EB Photography wrote:
Teena Marie died today at the age of 54

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPikYsi6_zU

I saw her and Rick the year before he died.

OMG!!!!!    She was so young!

I'm in shock right now.

Tikeya wrote:
I posted in your other Teena Marie thread, but I'll post here too.

I adore Teena Marie, and my friends on FB said they thought of me as soon as they heard the news. I play the hell outta her CDs all the time, and I used to put the songs "Now That I Have You" and "Latin Lullaby" on repeat when putting my son to bed.


I hope to see a nice tribute done for her on t.v. soon with some REAL singers performing.

I feel with you on this ... still hard for me to wrap my mind around this news.  At 54, she is so young!  Well in fact it'd hard to say this in the past tense, but she was an awesome talent.  HUGS!

EB Photography wrote:
Unbelievable.. she had a show here in the Bay Area next month...
I am soooo saddened. She was one of my absolute fave female artists.

Well my friend, you are the first one whom I heard about this.   You know how much I love great music, and Teena sure did deliver it!  Truly I'm sad to hear about her passing ...  HUGS!

RIP Teena Marie

Patrick Walberg wrote:
Once And Future Dream
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMxG5WP6Wlg

It doesn't really matter to me, but for the longest time when listening to Teena sing, I thought she was black.  When Rick James died, I was sad, but not so surprised knowing how much partying he had done in his life.  I'm curious as to what took Teena away from us, as she seemed in good health and ready to tour.

It didn't matter to blacks either. Tina was one of those few white artist where her racial background didn't matter nor was questioned. She has always been embraced in the black community. I think a major reason is because she never got caught up in the media craze as the next great white hope singer sensation to sing Soul music etc. Imo, that makes a difference and why we have those issues when it comes to color in the industry. Bottom line, Teena was always Teena and not what the media would try to make her out to be or her trying to be a wanna be.

Docta Shock Photografix wrote:
Truly one of the best soul singers ever. This one hit me harder than MJ. We are losing our legends family

Just within the past few years:
James Brown
Michael Jackson
Teena Marie
Rick James
Isaac Hayes
Barry White
Gerald Levert
Ray Charles
Lena Horne
Teddy Pendergrass
Luther Vandross

I know I'm forgetting a few...The R&B world is in mourning. Rest in Glory.. Lovergirl

I was trying to think on my way to work this morning the same thing..

Docta Shock Photografix wrote:
Truly one of the best soul singers ever. This one hit me harder than MJ. We are losing our legends family

Just within the past few years:
James Brown
Michael Jackson
Teena Marie
Rick James
Isaac Hayes
Barry White
Gerald Levert
Ray Charles
Lena Horne
Teddy Pendergrass
Luther Vandross

I know I'm forgetting a few...The R&B world is in mourning. Rest in Glory.. Lovergirl

This list made me cry!
Just came to mind:
Levi Stubbs
as a Four Tops song starts on the radio.

Docta Shock Photografix wrote:
Marvin Isley - Bass player. The baby of the family

Marvin was taught how to play the guitar via Jimi Hendrix. I think that Jimmy use to play with them during the 60's.

Legacys 7 wrote:
It didn't matter to blacks either. Tina was one of those few white artist where her racial background didn't matter nor was questioned. She has always been embraced in the black community. I think a major reason is because she never got caught up in the media craze as the next great white hope singer sensation to sing Soul music etc. Imo, that makes a difference and why we have those issues when it comes to color in the industry. Bottom line, Teena was always Teena and not what the media would try to make her out to be or her trying to be a wanna be.

Well I don't care what color someone's skin is, I think you know that about me.  When it comes to great music, I don't give a damn if the singer is purple and from Mars! 

It was the record company she signed with that gave her shit!  Motown wouldn't release an album with her picture on the cover, and they kept the fact that she's lighter skinned than most of their signed artists at the time.  I guess they thought they were protecting her?  Or more likely they were protecting their "investment" .. she didn't need that. 

Teena Marie played multiple instruments and wrote a lot of her own music.   I said what I did because Motown was so skittish about her "image" and wanting to control her music.  No wonder she broke the contract with them!  She could go her own way, and she did!  Audiences loved her!   

Knowing what I do now about Teena Marie, I think she was a very brave woman who had the talent to do her thing regardless of what those critics that love to rip artists to shreds would say.  It was the audience that she cared about and she has a lot of fans of all colors around the World.

My prayers go out to her family, especially her daughter who found her!

EB Photography wrote:
Some VERY touching words from Lenny Kravitz on Teena
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VW9j9xr_Qg

Wow!  I did not know this about her.  The World has lost a truly extraordinary woman! 

Select Models wrote:
Bummer... gonna missya TM... dug that 'LoverGirl' song... ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYVWoi72 … re=related

(turn it up)

Great song

I remember playing this when I was a DJ at a teeny bopper club
way back in the Mid 80`s

Docta Shock Photografix wrote:
Truly one of the best soul singers ever. This one hit me harder than MJ. We are losing our legends family

Just within the past few years:
James Brown
Michael Jackson
Teena Marie
Rick James
Isaac Hayes
Barry White
Gerald Levert
Ray Charles
Lena Horne
Teddy Pendergrass
Luther Vandross

I know I'm forgetting a few...The R&B world is in mourning. Rest in Glory.. Lovergirl

sucks.

and they all could actually sing/compose/play instruments vs that altered fake synth electronically doctored crap they try and pass off as singing now.

Patrick Walberg wrote:
Well I don't care what color someone's skin is, I think you know that about me.  When it comes to great music, I don't give a damn if the singer is purple and from Mars! 

It was the record company she signed with that gave her shit!  Motown wouldn't release an album with her picture on the cover, and they kept the fact that she's lighter skinned than most of their signed artists at the time.  I guess they thought they were protecting her?  Or more likely they were protecting their "investment" .. she didn't need that. 

Teena Marie played multiple instruments and wrote a lot of her own music.   I said what I did because Motown was so skittish about her "image" and wanting to control her music.  No wonder she broke the contract with them!  She could go her own way, and she did!  Audiences loved her!   

Knowing what I do now about Teena Marie, I think she was a very brave woman who had the talent to do her thing regardless of what those critics that love to rip artists to shreds would say.  It was the audience that she cared about and she has a lot of fans of all colors around the World.

My prayers go out to her family, especially her daughter who found her!

Bro. Trust, I know the story. I'm from Motown. Motown's control is nothing new. No more different than Warner Brothers and the rest. BUT, them not putting her on the cover had more to do with a business/marketing move that really benefited the both of them due to the unknowing. Blacks, like whites (not in general) can be unacceptable too when it come to color in the industries. Blame that on the legacy of racism. Summary: Motown's move was more about not getting sells from blacks, seeing that most of their customers are. In the end they found out that they were wrong. Again, that had more to do with Teena not getting caught up in the media hype as the next great white female singer singing soul etc.

When I applied to your initial post, it was to make a point that Teena was one of those few artist that never had that issue in the Black community. A rare thing because there's always going to be someone that's going to hate. Kind of like Bruce Lee, he is an icon in the Black community.

Patchouli Nyx wrote:

sucks.

and they all could actually sing/compose/play instruments vs that altered fake synth electronically doctored crap they try and pass off as singing now.

that's funny. I said this yesterday on FB when I posted a Temptations song, pointing out that if many of todays singers were put to the test back during those years, they wouldn't have a career because there was nothing there to incognito bad singing like today.

Patchouli Nyx wrote:

sucks.

and they all could actually sing/compose/play instruments vs that altered fake synth electronically doctored crap they try and pass off as singing music now.

Correction made! 

Legacys 7 wrote:

Marvin was taught how to play the guitar via Jimi Hendrix. I think that Jimmy use to play with them during the 60's.

Yes he did play with the Isley's for a minute, but Jimi's effect was more on Ernie Isley, who plays lead guitar.

Docta Shock Photografix wrote:
Not putting Teena's photo on the cover was a marketing thing. Motown did the same with the Isley Brothers lp. "This Old Heart of Mine"

"The album's cover was controversial because it did not depict the three African-American brothers, instead using a picture of two white teenage lovers on a beach. The cover would be parodied in the 1991 movie, The Five Heartbeats, where the group and its manager are taken aback that the group's faces were not shown on their album cover"

Interesting..

EB Photography wrote:

Interesting..

Yes. This is what I was pointing out to Patrick. It's a messed up thing, but in the business world, you do what you gotta do to make the sells because people can be prejudice before taking the time to see the actual talent. Once the consumers get past that, they end up putting the artist face on the album.

Prince during the 80's use to be a very controversial artist where people called him the devil, playing devil music. But many artist who knew him, knew that he had writing talent. So for a long time when he wrote for some big names, (not those that were part or associated with his bands) he would go under an unknown name(s) while the artist were making the top record charts. People were wondering who were these mysterious writers. They found out that it was Prince. The naysayers jumped on the bandwagon. Real talent can stand the test of time. PRince has been in the mainstream since the late 70's.