Mary Christine Brockert (March 5, 1956 – December 26, 2010) was better known as Teena Marie. Got a favorite Teena song, album, pic or anecdote you'd like to share? By all means post it! I saw Teena and her band in 2008 at the Trenton Jazz Festival, a couple of years before she passed. After listening to her for years growing up it was a thrill to finally see her live and in great form. The enthusiastic turnout seemed to be just the feedback she needed to turn the show out. My spiritual godmother and muse - Honey, La Doña, Ivory, Lady T or just Teena, she was really one of a kind.
Oh, you mean Starchild. Yeah, of all her Epic label albums it's the one I listen to most. I was reading ganma's Teena Marie - Robbery post earlier and agree that a few of her best tunes are on that first Epic release - Stop The World, Playboy, Fix It and, of course, Cassanova Brown. But Starchild has a tighter arrangement and flow. 0ut on a Limb is beautiful. There was a dope remix of Limb that I loved, too. Can't find it. But it was a stripped down back beat type of track. Gotta find it and put it up...
Speaking of Starchild here's a clip starting with a segment from '85, around the time of the album's release and Teena's tour (and Janis Joplin movie aspirations?):
Lady T! The only time I saw her perform live was in the early 90's. I don't recall the name of the place, but it was on Santa Monica Blvd in West Hollywood. IIRC, it was just her and a piano. It was a weeknight and the place was really more of a bar than a live music venue, very casual. I remember she was getting upset that people were talking and socializing instead of just listening to the music. I was really into the Emerald City album when it came out and still listen to it every so often. My favorite song is probably I Need Your Lovin' (from Irons In The Fire).
Despite coming into her own during the music video boom (MTV, VH1, etc.) Teena only produced a handful of them. Lovergirl was certainly her biggest but Lips To Find You off the album Emerald City was apparently the song Epic thought would the break out hit. Imo, as a stand alone song it's really not as effective as a selection in between other cuts on Side A of the album. EC was one of her most conceptual records (and one of her best) but it seems Epic wanted to go the singles route when she'd have been better off doing something like what Beyoncé did with Lemonade:
Own every album and I think the Epic stuff is mostly very good, but the Motown albums, to me, are nearly flawless
I hear you. Speaking of Motown - Rick James' 1981 lp, Street Songs, would have been very different without the contributions from Lady T - not only on the unforgettable Fire & Desire but as a background vocalist, too (she's all over Give It To Me Baby).
Word. I wish there was a full version of You Make Love Like Springtime instead of the fade out/fade in of parts 1 & 2. Perhaps she learned from that move on Irons in the Fire and decided to include complete versions of extended jams by It Must Be Magic.
"Lovergirl" is one of my favorite songs of the 80s. I was pretty happy to track down Starchild and the other Epic CDs over the years as they seem pretty scarce in the used bins.
Quite a few favorites. Irons on the Fire Portugese Love We've Got To Stop Meeting Like This Casanova Brown I Need Your Lovin' I've got all of her albums up to Starchild. I've got to say, it was a joy to watch her career in real time and to hear those ballads when they were new, the best of Teena's work had an instant classic vibe.
Well, it was Ooo La La La that got me up this (Monday) morning and is about to put me to sleep (in a good way). Definitely one of my favorites. Night!
I was lucky enough to meet her briefly at a music oriented block party when I worked for The Wherehouse in Los Angeles. She was so sweet. She is sadly missed.
What a voice! I think I played her albums in a couple of decades. I loved her back then. I got a couple of albums, Star Child, and the follow-up with "Crocodile Tears." Then I stopped following her. Bad on me.
People almost never mention Ivory but it's my favorite Teena album. I think it was hers, too. It is so quintessentially Teena that it seems only diehard fans really dig it. Playing it all day today. Still sounds good - even better than when it was initially released.
I think there are far more here than is readily apparent. Most Teena fans have probably seen the Unsung episode devoted to her. But for those who haven't it's up on YT in two parts: It's a good inside look, particularly at the relationship between Lady T and Rick. But, frankly, Teena was certainly not unsung. In fact, most of the r&b acts they claim to be unrecognized or unsung seemed to have been soul acts who simply didn't land on the pop charts. But as Miles Davis put it, So What? That wasn't their audience. Whatever - it's a nice tribute. You take the good with the ... well intentioned.
Oh yeah. The string arrangement makes it a tough ride on the "12 (album) version, though. It was the last song on a favorite 90 minute mixtape I had ages ago. And on those last three or four minutes of the home stretch I remember thinking, "Yes Teena, that is quite enough love."
