Teena Marie - Wild And Peaceful LP (1979) Gordy - CD (Expanded Edition) + Bonus Tracks (2005) Hip O Select - Rare Soul (MP3)

This was the debut album of Teena Marie,but rather than post up the LP rip ive choosen to post the CD with xtra bonus tracks instead....“Never in my life,” said Rick James, “had I heard such a range with so much passion.”  The future Teena Marie is born Mary Christine (Tina) Brockert on March 5, 1956, in Santa Monica, California where she lived all her life.  Later estranged from her mother, she moves in with Berry Gordy’s brother, Fuller, and his partner Winnie Jones, and auditions for a Motown TV project.  This fails to reach the screen, but Teena signs to the record company in 1976 as part of a group, Entourage.  Producer Hal Davis teams her with singer Ronnie McNeir, but there are no commercial sparks until she connects with Rick James, riding high at Motown with his "Come Get It" album. Rick was to become her Mentor in the music business & The pair shared a tumultuous on/off love affair. ....Recording in Marvin Gaye’s studio, among other locations, Rick produces and writes for Teena’s debut album, Wild and Peaceful, issued on the Gordy label in March 1979.  The lead single, “I’m A Sucker For Your Love,” is a Top 10 R&B smash, while the LP contains a stunning Rick ’n’ Tee collaboration, “Déjà Vu (I’ve Been Here Before),” and a savvy remake of Smokey Robinson’s “Don’t Look Back,” first cut by the Temptations. Check out the great version of Brenda Holloways "Every Little Bit Hurts" a bonus track...The sales of Wild and Peaceful encourage Motown to enlist producer Richard Rudolph for its follow-up, "Lady T".  She co-produces the album with Rudolph and co-writes most of it, including “Behind The Groove,” another R&B hit.  Lady T outcharts Teena’s debut, enabling her to take complete charge of her next, Irons In The Fire.  Its lead track, “I Need Your Lovin’,” becomes an R&B Top 10 entry, a Top 40 crossover hit  and an instant signature song for the budding star.  Her backing band is Ozone, also signed with Motown. Teena again produces herself on "It Must Be Magic", an album brimming with classics, including the hit “Square Biz” and “Portuguese Love.” She appears simultaneously on Rick James’s smash album "Street Songs", on a lengthy slow jam duet, “Fire And Desire,” that becomes a centerpiece of their tour together in the summer of ’81. Teena’s time at Motown helps the girl make good, although it ends with litigation and a switch to Epic Records. After leaving Motown Records in the 1980s, the label sued her and she responded in a countersuit which resulted in the  “Brockert Initiative” which was named for the singer whose real name was Mary Christine Brockert. The initiative clarified a California law which made it impossible for record labels to keep a performer under contract without paying them royalties. Even then, she stays close to mentor Rick, cutting a duet with him on 1988’s "Naked To The World", while also paying tribute to another of her heroes (“My Dear Mr. Gaye”) on "Starchild" which also includes “We’ve Got To Stop Meeting Like This,” a duet with her first Motown mentor Ronnie McNeir. Rick re-appears with Teena on La Doña, her 2004 R&B-cum-hiphop album on Ca$h Money Classics, her best-seller since leaving Motown. RJ aside, Lady T maintains links with other citizens of the Motor City:  Smokey Robinson, for example, who appears on her 2006 release, "Sapphire".  And two years before Teena’s untimely death the day after Christmas 2010, she is gracious about Motown’s founder.  “No one ever understood me quite the way Mr. Gordy did,” she said.  “People say to me Why aren’t you bitter?’  Bitter?  I have a great life.  Yeah, I lost a little money at first, but he has a lot of respect for me. Despite the legal troubles, Marie and Berry Gordy remained close and she often referred to him as her father. The Motown founder said he was devastated by her death.On December 26, 2010, Teena died of natural causes. For six years, up to a month before her death, she had suffered seizures after being hit on the head by a falling picture frame while sleeping in a hotel room...She recorded 16 albums and 50 odd 45,s in her career..I always loved her voice and delivery. She was a Huge fan of Sarah Vaughn & Marvin Gaye...But then again who is,nt if your into Black Music ?

AMM

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