Teena Marie

Teena Marie (born Mary Christine Brockert) is an R&B singer/songwriter/producer. She is a protege of late funk legend Rick James, and is notable as one of the few successful caucasion R&B performers to be respectfully and affectionately dubbed anything where both the words "Queen" and "Soul" are in the title - in Teena's case, shes been dubbed 'The Ivory Queen of Soul'. After signing with Motown Records in 1976 as a backup singer, Teena hooked up with James for her first album entitled Wild and Peaceful, released in 1979. Teena found her first successes with songs like "I'm A Sucker For Your Love" and "Deja Vu (I've Been Here Before)" to name a few. After the initial guidance of James, Teena decided to produce her own albums starting with the 1980 gold album, Lady T ((her nickname) which contained the hit single "Behind the Groove" and following with "Irons In The Fire" (which featured her first pop Top 40 single, "I Need Your Lovin"). In 1981, she released her best-selling album on Motown entitled "It Must Be Magic". This album contained the hit songs, "Square Biz" (one of the most sampled singles in music history;It was also used as the theme song for the 1998-2004 version of the game show Hollywood Squares), "Portuguese Love", and the title track. This album became her first platinum success. She also scored her most notable hit (alongside her old mentor Rick James) that same year, with their duet, "Fire And Desire" (off of James' hugely successful 1981 album entitled "Street Songs"). However, success did not mean that Teena was satisfied. After learning that she didn't receive the money she had earned recording four albums for Motown, Teena decided to leave that label and later sued it for having restricted her artistic control. A law was made as a result, 'The Brockert Initiative', popularly known as "The Teena Marie Law", which became a precedent for artists seeking control of their careers. After Teena left Motown in 1982, she signed with Epic Records and released a concept album entitled "Robbery" in 1983, which featured the singles "Shadow Boxing" and "Casanova Brown". In 1984, Teena released her biggest-selling album, "Starchild". It yielded the top 10 pop hit, "Lovergirl" and the top 5 R&B single, "Out On A Limb". In 1986, Teena released a rock and roll concept album entitled Emerald City. It wasn't as successful as her predecessors and in 1987 she returned to her R&B and funk roots releasing the platinum album, "Naked To The World". That album contained the hit single "Ooo La La La", which reached the top of the R&B Singles chart. In 1990 she released an album entitled "Ivory" and in 1994 she released an album entitled "Passion Play". Then Teena decided to devote most of her time to her daughter. During the 1990s, Teena's classic R&B and funk records were either sampled by hip-hop artists or covered by R&B divas. Teena herself is seen 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 rap on one of her singles...the aforementioned "Square Biz", where she paid homage to the likes of Nikki Giovanni and Maya Angelou. In 1996, the Fugees paid tribute to her by sampling the chorus of her 1988 hit "Ooo La La La" on their own hit, "Fu-Gee-La". After a 14-year break from the national spotlight, Teena returned to her musical career by signing with Cash Money Records, a successful hip-hop label. She released her comeback album, La Dona, in 2004. It became a gold success on the basis of the Al Green-sampled "I'm Still In Love" and a duet with Gerald Levert entitled "A Rose By Any Other Name". Teena was nominated for a 2005 Grammy for 'Best R&B Female Vocal Performance' for "I'm Still In Love". Teena also appeared as a judge on the hip-hop reality series "The Road to Superstardom" with Missy Elliott.

Discography: (1979 / Wild and Peaceful) - (1980 / Lady T) - (1980 / Irons In The Fire) - (1981 / It Must Be Magic ) - (1983 / Robbery) - (1984 / Starchild) - (1986 / Emerald City) - (1987 / Naked To The World) - (1990 / Ivory) - (1994 / Passion Play) - (2004 / La Dona) - (2006 / Sapphire)