Mary Christine Brockert, better known by her stage name
Teena Marie, (March 5, 1956 – December 26, 2010) was an
American singer,
songwriter and
producer. She was known as Tina
before taking the stage name Teena Marie; she later acquired the nickname of Lady Tee (sometimes spelled Lady T) given to her by mentor, collaborator, and friend
Rick James. She was known for her distinctive soulful vocals which initially caused many listeners to believe she was
African-American. Her success in
R&B and
soul and loyalty to these genres would earn her the title Ivory Queen of Soul. She played
rhythm guitar,
keyboards and
congas. She also wrote,
produced, sang and
arranged virtually all of her songs since her 1980 release,
Irons in the Fire, which she later said was her favorite album.
Biography
Early life (1956–1978)
Mary Christine, or Tina as she was called, was the fourth of five children born in
Santa Monica to construction worker Thomas Leslie Brockert and his wife, home renovator Mary Anne. She spent her early childhood in
Mission Hills. Her ethnic heritage was Portuguese, Italian, Irish and Native American.
[citation needed] In 2005, while visiting
Louisiana, she had discovered that her paternal ancestors once lived in New Orleans.
Brockert took to singing naturally, performing
Harry Belafonte's
Banana Boat Song by age two. She also developed a fondness for singing the songs of
Motown, and her self-professed “Gift from God” would become fine-tuned as the years progressed.
Brockert's parents began sending her out on auditions when she was eight years old, which netted an acting role on
The Beverly Hillbillies, credited as Tina Marie Brockert.
She also sang at the wedding of actor
Jerry Lewis' son when she was 10 years old. Reared in a
Roman Catholic household, she learned to play the piano under the tutelage of two nuns and later taught herself the guitar, bass, and congas. She would go on to form a semi-professional R&B band with younger brother Anthony and their cousin.
In the early 1970s, after the family moved to
Venice, Los Angeles, Brockert spent her adolescent years in the historically black Venice enclave of Oakwood, nicknamed "Venice Harlem". There, she would acquire a strong spiritual influence from neighborhood matriarch Berthalynn Jackson, an
African American who would become her
godmother.
While attending
Venice High School, Brockert joined the Summer Dance Production, and also had the female lead in the school's production of
The Music Man.
After graduating, Brockert juggled auditioning for various record companies with studying English Literature at
Santa Monica College. She credited her love of reading with helping her to write the lyrics she's known for.
Motown era (1979–1982)
In 1976, Brockert (as lead singer member of a band she assembled which included long time friend Mickey Boyce) gained an introduction to Motown Records staff producer
Hal Davis (best known for his work with
Brenda Holloway and the
Jackson 5). This led to an audition for a film about orphans being developed by Motown. The project was shelved, but label boss
Berry Gordy decided to sign her as a solo act, impressed with her singing but having no need for a musical group. She recorded unreleased material with a number of different producers over the next few years, before being spotted by labelmate
Rick James who was immediately impressed with her sound. (Some of the earlier unreleased material has since been made available on
compilation.) At the time, James, already established as a successful recording artist, was on tap to produce for
Diana Ross but changed his mind and decided to work with Brockert. The result was debut album release,
Wild and Peaceful. The album was, at one point, due to be credited to "Teena Tryson", but ultimately was put out under
Teena Marie, the name by which she would be known throughout her career. It scored Teena Marie her first top-ten R&B hit, "
I'm Just a Sucker for Your Love" (#8 Black Singles Chart),
a
duet with James. Neither the album nor its packaging had her picture on it, and many radio programmers incorrectly assumed she was
African-American during the earliest months of her career.
This myth was disproved when she performed her debut hit with James on
Soul Train in 1979, becoming the show's first white female guest (she would appear on the show eight more times, more than any other white act).
In 1980, her second album,
Lady T, would have her portrait on the cover upon its release. It's also noted for having production from
Richard Rudolph (husband of R&B singer
Minnie Riperton, who died a year earlier). Teena Marie had asked Berry Gordy to contact Rudolph and secure his input as Rick James was unavailable and she felt unprepared to be sole producer of her own material. Rudolph intended for the song he penned, "Now That I Have You", to be sung by his wife, but it was later given to Teena Marie.
Rudolph also co-composed the single "Behind The Groove", which reached number 21 on the black singles chart and reaching #6 on the U.K. singles chart in 1980.
The song would also be included on the soundtrack of
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on the Fever 105 soundtrack.
Another notable track, "Too Many Colors," featured Rudolph and Riperton's then 7-year-old daughter,
Maya Rudolph, who became Teena Marie's god-daughter.
Also in 1980, Teena Marie released her third LP,
Irons in the Fire, for which she handled all writing and production herself, including the horn and rhythm arrangements of her band and all backing vocals, all considered rare at the time for a female artist.
The single "I Need Your Lovin'" (#37 Pop, #9 Black Singles) brought Teena Marie her first
top 40 hit. This single also peaked at #28 in the UK chart. That same year, Teena Marie appeared on James' hugely successful album,
Street Songs, with the duet "Fire and Desire". In an interview, Teena Marie said she had a fever at the time yet managed to record her vocals in one take. After the session, she was driven to a hospital. The two would perform the single at the 2004
BET Awards, which would be their last TV appearance with one another as Rick James died later that year.
Teena Marie continued her success with Motown in 1981, with the release of
It Must Be Magic (#2 Black Albums Chart), her first gold record, which included her then biggest hit on R&B, "
Square Biz" (#3 Black Singles). Other notable tracks include "Portuguese Love" (featuring a brief, uncredited cameo by James, #54 Black Singles), the title track "It Must be Magic" (#30 Black Singles), and album only track "Yes Indeed", which she cited as a personal favorite.
In 1982, Teena Marie got into a heated legal battle with Motown Records over her contract and disagreements about releasing her new material.
The lawsuit resulted in "The Brockert Initiative", which made it illegal for a record company to keep an artist under contract without releasing new material for that artist. In such instances, artists are able to sign and release with another label instead of being held back by an unsupportive one. Teena Marie commented on the law in an
LA Times article, saying, "It wasn't something I set out to do. I just wanted to get away from Motown and have a good life. But it helped a lot of people, like
Luther Vandross and the
Mary Jane Girls, and a lot of different artists, to be able to get out of their contracts."
She left Motown as the label's most successful white solo act.
Epic era (1983–1990)
Contacted by
Epic Records in the Fall of 1982 after expressing dismay over her Motown contract, Teena Marie signed a worldwide deal with the
Columbia Records' subsidiary that also allowed her to establish her own publishing company, Midnight Magnet. Epic released the concept album
Robbery, which featured the hit "Fix It" (#21 R&B), as well as "Shadow Boxing" and "Casanova Brown." The latter was one of a number of tracks Teena Marie would write over the years about her real-life romance with one-time mentor Rick James. The relationship had ended by that point, but the two would continue a sometimes tempestuous friendship, until James' death in August 2004. In 1984, Teena Marie released her biggest-selling album,
Starchild. It yielded her biggest hit "Lovergirl", which peaked at #4 on the US
Billboard Hot 100 chart
in March 1985. It also peaked at #9 on the R&B chart. The label also released the moderate R&B hit "Out on a Limb", which peaked at #56 on the R&B chart, but didn't break the Hot 100. "14k" was featured on the soundtrack of the film
Goonies (1985) but was not a hit (only making the U.S. R&B charts at #87).
In 1986, Teena Marie released a
rock music-influenced
concept album titled
Emerald City. It was controversial with her established fan base and not as successful as its predecessors. She also recorded another rock-influenced track, "Lead Me On", co-produced by
Giorgio Moroder, for the soundtrack of the
box office hit film,
Top Gun (1986). In 1988, however, she returned to her
R&B and
funk roots, releasing the critically acclaimed album
Naked to the World. That album contained the hit "
Ooo La La La", which reached the top of
Billboard's
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart and was her only #1 single on that chart. During her 1988
Naked to the World concert tour, she suffered a fall and was hospitalized for six months.
Teena Marie released
Ivory in the fall of 1990 and it scored no pop hits, but it did experienced two R&B hits: "Here's Looking at You" (#11 R&B) and "If I Were a Bell" (#8 R&B).
Hiatus, Passion Play and Black Rain (1991–2003)
During the 1990s, Teena Marie's classic R&B, soul, and funk records were either
sampled by
hip-hop artists or covered by R&B divas. Teena Marie herself is regarded as something of a pioneer in helping to bring hip-hop to the mainstream by becoming one of the first artists of her time to rap one of her singles—the aforementioned "Square Biz". In the hip-hop portion of that song, she mentions some of her inspirations:
Sarah Vaughn,
Johann Sebastian Bach,
Shakespeare,
Maya Angelou, and
Nikki Giovanni, "just to name a few". In 1996, the
Fugees paid tribute to her by interpolating the chorus of her 1988 hit, "Ooo, La, La, La", into its own "Fu-Gee-La", which was a huge hit.
In the fall of 1994, Teena Marie released
Passion Play on her independent label, Sarai Records.
Lacking the backing of a major label, this album sold less well than her earlier work, but was well received by fans.
[
Subsequently, Teena Marie devoted most of her time to raising her daughter Alia Rose
(who has since adopted the stage name "Rose Le Beau" and is pursuing her own singing career). During the late 1990s, Teena Marie made appearances (as herself) on the TV sitcoms,
The Steve Harvey Show and
The Parkers. She also began work on a new album, titled
Black Rain. She was unable to secure a major label deal for this, and did not want to put it out on her own Sarai label in light of the modest sales of
Passion Play. However, a version pressed for promotional purposes was widely
bootlegged among fans. This contained the tracks, "The Mackin' Game", "I'll Take the Pressure", "Baby, I'm Your Fiend", "My Body's Hungry", "Ecstasy", "I'm on Fire", "Watcha Got 4 Me", "Black Rain", "1999", "Butterflies", "Spanish Harlem", "Blackberry Playa", "The Perfect Feeling", and "Rainbow Outro". Some of these tracks resurfaced on the later albums:
La Doña,
Sapphire, and
Congo Square; in some cases (e.g. "The Mackin Game") in significantly reworked versions.
La Doña to Congo Square, and her final years (2004–2010)
After a 14-year sabbatical from the national spotlight, Teena Marie returned to her musical career by signing with the Classics sub-label of the successful hip-hop label,
Cash Money Records. She released her comeback album,
La Doña, in 2004, and follow up
Sapphire, in 2006.
La Doña became a
gold-certified success (and the highest-charting album of her career, peaking at #6 on the
Billboard 200 chart) on the basis of the
Al Green-sampled "I'm Still In Love" (#23 R&B, #70 Pop) and a duet with the late
Gerald Levert, "A Rose by Any Other Name". Teena Marie was nominated for a
2005 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "Still in Love". Teena Marie quickly followed this success with the release of
Sapphire in 2006. While sales were not as great this time around (the album peaked at #24 on the Pop Chart), the release did give her yet another R&B Top-40 hit, "Ooh Wee" (#32); it also reunited her (on "God Has Created" and "Cruise Control") with
Smokey Robinson, the early Motown mentor whose style she had emulated on early hits such as "Young Love". Teena Marie parted ways with Ca$h Money records after the release of
Sapphire.
On September 19, 2008, Teena Marie performed in concert at
B.B. King's Blues Club in New York City. Teena took this time to play a couple of finished tracks from her upcoming album,
Congo Square, and she received a positive response from the crowd.
Congo Square was released on June 9, 2009 on
Stax/Concord Records. She has described the album as "personal and spiritual" and indicated that it was more jazz-influenced than most of her previous work. "Can't Last a Day", a duet with
Faith Evans, leaked to the Internet in March 2009. Teena Marie says of Evans, "It was after I had recorded the song ("Can't Last a Day") I got the idea to put Faith on it. I’ve always loved Faith and her vocal style. She reminds me of me. Her correlation with
Biggie — having a career with him and without him — reminds me of me and
Rick. I feel like she’s a younger me. Of the younger ladies, she’s the one I love most.”
Meanwhile, with regard to her early-life inspirations for
Congo Square, in January 2010 Teena Marie told Lee Tyler, editor of
Blues & Soul magazine: "I wanted to do songs that reflected the things that I loved when I was growing up. Every single song on the record is dedicated to someone, or some musical giant that I loved. 'The Pressure' is dedicated to Rick James; 'Can't Last a Day' is dedicated to the
Gamble & Huff sound - the
Philly International sound'. Then 'Baby I Love You' and 'Ear Candy' are dedicated to
Marvin Gaye and
Curtis Mayfield - with memories of riding down
Crenshaw in
LA in
jeeps and bumping to music on ``the 808
i.e. Roland TR-808 drum machine. While 'Miss Coretta' is, of course, dedicated to Mrs. Coretta Scott King, the late wife of Dr. Martin Luther King."
Sales-wise, the album proved another success, reaching the Top 20 on Billboard's Top 200, and giving Teena Marie yet another Top 10 R&B chart entry. In 2010, Teena Marie continued to be a headliner on the
Las Vegas Strip, appearing regularly at the
Las Vegas Hilton and other venues until just before her death.
At the time of her death, Teena Marie had completed her 14th CD and was also working on jazz and inspirational CDs. In addition, she was in the midst of her writing her
memoir.
Personal life
Teena Marie, who never wed, gave birth to a daughter in 1991, whom she named Alia Rose
who, as of 2009, sang under the name Rose LeBeau.
Throughout her career, Teena Marie had lived in
Inglewood, California and
Encino before settling in
Pasadena in the mid-1980s.
In addition to
Maya Rudolph, Teena Marie was godmother to
Marvin Gaye's daughter
Nona Gaye. She also cared for Rick James' son, Rick Jr. and family friend Jeremiah O'Neal.
Lenny Kravitz posted a video in which he revealed that Teena Marie had taken him into her home and helped him when he was struggling early in his career.
Teena's hobbies included archery, drawing, and writing poetry.
Death and memorials
Around 2004, Teena Marie lay sleeping in a hotel room when a large picture frame fell and struck her in the head. The blow caused a serious concussion that would result in momentary seizures for the rest of her life. She had suffered a Grand mal seizure just one month before her death.
On the afternoon of December 26, 2010, Teena Marie was found unresponsive by daughter Alia Rose at her home in Pasadena, California.
As of December 30, 2010, an autopsy was performed by the
Los Angeles County coroner, who found no signs of apparent trauma or discernible cause of death. Eventually it was concluded that Teena Marie died of natural causes.
A memorial was held at
Forest Lawn Cemetery on January 10, 2011. Among the luminaries who attended were her long-time idol
Smokey Robinson,
LisaRaye,
Sinbad,
Tichina Arnold,
Stevie Wonder, and
Tata Vega.
Albums
Studio albums
Compilation albums
| Year | Album | Chart Positions | Record Label |
| US | US
R&B |
| 1985 | Greatest Hits | — | — | Motown |
| 1991 | Greatest Hits | — | — | Epic |
| 1994 | I Need Your Lovin': The Best of Teena Marie | — | — | Motown |
| 1996 | Motown Milestones: The Best of Teena Marie | — | — |
| 1997 | Lovergirl: The Teena Marie Story | — | — | Epic |
| 2000 | Love Songs | — | — | Sony Music |
| Ultimate Collection | — | — | Hip-O |
| 2001 | The Millennium Collection: The Best of Teena Marie | — | — | Motown |
| 2002 | Super Hits | — | — | Legacy |
| "—" denotes the album failed to chart |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart Positions |
| US | US
R&B | US
Dance | UK[4] |
| 1979 | "I'm a Sucker for Your Love" (featuring Rick James) | 102 | 8 | — | 43 |
| "Don't Look Back" | — | 91 | — | — |
| 1980 | "Can It Be Love" | — | 57 | — | — |
| "Behind the Groove" | — | 21 | 4 | 6 |
| "I Need Your Lovin'" | 37 | 9 | 2 | 28 |
| 1981 | "Young Love" | — | 41 | — | — |
| "Square Biz" | 50 | 3 | 12 | — |
| "It Must Be Magic" | — | 30 | — |
| "Portuguese Love" | — | 54 | — | — |
| 1983 | "Fix It" | — | 21 | 41 | — |
| "Midnight Magnet" | — | 36 | — | — |
| 1984 | "Dear Lover" | — | 77 | — | — |
| "Lovergirl" | 4 | 9 | 6 | 76 |
| 1985 | "Jammin’" | 81 | 45 | — | — |
| "Out on a Limb" | — | 56 | — | — |
| "14k" | — | 87 | — | — |
| 1986 | "Lips to Find You" | — | 28 | — | — |
| "Love Me Down Easy" | — | 76 | — | — |
| 1988 | "Ooo La La La" | 85 | 1 | — | 74 |
| "Work It" | — | 10 | — | — |
| 1990 | "Here's Looking at You" | — | 11 | — | — |
| "If I Were a Bell" | — | 8 | — | — |
| "Since Day One" | — | — | — | 69 |
| 1991 | "Just Us Two" | — | 42 | — | — |
| 2004 | "Still in Love" | 70 | 23 | — | — |
| "A Rose by Any Other Name" (with Gerald Levert) | 97 | 53 | — | — |
| 2006 | "Ooh Wee" | 125 | 32 | — | — |
| 2009 | "Can't Last a Day" (featuring Faith Evans) | — | 41 | — | — |
| "You Baby" | — | 100 | — | — |
| "—" denotes the single failed to chart or was not released |
Collaborations
In 1981:
- Marie sang a duet with Rick James in his song, "Fire and Desire", from his Street Songs album.
- Marie sang the single "Gigolette" by Ozone, which she also co-wrote and produced.
In 1982:
- Marie sang a duet with Rick James in his song, "Happy", from his Throwin' Down album.
- Marie sang Carl Anderson's song, "A.W.O.L.", on his Absence With Out Love album.
In 1985:
- Marie sang the song, "14K", on the soundtrack of the movie, The Goonies.
- Marie sang Q.T. Hush's song, "Soul Mates", on the Q.T. Hush album. She also worked as its co-producer and she sang back-up vocals.
In 1986:
- Marie sang YoYo's song, "Body Work", from her Total Control album.
- Marie was one of the featured vocalists in the King Dream Chorus & Crew ensemble single, "King Holiday".
- Marie sang the song, "Lead Me On", on the soundtrack of the movie, Top Gun.
In 1989:
- Marie sang the song, "Bad Boy", on the soundtrack album of the movie, Tap.
- Marie sang back-up on Grady Harrell's album, Come Play With Me.
In 1990:
- Marie sang Bernadette Cooper's tracks, "Drama According to Bernadette Cooper" and "Epilogue: Movie Produce Her", from Cooper's Drama According to Bernadette Cooper album.
In 1991:
- Marie sang Cheba's single, "Business Doin' Pleasure".
- Marie was one of the featured vocalists in the Peace Choir ensemble single, "Give Peace A Chance".
In 1995:
In 1996:
- Marie sang Pamela Williams' songs, "The Secret Garden" and "Latin Lullaby" on Williams' Saxtress album.
In 1997:
- Marie sang Gooch's song, "When It's Late", from his A Lot On It album.
In 1998:
In 1999:
- Marie sang Domino's song, "Cum On Over", on his Remember Me album.
In 2001:
- Marie sang Eve's song, "Life Is So Hard" on her Scorpion album.
In 2002:
In 2008:
- Marie sang George Duke's song, "Sudan" from his Dukey Treats album.
- Marie sang Focus' song, "8.18.01" from his Dedicated album.
