signed with Epic Records in 1983 and released the concept album Robbery, which featured the hit "Fix It" (#21 R&B;), as well as "Shadow Boxing" and "Casanova Brown." The latter was allegedly about her real-life romance with mentor Rick James. In 1984, Marie released her biggest-selling album, Starchild. It yielded the singles "Lovergirl" and "Out on a Limb," the former of which became Marie's highest-peaking single to date on the US pop charts, peaking at #4, while peaking at #9 on the R&B; charts. "Out on a Limb" was not as successful as "Lovergirl" on the R&B; Charts, however, peaking only at #56. Also in 1985, "14k" (R&B; #87) was featured on the soundtrack of the film Goonies.
In 1986, Marie released a rock and roll concept album titled Emerald City. It was not as successful as her predecessors and in 1988 she returned to her R&B; and funk roots releasing the critically-acclaimed album Naked to the World. That album contained the hit "Ooo La La La," which reached the top of Billboard's Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart, and remains her only #1 single on that chart to date.
Marie released Ivory in the fall of 1990. Despite the success of the first two singles, "Here's Looking at You" (#11 R&B;) and "If I Were a Bell" (#8 R&B;), Epic Records was not totally pleased with sales of the album. So Marie and her label mutually agreed to go their separate ways.
During the 1990s, Marie's classic R&B;, soul and funk records were either sampled by hip-hop artists or covered by R&B; divas. Marie herself is regarded as something of a pioneer in helping to bring hip-hop to the mainstream by becoming one of the first and only artists of her time to rhyme on one of her singles�the aforementioned "Square Biz." In the hip-hop portion of that song, she mentions some of her inspirations: Sarah Vaughn, Johann Sebastian Bach, Shakespeare, Maya Angelou, and Nikki Giovanni, "just to name a few," as she said. In 1996, the Fugees paid tribute to her by interpolating the chorus of her 1988 hit "Ooo, La, La, La" on its own "Fu-Gee-La," which was a huge hit.
Passion Play and Black RainIn the fall of 1994, Marie released Passion Play on her own independent label, Sarai. Lacking the backing of a major label, this album sold less well than her earlier work, but was well received by fans.
Subsequently Marie devoted most of her time to raising her daughter, Alia Rose. During the late 1990s, she made appearances (as herself) on the TV sitcoms The Steve Harvey Show and The Parkers. She also began work on a new album, entitled "Black Rain". She was unable to secure a major label deal for this, and did not want to put it out on her own Sarai label in light of the modest sales of "Passion Play". However, a version pressed for promotional purposes was widely bootlegged amongst fans. This contained the tracks: "The Mackin Game", "I'll Take the Pressure", "Baby I'm Your Fiend", "My Body's Hungry", "Ecstasy", "I'm On Fire", "Watcha Got 4 Me", "Black Rain", "1999", "Butterflies", "Spanish Harlem", "Blackberry Playa", "The Perfect Feeling", "Rainbow Outro". Some of these tracks resurfaced on the later albums "La Dona" and "Sapphire", in some cases (e.g. "The Mackin Game") in significantly reworked versions. Although there have been rumours of other tracks recorded during the "Black Rain" sessions, including one called "Underneath the Covers" and another (allegedly a duet with Rick James) entitled "Pretty Tony", these would appear to be apocryphal.
La Dona and Sapphire After a 14-year sabbatical from the national spotlight, Marie returned to her musical career by signing with the Classics sub-label of the successful hip-hop label Cash Money Records, and she released her comeback album, La Do�a, in 2004, and follow up ) Sapphire, in 2006. La Dona became a gold-certified success (and the highest-charting album of her career, peaking at #6 on the Billboard 200 chart) on the basis of the Al Green-sampled "I'm Still In Love" (#23 R&B;, #70 Pop) and a duet with the late Gerald Levert, "A Rose by Any Other Name." Marie was nominated for a 2005 Grammy Award for Best R&B; Female Vocal Performance for "Still in Love." Marie quickly followed this success with the release of Sapphire in 2006. While sales were not as great this time around (the album peaked at #24 on the Pop Chart), the release did give Marie yet another R&B; Top-40 hit, "Ooh Wee" (#32); it also reunited her (on "God Has Created" and "Cruise Control") with Smokey Robinson, the early Motown mentor whose style she had emulated on early hits such as "Young Love." Marie parted ways with Ca$h Money records after the release of Sapphire.
Congo Square On September 19, 2008, Teena performed in concert at BB King's restaurant in NYC. Marie took this time to play a couple of finished tracks from her upcoming album, Congo Square, and she received a positive response from the crowd.Congo Square is due for release on June 9, 2009 on the Stax Records/Concord Music label. She has described the album as "personal and spiritual" and indicated that it will be more jazz-influenced than most of her previous work. ''Can't Last a Day'', a duet with Faith Evans, leaked to the internet in March 2009 and has since gone for radio adds.Teena Marie says of Evans, "It was after I had recorded the song (Can't Last a Day) I got the idea to put Faith on it. I�ve always loved Faith and her vocal style. She reminds me of me. Her correlation with Biggie - having a career with him and without him - reminds me of me and Rick (Rick James). I feel like she�s a younger me. Of the younger ladies, she�s the one I love most.�
DiscographyAlbumsSinglesCovers, samples, and collaborations- Jadakiss used �I Need Your Lovin'� on his single "Right By My Side" featuring Ne-Yo.
- In 1992, British pop act Curiosity (formerly Curiosity Killed the Cat) released three different versions on one CD single of "I Need Your Lovin'." The executive producer for the project was Simon Cowell. It failed to chart.
- On Ludacris's 2004 release Red Light District, the emcee samples Marie's song "Portuguese Love" on his song "Child Of The Night."
- In 1996, the Fugees interpolated Marie's "Ooo La La La" on its song "Fu-Gee-La"
- "Behind the Groove" has been sampled on album tracks by Coko from SWV ("I Ain't Feelin' You") and R&B; supergroup LSG (Levert-Sweat-Gill). ("You Got Me")
- "Square Biz" was sampled on the tracks "Firm Biz" by hip-hop supergroup the Firm , "Crip Hop" by Snoop Dogg, and "Love U So" by Mase.
- Ne-Yo sampled "Now That I Have You" on the track he produced for R&B; singer Megan Rochell, titled "Floating."
- "Young Love" was sampled in "Still be There" by Romeo and "Time" by Syleena Johnson.
- Missy Elliott interpolates lyrics from "Square Biz" in Ciara's song "1, 2 Step."
- Sheena Easton covered "I Need Your Lovin�" on her 2000 album "Fabulous".
- Marie duetted with Rick James on his songs "Fire and Desire" from his 1981 album "Street Songs" (to which she also contributed backing vocals on several tracks) and "Happy" from his 1982 album "Throwin' Down".
- Marie was the guest vocalist on Ozone's single "Gigolette", which she also co-wrote and produced, from their 1981 album "Send It".
- Marie contributed the track "14K" to the soundtrack album of the 1985 movie "The Goonies".
- Marie was the guest vocalist on Q T Hush's song "Soul Mates" from their 1985 album "Q T Hush", on which she also served as co-producer and contributed backing vocals.
- Marie was one of the featured vocalists on the 1986 King Dream Chorus & Crew ensemble single "King Holiday".
- Marie contributed the track "Lead Me On" to the soundtrack album of the 1986 movie "Top Gun".
- Marie contributed the track "Bad Boy" to the soundtrack album of the 1989 movie "Tap".
- Marie contributed backing vocals to the track "Surrender" on Grady Harrell's 1989 album "Come Play With Me".
- Marie was a guest vocalist on Bernadette Cooper's tracks "Drama According to Bernadette Cooper" and "Epilogue: Movie Produce Her" from her 1990 album "Drama According to Bernadette Cooper".
- Marie was the guest vocalist on Cheba's 1991 single "Business Doin' Pleasure".
- Marie was the guest vocalist on L. A. Nash's song "Ain't a Damn Thing Changed" from his 1995 album "L. A. Nash".
- Marie was the guest vocalist on YoYo's song "Body Work" from her 1996 album "Total Control".
- Marie was the guest vocalist on Pamela Williams' songs "The Secret Garden" and "Latin Lullaby" from her 1996 album "Saxtress".
- Marie was the guest vocalist on Gooch's song "When It's Late" from his 1997 album "A Lot On It".
- Marie was a guest vocalist on Club DJ Danny Tenaglia's song "Baby, Do You Feel Me?", which she also co-wrote, from his 1998 album "Tourism".
- Marie contributed the track "Wishing on a Star" to the 1998 soundtrack album "New York Undercover: A Night at Natalie's" from the TV series "New York Undercover".
- Marie was the guest vocalist on Domino's song "Cum On Over" from his 1999 album "Remember Me".
- Marie was the guest vocalist on Eve's song "Life Is So Hard," from her 2001 album Scorpion.
- Marie was the guest vocalist on Afu-Ra's song "Open" from his 2002 album "Life Force Radio".
- Marie was the guest vocalist on Pamela Williams' song "I Am Love" from her 2002 album "Evolution".
- Marie contributed the track "Shorty Down" to the soundtrack album of the 2002 movie "Undisputed".
- Marie was the guest vocalist on George Duke's song "Sudan" from his 2008 album "Dukey Treats".
TriviaTrivia
- She is the godmother of Minnie Riperton's daughter, actress/comedienne Maya Rudolph.
- "Square Biz" was reworked and used as the theme song for the last two seasons of the Tom Bergeron-hosted version of Hollywood Squares.
- Stevie Ray Vaughan appears on the album Emerald City.
Copyright Citations
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