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A tribute to "Lady T"

She was born, “Mary Christine Brockert.”  In time, she would become known as Teena Marie.  Others still referred  to her as, “The Ivory Queen of Soul” or “Lady T.”  One of very few white artists to break the predominately black artist label of Motown, Teena Marie laid ground work for future generations of artists.  Apprehensive that the predominately black audience would not buy her album if they knew she was white, her debut cover album, “Wild and Peaceful did not feature an image of Teena Marie.  Many fans would discover her identity from her image on the second album release, “Lady T,” in 1980. 

 “Casanova Brown,”  “Square Biz,” Ooh, La, La, La,” “Cruise Control,” “Fire and Desire,” Teena Marie had many popular songs.  “Lover Girl,” released in 1984 went to number 4 on Billboard’s Pop charts.  “Lover Girl” would become her biggest seller.  Teena would be nominated in 2005 for a Grammy Award for “Best female R&b singer, vocal performance” for her song, “Still in Love.”  She would lose out to singer Alicia Keys; however the nomination showed the long range of her talents and popularity.  The passion and emotion of her music is strongly felt in each song.  That passion transcended into different aspects of her life.  A long lasting, yet tumultuously on again and off again romance and friendship with Rick James shook Teena Marie deeply after his death in 2004.  Teena became addicted to prescription drugs until she was able to recover later on. 

Teena’s last album was “Congo Square” in 2009.  The title comes from the historical meeting place for slaves in New Orleans.  Some of the songs from “Congo Square” would pay tribute to Martin Luther King’s widow and President Obama.  An interview in 2009 with Essence.com, Teena Marie commented, “Overall, my race hasn’t been a problem.  I’m a black artist with white skin.”  Teena would comment further by saying, “At the end of the day, you  have to sing what’s in your soul.”

The nearly pitch-perfect-melodiously-piercing clarity that embodied the voice, the sound of Teena Marie was silenced on December 26^th, 2010.  Only 54 years of age, an R&b legend transcended from stardom to immortality.  She is gone, however, the music will long live on.

 

 

Some material in part was sourced from Ben Sisario          Some material in part was sourced from Nekesa Mumbi Moody