Much like our ‘Retro Rewind’ and ‘From the Vault’ segments, readers of That Grape Juice know what avid music lovers we are – especially of hits past. So in a quest to re-spin the gems and jams of yesterday we introduced a new retrospective segment – ‘TGJ Replay’.
Unlike its ‘Rewind’ and ‘Vault’ predecessors, ‘Replay’ looks to dust off and showcase albums (and eras) from a library of pop music hits. Today, we look back at the best of Ivory Queen of Soul Teena Marie‘s hits…
She was known as Lady T. The past few decades have seen her signature bass licks sampled by the masses, but the soaring California born soprano herself rose to R&B prominence as protege of funk legend Rick James. Even with his backing and blessing, it wasn’t long before the songbird swiftly flew by her lonesome to top charts with hits like ‘Square Biz’ and ‘Portuguese Love’.
‘Square Biz’
‘Portuguese Love’
And, despite enjoying moderate successes on Motown in the late 70s and early 80s with her remarkable blend of poetry, powerhouse vocals, and pop/R&B/funk fusions, the bass-beating beauty did not earn true star power until her Epic debut album ‘Starchild‘. Yielding two of her biggest and most memorable hits ‘Lovergirl’ and ‘Out On A Limb’…
‘Lovergirl’
‘Out On A Limb’
Fans were truly in love with the self-proclaimed ‘Lovergirl’. Despite the song being Marie’s only top 30 pop hit, follow-up albums still spawned memorable hits like ‘If I Were A Bell’ and fan favorite ‘Ooh La La’ (which was later sampled in ‘Fu-Gee-La’ by The Fugees).
‘Ooh La La’
Indeed, as avid fans of Miss Marie, we love to respin her gems and jams as they were oft overlooked during her storied career. While many-an-R&B traditionalist often cites Teena as the Queen of ‘Blue Eyed Soul’, she is often (and unfortunately) unmentioned by a number of music when listing the true greats of the genre.
Today we ode the soaring songstress who showed us soul was colourless. As we rock out to ‘Fire and Desire’, you tell us:
Wow. RIP Lady T. My mom looves miss teena and i grew up on her music. ol gurl could saaang
The “Ivory Queen of Soul”… A TRUE GREAT!!!
Teena Marie, along with Dusty Springfield, The Bee Gees and Lisa Stansfield, opened the doors for White artists to even grace or set their feet the R&B/Soul genre/format. Amy Winehouse is most definetely the prime product of their trailblazing.
R.I.P – ALL OF YOU.
Erm, I don’t think Lisa Stansfield is 6 feet deep yet…. :-O
I Really Loved her, my parents always listened to her
Beautiful voice and talent, RIP x
Omg my mother loved her off! Brings back memories. She made great music. RIP Teena Marie!
RIP to Miss Lady T. Baybay this lady could SANG! You hear me?? Blowwwwwww! Her falsetto and runs? Lord! Idk if y’all heard her new album Beautiful but it is amazing!
One of the all time greats and one of my personal favorites
Erm, I don’t think Lisa Stansfield is 6 feet deep yet…. :-O
YOUNG LOVE is my absolute favorite. I’ve loved Teena Marie’s voice since I was a young girl and I truly regret the fact that I never had the chance to see her perform live. DEAR LOVER and OUT ON A LIMB were also a couple of my Lady Tee favs. My favorite duet with Rick James is HAPPY, it’s often forgotten because everyone thinks of FIRE AND DESIRE, another one on my list. Also like BEHIND THE GROOVE & PORTUGUESE LOVE, I could go on and on. She’s just one of the best!
Wow. I just downloaded Behind The Groove, P. Love and I Need Your Lovin two weeks ago….the timing of this post couldn’t have come at a sweeter time. My favorite is when she sang If I Were A Bell to Donnie Simpson on Video Soul. Such a rare and unique talent she had and I love women who could actually write and produce their own stuff like Lady T, Patrice Rushen, Angela Winbush, etc.
Love Teena Marie!!!!!!!