Eldergays, tell me about Teena Marie

She was an AMAZING artist.

Loved her.

“I’m talkin’ square biz to ta baybeh!”

They should make a movie about her life.

Rick James turned poor girl out! But she could really "sang". Def. the soul of a sista.

She was definitely accepted by the black community.

I didn’t know she was black back then! “I Need Your Lovin” sounded like a black chick!

LOVED HER! I saw her in concert in the 80s at Constitution Hall in Washington DC and thought it was one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen. Her 2006 album La Doña placed #6 in the Billboard charts, her highest ranking ever. I was really sad when she died.

No, the cultural appropriation nonsense didn't exist then and that was a good thing.

She was so underrated, she should've been a big star in the 80s.

Teena is the real deal! Casanova Brown & Ooo La La are my jams!

Such an amazing song. Like your ember singing this jam as you were getting ready to get picked up by your boyfriend who was your first love!

Then he’d scoop you up, and you popped the cassette into his car’s cassette player, and sing it to him as he drove.

Such good memories. ❤️

* Like you remember

(My autocorrect is outta control!)

Sadly, she had a face for radio.

R11, that's the one! "Cassanova Brown" is a stone-cold classic. Teena did not appropriate the culture for commercial gain or to get cool points. That's Madonna. Teena was commercially marginalized because for 30 years she composed and recorded unapologetically "Black" music. She was very talented and prolific.

[quote] Teena did not appropriate the culture for commercial gain or to get cool points. That's Madonna.

Madonna is talented in her own way. She definitely has an impressive catalog. All artists borrow from one another.

I remember Madonna was talking smack about Teena Marie's singing and Teena said "let's battle it out mane to mane on stage". Madonna didn't have shit to say after that😂

I still listen to Teena's music. I think I have everything she ever did. She was an amazing talent, and a great songwriter.

I love “Behind the Groove” right now. I love all the layers of instruments from guitars to horns to congas and disco whistles.

OP, you were told about Teena Marie a few months ago. Now, I sincerely hope that the others will tell you again so you won't have to be told later!

She was truly talented. And she was one of several artists over the years that sang in a more R&B style that would land on black radio. (Dusty Springfield, Hall & Oates and George Michael also landed on the R&B charts over the years.) Rick James produced at least some of her stuff, and they had a relationship, so I think the audience understood that she was respecting the music.

She also stayed in that vein for her whole career....unlike, say, Gwen Stefani who "borrowed" the Harajuku look and sound for one song.

I occasionally found some of her phrasing a bit overwhelming and/or had to absorb in smaller doses, but she was indeed the real deal.

This one is an all-time classic.

Lovergirl was about her emergent lez feelings.

The blaccent is something else.

As a singer, I've never bought her stylings. The best white singers who use R&B incorporate it into a stew with other influences. The ones who try to be straight ahead R&B never sound anything other than ill equpped imitators.

Sheena Easton was prettier and more sophisticated.

Dear god, R25.

But Sheena sounded like a white girl - no soul.

Sheena sang too high. She sounded quite nice when she sang in a more sultry fashion, e.g. most of that Do It For Love song.

LO OO. OOOOOOOOOOOOO OO OOOOO O OOOOOO O OOOOO. OO OO OOVE THEM....AND LOOOSE THEM. U UU UU UUUUUISE THEM AND ABUU UU UUSE THEM WHO OO OO OA!!

Yeah, Teena was a tryhard as a singer.

She was so behind the groove.

"Fire and Desire" with cocaine itself somehow singing backup.

She did a fair amount of her own arrangements and was a multi instrumentalist. I have nothing but respect for that. She also knew how to dress well for her boobies and that's a fine art some ladies don't possess.

OP needs to watch Lady Tee's episode of "Unsung." She just naturally speaks about her upbringing and how she wanted to learn how to play Smokey Robinson (she had an ages long crush on him and eventually got to sing for him at a tribute) songs on the piano instead of classical music back when she was a child. Sits there just shooting the breeze and downright comes across like a friendly neighborhood librarian or something. No appropriation at work with her, she just was naturally drawn to R&B. The only other thing I recall from that show is that her parents weren't intolerant minded at all and that was actually somewhat uncommon for her era.

Truly dislike her music. Just thinking about Portuguese Love sends me into an irrational rage as I type this.

She was not an appropriator, though. She lived appreciation and went all in.

She was very talented and unique but her albums were spotty: some excellent and others were duds.

She wasn't successful enough to be an appropriator.

I have all of her albums, they are consistently great. Love her. She never got the popularity she deserved, she should've been a huge star in the 80s.

What did you think of the recent remixes album? Was it John Morales' work?

The remixes album wasn't too different from the original mixes of the songs. It was good, of course, but if you're expecting new arrangements etc. that's not what you're going to get.

I'm not black so I won't speak for black music lovers; I can only say that every black music lover I know ADORES Teena Marie. She was a friend and supporter to many black music artists at a time when it was not cool for white women to do so.

She was an r&b star

R28 you don’t know your ass from a hole in the ground.

Sheena had a shrill upper range. That's not a controversial opinion.

I loved her. She was gone too soon.

Loved her. Great singer and songwriter who appreciated soul music.

I need your lovin’ the cut!

I need your lovin’, and that’s the bottom line.

I saw her in concert on the Ben Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia in 2002 or 2003. It was PHENOMENAL!

Square Biz is one of her signature songs; she even incorporated rap into the song. (She said that when she heard Blondie's Rapture and Debbie Harry rapping on the tune, she was like, "Hmm, I can do that!")

I love Deja Vu, produced by Rick James (it was later revealed that she wrote the song's lyrics since James used the majority of them from the poetry notebook she had with her).

Chaka Khan said Deja Vu was her favorite song from Teena Marie. The black community loved her and even gave her the title, the Ivory Queen of Soul. That's probably the highest honor a white singer has ever received from black people. No white singer ever connected to black people like Teena, and no white singer ever will. Only Lisa Stansfield came close, and she lost steam after her second album.

[quote] No white singer ever connected to black people like Teena

Bitch who?

She wuz the Ivory Goddess of Soul. She owes the success of Lovergirl to the coincidental success of Billy Ocean's concurrent smash Loverboy with which her hit ascended the pop charts. Many clever clever radio djs would play the hits back to back.