Teena Marie - 1956-2010
American Singer, Songwriter, Musician and Producer
Music is the thing that gets me through a day, if that sounds a little pretentious, it is not intended to. It is just how I feel. The majority of my friends are people I have met due to my musical tastes, my social life is centred around music, I present a specialist soul music show on local radio, I cannot and do not want to imagine my life without music.
One thing I have had to reign myself in from doing when creating this album was just posting endless photos of the female vocalists and musicians I love... I have included a good number of them though and I am thankful that some others have been suggested too. Teena Marie was always going to be featured, her music has meant so much to me, for so long and continues to be a part of the soundtrack to my life.
In 1976, Teena Marie, or Lady T as she was later nicknamed, auditioned for a role in a film being made by Motown Records. Motown shelved the movie but the label boss, Berry Gordy saw the talent in Teena Marie and signed her to the label.
She was not only a talented singer, she wrote her own material (uncommon at Motown at the time, especially with female artists) and she played piano, rhythm and bass guitar and the congos. Her third album on Motown, Irons in the Fire (which she later cited as her favourite album), was almost entirely self-produced and arranged. She went on the have production control over almost every song released since then.
Whilst at Motown, she became known as The Ivory Queen of Soul, most people being surprised by the voice coming from a girl with white skin. She appeared on legendary American TV music show Soul Train more than any other white artist.
When I first auditioned her she was so awesome she blew me away... She had so much soul - the only thing white about her was her skin. She was a powerhouse performer, writer, producer and arranger. Anyone who ever saw her perform... will never forget how exciting music can be.
Berry Gordy
Teena left Motown in 1982. She continued to have a celebrated career and to be adored by fans the world over. She had a total of thirteen album releases and collaborated with some of the finest artists in the history of music, including Rick James, Faith Evans and Smokey Robinson. She received great respect and recognition from the industry throughout her career and won four Grammy Awards. Her music has been sampled by an uncountable number of artists, she was a big fan of hip-hop and enjoyed hearing her own sounds used by artists such as The Fugees. Even after her death, she continues to be sampled and the subject of remix, only a few months ago I was given a fabulous John Morales reworking of Behind the Groove, which has had a few airings on my radio show and the Bah Samba version of Portuguese Lover is a record that never leaves my bag.
Go to any soul weekender and you will still see people arms in the air singing along to her records in absolute glee. Wonderful artists like Teena Marie never really die, they go on forever in the music they left behind. For her music, for her voice, Teena Marie will continue to leave me in awe for many years to come.
I just think it's a blessing that I was able to have the gift of words and to be able to put them into music. I was given a great gift all the way around. I didn't ever have to really go out and look for songs, you know.
Teena Marie
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