Sheena Easton vs Teena Marie

I like them both but Sheena had the better voice/acting chops.

This song should've been a hit for SE here in the US =

Sheena actually covered a teena marie song I Need Your Lovin. Did a good job of it. Still : Teena all the way.

Strut, pout, put it out. That's what you want from women.

This is like choosing between Scotch Gin and Bourbon whiskey, impossible.

Teena was a more accomplished songwriter and musician. Sheena was more pop and made more accessible music. Both are good.

If you love melancholy soul, funk, blues and jazz then no question you'll prefer Teena -- she is a 'blacker' version of Alicia Keys.

They were both talented

I don't hate Sheena Easton by any means, but in terms of music, Teena Marie was way more badass.

Why those two? Their singing styles are completely different; you may as well compare Tina Turner and Petulia Clark.

[quote] Why those two? Their singing styles are completely different; you may as well compare Tina Turner and Petulia Clark.

Well...these two were the only white women charting Top 10 hits on the Billboard black singles chart in the 80s. They have a lot in common.

Prince didn't ask Teena Marie to sing a song he wrote about her vagina, so I have to go with Sheena.

R10 because Prince and Rick James had a feud going on at the time.

hlly

Really? Teena was a fantastic singer, songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist. Sheena? Not so much. Don't get me wrong, I love Sheena, but the two are like apples and oranges.

I wouldn’t beg for water!

What am I, chopped liver?

Sheena was gorgeous too. Teena not so much.

Are you a man or a paper tiger?

When u need him will he run and stand by ya?

Sheena was all around more dynamic.

Teena was very talented but had a real drug problem

Her thing with nasty Rick James didn't help.

Anne Murray or Asha Bhosle?

Beverly Sills or Josephine Baker?

Agnetha Falkstog or Buffy Sainte-Marie?

Why not, r21. Both white female singers from the 80s who scored hits on the r&b chart.

R21, you are a gem.

Easton and Marie also have the Prince/Rick James protege parallel.

I’d rather be a Prince protege than a Rick James protege. Just sayin’

I almost had a preference between Sheena Easton and Teena Marie.

But then I remembered: I'm a dude.

Team Morning Train, For Your Eyes Only, You Got The Look.

I cannot name a single Teena Marie song, she was not big in the Southern hemisphere.

Teena Motherfucking Marie all the way. She was the more accomplished musician and skilled vocalist. She also wrote, produced, arranged, and played multiple instruments on the majority of her songs.

Sheena never recorded a song as beautiful as Déjà Vu.

I chose Teena-Marie because I think she was a true original. No one sounded like her. Sheena has a great voice, is beautiful and charismatic, but Teena understood funk and soul.

R27 Teena had Lover girl and oh la la la, two underated 80’s gems.

And don't forget Square Biz, her signature song.

Sheena was never in the same league as Teena Marie as a musician and vocalist.

Sheena was pretty special also though. I have a soft spot in my heart for the bitchy scot, the first ever reality tv turned pop star.

Did Teena Marie have any top 40 hits on the pop charts besides lover girl?

I appreciate that pop star Sheena really leaned in to black music after the R&B fluke hit with "Sugar Walls." She went right into the Nile Rodgers-produced "Do You" which was far more R&B-influenced than his work with Bowie, Jagger and Madonna. "Do It For Love", "Kisses", "Magic of Love" and my favorite "When The Lightning Strikes" were 180 degrees away from her pop phase. Then the Narada Michael-Walden produced "So Far So Good." With 1988's "Lover In Me" LP taking her firmly into contemporary R&B -- written and produced by Babyface, Angela Winbush and Prince.

It was a daring change in direction but I think it worked for her. She couldn't have sustained a late 80s pop career being an amalgam of ONJ and Barbra.

R34 After her first two UK top ten hits (“Morning Train” and “Modern Girl”) the UK turned their back on Sheena and her sexy image completely. The first two songs from her second album, “Strut” and “Sugar Walls “were top ten hits in the US and those songs did not even chart in the UK. Sheena knew were her bread was buttered.

I win.

How so r36? You never had a hit song and you’re dead!

Sheena Easton covering Teena Marie - “I Need Your Lovin’”.

[quote] How so [R36]? You never had a hit song and you’re dead!

Because, B*tch, I was the prettiest!!! Everyone has to die. Not everyone can be breathtakingly beautiful.

Lmfao r39! The sole Vanity troll is baaack.!

[quote] Lmfao [R39]! The sole Vanity troll is baaack.!

LOL! Actually, there are at least two of us...

I mean, I should say there were at least two of us before the pandemic :-|

I'm hot. AND Nasty. R37

[quote]Why not, [R21]. Both white female singers from the 80s who scored hits on the r&b chart.

Well shit, if THAT's your criteria, at least compare Teena with a white girl with actual R&B cred and not some pop star hungry for an "image change".

R43, Lisa Stansfield came later. Sheena had already cleared the way for white British female pop singers to get airplay on black radio.

Teena Marie was a R&B/Soul singer and black radio staple. Her crossover was to pop radio ("Lovergirl"). In that sense, she has no peers.

R43 It was interesting that he black community during that time period embraced Lisa, Teena and Sheena but shunned Whitney.

Shitney

Whitney wasn't stunned. Look at her R&B chart stats. Most of those massive pop hits charted high on r&b as well.

[Quote] Teena Marie was a R&B/Soul singer and black radio staple. Her crossover was to pop radio ("Lovergirl"). In that sense, she has no peers.

Robin Thicke?

[quote][R43] It was interesting that he black community during that time period embraced Lisa, Teena and Sheena but shunned Whitney.

I was there, so trust me: the black community did NOT embrace Sheena Easton, Prince or no Prince.

R49 Brits and Scot felt the same way, poor Sheena. I mean she is a cunt but I like that about her.

I love both of these ladies, but truth is, Ms. Easton ain’t got shit on Lady T. Teena Marie was a badass white chocolate chick with street cred to burn. One of the few white singers considered by the black community to be the “real deal,” her funkiness was not faked. Homegirl could sing, write and play instruments. Lots of great tracks in her catalogue, from “I Need Your Lovin’” to “Square Biz” to “Lovergirl.” I dare anyone to listen to her epic ballads “Portuguese Love,” “Out on a Limb” or the iconic Rick James duet “Fire and Desire” and say that they weren’t moved.

The in-and-out accent is a bit odd.

R27 is DEFINITELY white.

Young Teena on The Beverly Hillbillies...

Amazes me when people in the US talk about Sheena Easton, she was moderately successful in the UK (on the back of a talent show) for about 18 months.

She never had a top 10 hit after the middle of 1981.

"Strut" is much better than her UK hits, though.

Might be, I've never heard it?

R55 Brits shunned her sexy image, I am sure Sheena preffered to have top ten hits in the US anyway.

It had nothing to do with her sexy image. Brits didn't turn against, say, Kim Wilde.

R59 Kim was not singing about sugar walls!

She wasn't really being promoted in the UK and the music scene had moved on to New Wave/ New Romantic's etc by the end of 1981. Don't think anyone turned against her.

She was outdated before her first hit.

"Telefone" should have done something for her.

In the US, Sheena was being pushed in the mold of ONJ. She had several US Top 10 pop hits before she "went black."

I had to google Teena, so Sheena

^ You’re definitely white, too.

On a global scale Sheena Easton is/was a pop star. Teena, though was deserving and was talented never enjoyed the same level of success Sheena did.

R51 Out on a Limb is THE Teena track to end all Lady T tracks.

She tears that shit UP.

Teena was awesome. Sheena too.

Sheena's sugar walls gave me the diabeetus.

They were both at Queen Anne’s ball. So was Tiffany and Madonna. But NOT Linda Ronstadt or Juice Newton.

Sheena was one of the most popular artists in the UK after The Big Time premiered on the BBC in late 1980. It documented her life in Scotland, attending The Royal Academy of Music and Drama to her dramatic audition for a record contract in front of EMI record executives. It seemed as soon as Sheena made the move to the USA, her UK career fizzled. In the late 80s she had a couple of songs flirt with the UK Top 10: U Got The Look -her duet with Prince and The Lover In Me in 1989.

[quote] Juice Newton.

nobody gives the slightest fuck about Juice fucking Newton

Lol r72!

Sheena doesn't seem to tour or work much. I wonder if she's one of those celebrities who invested well. TM was a one hit wonder. She had one hit in America on Casey Kasem's chart. Didn't Rick James kidnap her once and electrocute her tits?

Sheena's been in Vegas for the last twenty or so years. She did a stint in 42nd Street in London a few years ago. She played Chile in 2019...

Teena may only have one pop hit, but she had plenty of R&B hits and is very well known in the black community.

lol r74

Sheena looks pretty good

Teena Marie is dead btw.

Prince usually had good taste in protégés but Sheena yelps like a cocker spaniel. Team Teena.

Teena was so badass though. She sounded black on the radio, was on ‘Soul Train’ several times, and played a mean funk guitar. Her vocals were very effective too, she used that shriek and squeak to its maximum to get her offbeat lyrics across.

“What are you gonna DO...when you miss my lips, and you start to trip???”

Teena was so funky she smelled!!!

Please. Sheila E or nothing.

Sorry R51. I listened to that song that you posted & wasn't moved at all. I laughed out loud at some of the vocal sounds in the last half of that song (it's too long & repetitive).

She's too much of a screech owl to achieve mainstream success. I love her song Lovergirl but that's pretty much it.

R84 is white and soulless.

And probably doesn’t season his food well.

Listen up, bitches...Sheena most certainly did not pave the way for white British soul singers getting US radio play!

Speaking of Dusty and Lulu. Dusty was a sweetheart to Sheena on “the big time” while Lulu was a Cunty McCuntface.

Where was Lulu bitchy in that footage? Lulu's manager clearly wasn't impressed with Sheena. (Were you impressed with Sheena's cabaret rendition of "I've Got the Music In Me"? I wasn't.) It's interesting that we don't see the song she sung for Lulu and Marion Massey. Sidenote: Massey's son was the head of Island records up until pretty recently.

Island Records was certainly not EMI Records!!!

Its not even a question!!! Teena.

Island is just an imprint of Universal. The Island of old is long gone.

Universal/Island wasn’t the company it is now, especially in the UK in 1980. EMI Records was the Beatles record label and the top British label for a very long time. Needless to say, Sheena later switched from EMI Records to Universal/MCA later in her career and recorded 7 albums with them.

R87, I loved watching the documentary on the launching of Sheena Easton from 1980. So interesting to see how she looked and sounded before hitting it big. Loved it.

Teena Marie isn't even in the same league as Cyndi Lauper, much less Sheena Easton, who has a voice up there with Whitney, Karen, Olivia and Mariah. If you don't think so, you never heard her albums.

What I find to be interesting and ironic is how Lulu and her manager didn’t see Sheena being a pop star when she was introduced to them in 1980. By that time, Lulu was old hat on the charts and here comes a freshly signed girl from Scotland who is like 19 years old and everything is being taped for a BBC TV special devoted to this (then) unknown singer. Lulu and her mgr we’re JEALOUS and didn’t want this upstart to make it!

Funny how karma bites ya in the ass... in 2017 the producer of the hit Broadway Musical 42nd Street hand picked Sheena Easton to star in the London West End revival show that was the biggest and most expensive production of the show. After Sheena decided to leave the production after a successful first year - Lulu was chosen for the female lead after Sheena returned to the US. It wasn’t as successful with Lulu and production stopped after 4-5 months. Hmmm

Sheena only got the 42nd St gig because Lulu wouldn't commit to a year. Lulu has been touring consistently for the last five years. She wasn't waiting around for a musical theatre gig.

[Quote] Lulu and her mgr we’re JEALOUS and didn’t want this upstart to make it!

That makes no sense. Did they hope that Sheena would back out of her contract with EMI?

"Mah voice sounds terrible!"

"Lulu was really nice. I remember getting a good vibe from her. But the manager..."

Lulu’s tours were not going to put her back in the UK entertainment media spotlight. Doing the much anticipated 42nd Street and getting UK press and media attention was a boon for ANY singer. It would have made her tours more successful if she had half a brain. But it wasn’t meant to be and Sheena ran with it and left on her own terms.

[Quote] Lulu’s tours were not going to put her back in the UK entertainment media spotlight

Lulu has never been out of it. She's hardly ever off UK TV screens.

[Quote] Sheena ran with it and left on her own terms.

And good for Sheena. But it didn't do anything for her career. She wasn't even billed above title, as Lulu was...

Champagne for Lulu!

R88 I thought Lulu was a cunt because she just smiled and nodded and clearly agreed at the nasty things her manager was telling Sheena. You could literally see Sheena’s soul getting crushed when they told her to go into acting because she was too plain and not interesting enough to be a pop star. Lulu’s career was dead by that point so there was no need to feel threatened by this up and coming young girl.

[Quote] Lulu’s career was dead by that point

And yet both Lulu and Sheena would join an elite group of British women with Grammy nominations within two years of the "The Big Time" broadcast.

R98 Sheena’s accent was so cute, and that producer was pretty hot.

[Quote] I thought Lulu was a cunt because she just smiled and nodded and clearly agreed at the nasty things her manager was telling Sheena. You could literally see Sheena’s soul getting crushed when they told her to go into acting because she was too plain and not interesting enough to be a pop star.

Sheena's remembrance is different to yours. Whose impression is more valid? The manager praised Sheena's looks. Sheena didn't seem ready made for the big time. She did not have an unmistakable sound as a singer when auditioning for Dusty or Lulu.

[Quote] that producer was pretty hot.

That's Chris Neil.

[Quote] You could literally see Sheena’s soul getting crushed

I saw Sheena looking defiantly at the manager. Sheena's own words in 2000 support my impression. She wasn't going to take any knocks to heart.

R102, the 42nd Street revival was essentially over when Lulu came on. Ticket sales went in the toilet after one month of her stepping into the role.

R99 Sheena clearly did not remember Lulu finishing her manager’s sentence and nodding her head in complete agreement that Sheena did not have what it takes to be a popstar. I would have loved to see the egg on their faces when Sheena won the Grammy for best new artist a few years later.

R103 the champagne bottle for Lulu was 3/4 of the way gone when she joined the show. Very little interest in her compared to the buzz in the media and West End that Sheena received. There was no opening night or attendance by the royals when Lulu came on board. AND btw.. Sheena Easton did get top billing as I have proof of it.

[Quote] the 42nd Street revival was essentially over when Lulu came on. Ticket sales went in the toilet after one month of her stepping into the role.

And did they improve for Bonnie Langford? Are you arguing that people went to see "42nd St" for Sheena Easton, despite her lack of a media profile in the UK for, what, almost 40 years? Or did "42nd St" run out of steam?

(If Sheena Easton proved to be box office during her run, she'd have been sought out for another production... she hasn't been thus far. Shall we talk about "Man of La Mancha" now?)

[Quote] Sheena Easton did get top billing as I have proof of it.

Was she billed above or below the title...?

[quote]Sheena Easton, who has a voice up there with Whitney, Karen, Olivia and Mariah.

I thought the crack epidemic was over!

There was genuine interest in seeing Sheena Easton perform in the UK again. She was always remembered and the curiosity factor was actually very high which helped sell tickets. Sheena appeared on numerous late night and morning tv shows on the BBC to promote the show.

R114 it doesn’t matter you dumbass! Sheena’s full-size image appeared on the theater posters alongside the 42 Street logo! She received top billing above all other actors in the show! OMG you’re fucking insane and obviously pressed because you’re trying to defend fuckin’ Lulu lackluster showing!

I think Tina had the better voice and was a better performer but Sheena had the better music

[quote] Teena Marie isn't even in the same league as Cyndi Lauper, much less Sheena Easton, who has a voice up there with Whitney, Karen, Olivia and Mariah. If you don't think so, you never heard her albums.

Teena Marie is legendary among connoisseurs of soul music. She released 13 full-length studio recordings over her 30 years as a recording artist without a dip in the quality of her output. She navigated the ups and downs of being a R&B heritage artist as hip-hop swallowed the black music genre. She is still played on urban radio today.

I think Teena Marie was stellar. Sheena Easton was too. Both very different artists. Sheena was a fan of Teena Marie.

[Quote] There was genuine interest in seeing Sheena Easton perform in the UK again. She was always remembered and the curiosity factor was actually very high which helped sell tickets. Sheena appeared on numerous late night and morning tv shows on the BBC to promote the show.

It's nice to know Sheena retains the services of a press agent.

I think the Sheena hater is also the Kim Carnes hater

Kim Carnes owes her career to me!

Jackie DeShannon owes her career to me!

R123 Kim Carnes owes her career to these babies, nice try!

[QUOTE] it doesn’t matter you dumbass! Sheena’s full-size image appeared on the theater posters alongside the 42 Street logo! She received top billing above all other actors in the show! OMG you’re fucking insane and obviously pressed because you’re trying to defend fuckin’ Lulu lackluster showing!

I love the randomness of the subject matter that triggers DL.

Teena all day. This is kind of a silly question.

I agree it’s a silly question because we’re comparing a singer/song stylist who had a finite period of chart popularity after morphing from genres, to a highly influential MUSICIAN and songwriter who stayed true to her genre for decades and whose work is respected after her death.

It’s sort of like trying to compare Apollonia to Sheila E, the attributes of just being a musician alone clearly stack the cards in their favor.

Who are some modern musicians who've cited Teena Marie as an influence?

some cited here

Morning Train can’t compare to I Need Your Lovin’ in this lifetime nor the next.

Sheena was more the wind beneath our wings...

Teena was too black for some of you all.

Listen you mothetfuckers! I’m Sheena Easton 💯 and the rest of you haters can lick my big asshole!

Teena Marie should've been a huge star in the 80s, she was a phenomenal talent, but I can understand why she wasn't. She was just a bit too niche for pop stations at the time. She's one of my all-time faves.

R135: Teena Marie was one of many black artists in the 80s like Phyllis Hyman, Regina Belle, Miki Howard and Angela Winbush who were extremely talented and had a large black following but would never cross over to the pop charts. Except technically Teena Marie wasn't black. When Lovergirl went top ten on the pop charts people were surprised she crossed over. After that, she went back to a mostly black audience.

she had a sliver of Puerto Rican in her blood so I’d say she was black adjacent

Sheena ain’t got a Portuguese Love in her repertoire.

Sheena's last music video in 2000. Giving Up Giving In.

I have compiled playlists: Teena Marie faves & Sheena Easton faves. I like both playlists equally.

What an odd comparison. Neither woman had anything in common stylistically nor musically.

Both white 80s singers who sang r&b.

Both sort of disappeared right before a time when I would have known/cared about either star, but Sheena seems well-known to me while Teena - nothing more than a very esoteric name from the past. That says nothing about the quality of their output, but Sheena seems to have far longer lasting star-power IMO.

Sheena and Teena had nothing in common musically. Today, Teena would be a lot more famous but back then there was a big separation between the pop and r&b charts.

Why would Teena be more famous today?

Teena Marie was always one of my favorites, but I just found out a while back that she collaborated with Louis Farrakhan, so she's not only dead to me, she's double dead to me.

Sheena Easton had a lot of shitty songs, but she did a duet with Luis Miguel in Spanish and also, she never got fat, so...Sheena for the win!

I guess that’s why Sheena has some top 10 r&b hits, huh, r144??

Sheena could do with updating her stage wardrobe.

[quote]Why would Teena be more famous today?

Because there's no longer a separation between pop and r&b music on the pop charts today, and also a white person doing r&b isn't as rare as it was back then. Things were a lot stricter in the 80s. Of course you'd get crossover hits, but an artist who was strictly r&b wasn't played on Top 40 radio/MTV all the time.

BTW, Teena Marie was fantastic. Her 80s music is some of my all-time favorite music from that decade. I'm white, btw, and was just a kid at the time.

Who's a white, r&B success? Don't say Adele.

I liked Teena but she didn’t give face like Sheena did.

Sheena did favor bitchface rather a lot.

The self satisfied look circa 3:30

Who are these idiots STILL complaining about the comparison?!!! We are 150 posts into it.

[quote]Who's a white, r&B success? Don't say Adele.

Robin Thicke

Jon B.

Bobby Caldwell

Hall & Oates (lots of their output)

Joss Stone

Nelly Furtado

Fergie

Amy Winehouse

Sheena Easton singing "Fire and Rain". Written & produced by Angela Winbush.

R155; I would say out of that list only Jon B. and early Robin Thick had an R&B audience. The rest never had constant hits on the R&B charts or were a part of contemporary black culture.

Listen to Teena Marie's 80s catalog, both Motown and Epic, she had a lot of great songs. I don't think either record company really knew how to market her.

I thought "Don't say Adele" would make it clear that I was talking about contemporary music. Jon B was '90s, no?

Eat shit r159 nobody cares!

That may be, R157, but Bobby Caldwell’s “What You Won’t Do For Love” is so steeped in the annals of iconic R&B songs that it is worth 10 #1 R&B chart toppers. Many people grew up thinking it was a black guy singing the song.

Again, Sheena was the first white pop star to lean into R&B. "The Lover In Me" CD was strictly R&B/Soul. Nothing on it resembled anything she had done up to that point. It worked, so then there was a deluge of white singers charting with danceable R&B music -- Lisa Stansfield, Tara Kemp, Jane Child, etc.

[Quote] Sheena was the first white pop star to lean into R&B

Gworl.

Teena just wasn’t pretty, that was her problem for crossing over

It didn't stop Bonnie Raitt.

Ok. Some of you have convinced me to give TM a chance. I'll listen to her five most popular songs on YT. However be real boys. SE had a hit duet with Kenny Rogers. SE was cool enough to be on Miami Vice. SE had a residency at Caesars Laughlin longer than any other artist including Billy Barty and Sheils and Yarnell. SE is descended from Scottish royalty.

[QUOTE] SE is descended from Scottish royalty.

*snort* so am I!!!

Sheena’s mum was a withered glasgow factory worker, not exactly royalty.

R164 Teena also had a bit of a coke problem , didn’t she?

R137 Teena certainly had some black in her most nights, 7 inches minimum.

if Teena was hanging out with Rick James and Linda Blair, then she almost certainly did coke and probably slept with them both.

Sheena Easton had the sort of bland, non-descript voice that worked to a certain extent in a number of genres. There was nothing particularly special about it, so when she sang with Kenny Rogers, it came across as watered-down country. When she sang R&B, it became watered-down, R&B-adjacent pop. When she went for a more contemporary 80's feel, like on "Telephone", it came out like watered-down New Wave. When she sang the James Bond theme, it was far less dramatic and "James Bond"-y than the prior themes by Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones, Paul McCartney & Wings, and Nancy Sinatra, and became just another ballad.

Basically, what she did was bring everything she touched to the middle-of-the-road, where most of the record buyers were back then. And that's not a put-down. Her voice was what it was: nice and pleasant to listen to, and very commercial. I don't think there's anybody who thinks "ugh, that Sheena Easton, I just can't STAND her voice, it gets on my nerves".

I think Prince worked with her because a) she was decently pretty, b) she was even shorter than he was, so she wouldn't tower over him in videos or on stage, and c) as bland as her voice was, she could still sing circles around most of the no-singing bimbo female artists he'd worked with up to that point. (OK, Sheila E was no bimbo because she could really play percussion, but she was never more than a passable singer).

I always thought it was funny how she pretty much copied the Olivia Newton-John career template: start out as a sweet, innocent "good girl", and then just as things start to dry up, get really, really slutty and suggestive.

What an odd pairing, Sheena and Teena were totally different kinds of performers. Sheena was nowhere near Teena's level of talent.

Sheena had talent though , compared to twats in the same era like Manet and Hagdonna.

Please. Madonna had talent and so did Janet, in their own way.

Sheena has little stage presence.

The Lover in Me still jams to this day, but Sheena could not dance to save her life!

[quote] And that's not a put-down. Her voice was what it was: nice and pleasant to listen to, and very commercial. I don't think there's anybody who thinks "ugh, that Sheena Easton, I just can't STAND her voice, it gets on my nerves".

I think this was intended as faint praise, r174. But you cannot underestimate the value of having a pleasant voice. There are very few of them, especially today. When you look across the landscape of contemporary female singers there are NO "pleasant" voices. Lots of shrieking, shrill, hoarse, bellowing voices that I cannot listen to for more than a few minutes.

Sheena did an album of standards "No Strings" and her voice is really unusually lovely.

"No Strings" shows up her interepretive skills, though. A fine reader of lyrics, she is not.

Sheena for the win. She is perfectly fine.

Teena Marie oversang everything. I automatically hear Portuguese Love in my head at the sight or mention of her name. SHUDDER!

R36- Because...I did heroin with Nikki Sixx!

R180, if PL doesn't stir your soul, then you don't have one.

R172, thanks for your opinion. I like Sheena’s voice and vocal phrasings. She was willing to try different things and didn’t get stuck in a musical rut like most other “commercial pop singers”.

R182 - I do, and it's judging you for your preference for caterwauling.

R180: very white

I had a childhood friend whose mother was almost a dead ringer for Sheena Easton, and this was in the 80s. She would actually get stopped in public because people thought she really was Sheena.

I just can't bring myself to look at the result, let alone read the thread, because I just don't want to know how wrong so many of you are!

🎶 bump

Nobody gave face and played to the camera better than Sheena.

As a white listener to the two top R&B stations in Philly in the 1980s, WDAS and Power 99, I can honestly say Teena Marie was a respected icon and an idol and her music was in heavy rotation at both stations.

I never once heard Sheena Easton given a second of air time.

Sheena not only sang a Bond theme, they put her in the title sequence. Take that, Dame Shirley.

R190 that’s because outside of Sugar Walls and The Lover In Me Sheena didn’t score r&b hits. She was a pop singer.

Such a sad post breakup song. Sheena nails it.

[quote] Such a sad post breakup song. Sheena nails it.

Probably 1/3 of Teena Marie's catalog is comprised of staggering, achingly beautiful post breakup songs. It is her forte, see "Casanova Brown" at r5. On that count, she wins easily.

"Sunny Skies" reminds me of my first 'breakup.' I was in college and he was my FIRST. He told me he wasn't really gay and that we couldn't be together again. I didn't go to class for a week.

Teena Marie was RnB

Teena was cool, but honestly, her songs weren’t as memorable.

[quote]Teena Marie oversang everything.

This. And she didn’t seem to have much range. Her singing was yelling.

r194, I love that song by Teena - Sunny Skies. It is on my Teena Marie Faves playlist available on Apple Music.

Some fun reviews circa 1989 for Sheena Easton's THE LOVER IN ME album.

Rolling Stone review 1989

"The Lover In Me" (MCA) by Sheena Easton has got to be one of the most satisfying comeback albums this year. A new label and a clearer musical vision stretches Easton's vocal gifts considerably. Adopting a genuine R&B dance mode, the album's material overall is quite strong and is destined to garner Easton many new fans. Of the L.A. & Babyface productions on the album, the hit title track, "Days Like This" and "No Deposit, No Return" are the standouts featuring the production duo's customary style. One of our favorites is the Angela Winbush penned and produced "Fire and Rain," a sultry, soulful and very Isley-ish slow number that we hope clicks at radio

Some fun reviews circa 1989 for Sheena Easton's THE LOVER IN ME album.

People magazine, December 5, 1988:

Anyone who likes to see Maseratis used to plow snow or filet mignon ground into hamburger may like this record, in which Easton does a convincing imitation of a fourth-rate R&B singer. Maybe she got turned around by her collaboration with Prince, in which—during the U Got the Look video—she groveled around in a fashion that would have been humiliating to the most desperate starlet, let alone to a singer of Easton's stature and talent. Prince produced two of this album's 10 tracks (with little of the distinction he often shows on his own records), and the rest were done by such dance poppers as Babyface and Jellybean Benitez. Easton just blares away, fighting a losing battle against the rhythm backgrounds on the hotter tracks and sounding nondescript on the ballads, except Without You, where she sounds so much like Streisand it seems an outright imitation. That just accentuates the revolting developments of Easton's recent career.

Meeee!!!!