American soul and funk musician who was one of the few successful white performers of R&B
Although many have tried, very few white singers have master- ed the art of singing black American music and few have signed to Berry Gordy's popular Motown label. One who succeeded was the R&B, soul and funk artist Teena Marie, who has died unexpectedly aged 54.
She was born Mary Brockert in Santa Monica, California, one of six children in a music-loving family with Portuguese, Italian, Irish and Native American roots. She was raised in the Los Angeles suburb of Oakwood, a predominantly African American neighbourhood. As Tina Marie Brockert, she entered show business with an acting role, in 1964, in the television sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies. By the time she was a teenager she had sung at the wedding of the son of the comedy actor Jerry Lewis and was performing with her brother's soul band.
At the age of 20, Teena Marie auditioned for Motown Records, which had moved its centre of operations from Detroit to Los Angeles. Gordy, Motown's owner, signed her to a recording contract, but it was three years before he found the right setting for his young white singer. The catalyst was the guitarist, producer and singer Rick James, who told an interviewer that he had been walking around the Motown building when, "I heard this girl singing her ass off. I walked in and here's this ? white girl. I said, 'Wow you're really great. Are you on Motown?'"
James had been planning to record an album of his songs with Diana Ross, but now decided to work with Marie instead. He became her mentor, teaching her all he knew about playing and singing. The result of their collaboration was Marie's 1979 debut album, Wild and Peaceful, which included I'm a Sucker for Your Love, a duet between James and Marie, which reached the Top 10 of the R&B chart in the US. Perhaps intentionally, the cover of the album did not feature a photograph of the singer, whom most DJs assumed must be African American.
Marie and James recorded another duet together, Fire and Desire, which appeared on James's album Street Songs (1981). Marie's second Motown album, Lady T (a nickname she had acquired at the label), was produced by Richard Rudolph, the widower of the singer Minnie Riperton. The album contained the Rudolph composition Behind the Groove, Marie's biggest British hit, which reached No 6 in 1980. This time, the album sleeve included a photograph of the singer. Marie took full control of her next two albums, Irons in the Fire and It Must Be Magic. She composed, arranged and produced every track on the albums, including I Need Your Lovin' (on the former) and Square Biz (on the latter), in which she rapped a list of her influences, among them Bach, Shakespeare, Sarah Vaughan, Nikki Giovanni and Maya Angelou.
In 1982, Gordy rejected Marie's newest recordings and refused to release them. The singer triumphed in an ensuing courtroom battle when a judge ruled that Motown could not keep an artist under contract without issuing new recordings by her. She later reflected that "every good artist needs a lawsuit". The "Brockert initiative" was used as a legal precedent by other musicians to secure release from their contracts.
Leaving Motown, Marie then signed with Epic, for whom she made five albums during the 1980s. The most successful of these was Starchild (1984), with its Top 10 US pop hit Lovergirl. Ooo La La La, from the 1988 album Naked to the World, was her only No 1 hit in the R&B charts. During the decade, several of Marie's songs were used on the soundtracks of hit movies, notably Lead Me On (Top Gun) and 14k (The Goonies).
During the 1990s, Marie was in semi-retirement, concentrating on bringing up her daughter, Alia Rose. She released one album, Passion Play, on her own label and continued to perform in nightclubs. However, her earlier work remained in the spotlight through new versions of her hits by younger singers. Samples of her recordings were also used by hip-hop vocalists and groups including the Fugees. Marie then signed a contract with the hip-hop label Cash Money Records, which issued her bestselling albums La Do�a (2004) and Sapphire (2006). I'm Still in Love, from La Do�a, was nominated for a Grammy award for best female R&B vocal performance in 2005. Her former Motown colleague Smokey Robinson sang on two tracks included on Sapphire.
Her final album was Congo Square (2009), whose songs were tributes to her idols, from James to the civil rights leader Coretta Scott King. During the past year, Marie had kept up a busy schedule of performances, including appearances at the Las Vegas Hilton, where she was due to play next year.
She is survived by her daughter.
? Teena Marie (Mary Christine Brockert), singer and songwriter, born 5 March 1956; died 26 December 2010
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