R.I.P. Teena Marie

According to reports (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/26/lovergirl-singer-teena-marie-dead-report_n_801396.html) Teena Marie passed away today at age 54.

blasting this in her honor:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZg46VqEk1s

:(

RIP ;_;

Awful news!

wow, that is so sad.

Shit. Okay, now I'm depressed. One of my all-time favorites, obviously.

aw no

Always loved "Squarebiz".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tLCWZWR6Fk&feature=related

she sang lover girl, right? that's very sad news.

Heavy metal:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKHn9CYfDeg

@wendyandlisa

I'm stunned to hear about Teena Marie. We spent a lot of time on the road as young fire crackers. She burned so bright

This was...unexpected. I got Emerald City three weeks ago.

My Vibe interview feature on her, from 1994:

http://books.google.com/books?id=dCwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA88&lpg=PA88&dq='chuck+eddy'+'teena+marie'+vibe&source=bl&ots=yf02FInrKw&sig=1_IY-ItvNj9bvlervHOnp78ubn8&hl=en&ei=RPYXTb_EOsKqlAecjOHJDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CBMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q='chuck%20eddy'%20'teena%20marie'%20vibe&f=false

FUCVK!

You know I love spirituals and rock
Sarah Vaughn, Johann Sebastian Bach
Shakespeare, Maya Angelou
And Nikki Giovanni just to name a few
Well, I'm wild and peaceful Lady Tee

rip

I can't even

:( rip

I feel so shocked by this, I don't even know the words to say. I really loved her music, this is just so sad.

LIPS TO FIND YOU

this hits pretty hard, very shocking, very very sad. rip lady tee.

oh, whaddya know, even I remember "Square Biz." Go with God, TM.

She was great. R.I.P.

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs737.ash1/162999_1656535446952_1044063057_31817690_4619212_n.jpg

smh

rip bbgurl

what cruel jackasses.

Oh no. RIP, she was amazing.

xp it's only one person. wtf is wrong with people

hey. so obviously i know that teena marie has a following on ilm and with certain rock critics (i've read books by eddy and kogan.) but i've never actually heard her music, to my knowledge. can someone sum up for me why she was so great -- as opposed to some other '80s r&b songstress like evelyn champagne king? this is not meant to be a snide arms-crossed challenge at all! honestly just very curious. thank you.

A:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2ljF-jSUBM

:((((

hate waking up to news like this. RIP lady tee :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWq9JLXQjOU

god, the rap in "square biz" is so classic too

She was no Dead Milkmen.

She was no Pebbles, either.

one last legend gone before the year ended. RIP :(

rip :(

RIP :(

hey. so obviously i know that teena marie has a following on ilm and with certain rock critics (i've read books by eddy and kogan.) but i've never actually heard her music, to my knowledge. can someone sum up for me why she was so great -- as opposed to some other '80s r&b songstress like evelyn champagne king? this is not meant to be a snide arms-crossed challenge at all! honestly just very curious. thank you.

A mix between Prince and Stevie Nicks is the best description I can come up with.

Always loved this collaboration with Jazzie B, from 1990:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W79ec1KktSM

thnkx chuk to turning me ont o TM from th hm book...she was too much for one ear to understand...u parsed th hell outta th bubbles and im grateful to own all th lps and singles as of that writing..better early then never,,,rest in sweet peacxe

first Don Van Vliet now this. Anything else 2010.?

R.I.P.

evelyn champagne king IS great

Something else I wrote about Teena, 19 years ago, attempting to explain why I think she's so great:

http://books.google.com/books?id=yGjqAHJs488C&pg=PT109&dq='chuck+eddy'+'teena+marie'+'blue+light+special'&hl=en&ei=M-MYTfOuJ4a0lQewoeDMDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q='chuck%20eddy'%20'teena%20marie'%20'blue%20light%20special'&f=false

Kogan on Teena, today:

http://koganbot.livejournal.com/253277.html

She had otherworldly qualities. Very sad! R.I.P.

The obits I've seen all make mention of how much Teena was respected and revered by black audiences, which I was unaware of until I saw her at Jazzfest in New Orleans about 10 years ago. The locals came out in droves, mobbed the stage, knew every lyric and nuance of every song. It was a really amazing show.

on that theme, ta-nehisi coates: http://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2010/12/the-indomitable-blackness-of-teena-marie/68597/

RIP Teena Marie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQznhgK-dCQ

A while back, a Detroit station was conducting one of its battles/polls/call-in contests for supreme dominance. It was Phyllis Hyman versus Teena Marie, and there was NO contest -- Teena won by a large margin. A couple calls were along the lines of "I'm sorry, Phyllis, god rest your soul, but I GOTTA go with Teena."

evelyn champagne king IS great

Thank you.

Ta-Nehisi Coates once again on Teena, specifically "Out on a Limb"

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/01/the-artist-out-on-a-limb/68885/

the Starchild album, which I purchased last week, is terrific ("Alibi," "Jammin'," and a weird, bloated elegy to Marvin Gaye near the end).

I did wtf at his inclusion of Meryl Streep in that holy trinity though.

Belatedly, something new I wrote about Teena Marie, and her influences:

http://blog.rhapsody.com/2011/01/teenamarie.html#more

Lady T was produced by Minnie's husband, too.

What I wrote about Congo Square, which made my 2009 P & J:
Teena Marie, eventually on her way to Congo Square
(June 9th) The first four tracks seem pretty long, because she's so freaked out,
strung out on telling herself everything's gonna be alright, be alright, way
too much for duets with MC Lyte and Faith Evans to handle, while the musical
backdrops just sit there "soothingly," like floral arrangements. But somehow,
when she bumps into Howard Huett, who I guess I've underrated, or maybe it's a
one-time-only rising to the occasion, but somehow "Lovers Lane" is where she
gets back on track, maybe cos she's finally gotten out the door and back into
the close encounters she was dreading, had been burned by. Then she gets sooo
damn comfident it's almost (but not quite, which iss the characteristically
purple art of hers, truly back) too much, when she demands/foretells "Marry Me."
But that was just stress test for her treasure chest of gifts, and her
purple meets and re-tailors the Princely "What U Got 4 Me," has tea, "Milk 'N'
Honey" with her blooming daugher, Rose LeBeau, and gets further out into
the world via personal to social themes and interaction with jazz drummer (and
co-composer) Terry Lynn Carrington, George Duke, Brian Bromberg, but never
seems like a popster going to jazz fantasy camp. She's learning from their
freedom and self-discipline (and maybe learning and teaching how too much can be
just right), especially when she gets lured far into "Harlem Blues", getting
away(?) with a shiver of recognition and afterglow. Kind of an alternate history
Janis Joplin? Reminds me: Joplin once answered a query about what the youth of
today were looking for: "Sincerity, and a good time." Ohh yeah.

RIP. some of the first music i remember hearing, basically all i remember of the 70's is my older sister being rick jamesed OUT, she saw Teena perform last year as a matter of fact, said she was phenomenal

oh wow just found out about this ... RIP

where do i start with this? she has a million albums

is there a worthy greatest hits comp?

Well, she changed labels. Four albums on Motown then five on Epic.

One well known ilxor really liked Emerald City a lot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfxANntF4IM

It's a beautiful thing, baby. What color is it? GREEN!

"Emerald City" is a good example of what she could do with influences. Prince? No problem.

Had to do a solo cross-country drive last week in a car with no air conditioning. "Square Biz" came on outside of Akron but the signal almost immediately started breaking up. Felt like crying.

Google search is not helping... What movies have "Lovergirl" in the soundtrack?

Dunno, but Wikipedia tells me '"14k" was featured on the soundtrack of the film Goonies (1985) but was not a hit'

Yeah Wikipedia doesn't have a specific entry for "Lovergirl." IMDB doesn't bring up what I'm looking for, but I just learned she wrote the "ooh lalala" thing in "Fugeela"