DJ Times: You are a protege of Rick James. What is that relationship all about? And how did the two of you get together?

Teena Marie: I was playing piano in someone's office about 11 to 12 years ago, and he was walking down the hall and heard me sing. He peeked his head in the door and stopped to listen. At the time, they had asked him to produce somebody else on the label -- a real big star -- Diana Ross. "Sucker For Your Love" was supposed to have been for Diana Ross and he said right there and then, pointing to me, "I wanna do her!"

DJ Times: That must've flattered you and caught you by surprise at the same time.

Teena: Well yeah, but Rick wasn't a star then. His first album was just coming out. So I didn't know who he was. But I found out soon enough later on that he was very talented. Now, mind you, I was real leery about working with anybody. They had me working with every producer on the label at that time, and I wasn't excited about it at all.

DJ Times: So Rick James provided you with your first record.

Teena: Yeah. He produced the first one, and I've produced every album since then.

DJ Times: The new album has a Soul II Soul influence on it.

Teena: Really. That's funny, because Jazzie B tells me I'm his influence. He told me that he patterned his career off of me and Barry White.

DJ Times: Jazzie B produced "Since Day One."

Teena: We co-produced it together.

DJ Times: Why Jazzie B?

Teena: 'Cause I like Jazzie. And I like his music. And I thought it would be good to work together on my record, so we'd get something very different.

DJ Times: What is it about his approach to producing that you find applicable to your work?

Teena: His sparseness. There's not a lot of instrumentation on the tracks. I thought that would be good because we would just kind of let me shine.

DJ Times: And Tim Regisford remixed a track?

Teena: He did one remix on "Here's Looking At You."

DJ Times: You have a reputation for being hands-on. So how come you had somebody else do a remix for this record?

Teena: Well, I don't always do my own mixing. We just wanted to have the option of having another fresh and different approach.

DJ Times: Is it true that this record is based on your life's experiences?

Teena: Yes. I write about the relationships that I go through and the people that I meet. How specific do you want me to get?

DJ Times: Talk about some of the songs on the album and how they relate to your life.

Teena: Well, "Here's Looking at You" is about somebody that I was with that was very much together in their own personality. The lyric says: "I've been around the world from Casablanca to New York/But in my travels none can touch you." It speaks for itself. When I wrote it, I was toasting the love I had with this person.

DJ Times: What about "Sugar Shack?"

Teena: "Sugar Shack" is just a fun song about hanging out in this club where everyone always has a great time. I got the idea from the Marvin Gaye album, I Want You. The name "Sugar Shack" comes from an Ernie Barnes painting that was the Marvin Gaye album cover . . . You've probably seen that painting hundreds of time, because it was used in the opening of the television show Good Times. It's a really famous painting. It depicts a honky-tonk radio station with all these people getting down and stuff.

DJ Times: There's a strong influence by Sarah Vaughn in some of your singing and songs you've composed.

Teena: Yes. The song "Prelude" is my ode to Sarah Vaughn.

DJ Times: What is it about Sarah Vaughn that has affected your life?

Teena: Everything. Her feeling, her phrasing, the way that she can go up and down the scale when she would sing. When I was a little girl I used to listen to her a lot. I'd stand by the stereo and sing a lot of her stuff. I've done a lot of jazz on all my albums. And I just loved her from the moment I ever heard her. I actually had the privelege of meeting her before she died. She was very kind to me. She actually knew who I was. She amazed me. At the Grammy Awards, she sat down right next to me when my first album came out. I had a jazz track on that album and, without realizing it, I turned around and there she was sitting next to me. My friends knew how much I loved her, and they went and got her to sit next to me. So she sat down and looked right at me and said, "You probably wouldn't think that I know who you are. But I do. And I think you're wonderful."

DJ Times: She said that to you? What an honor.

Teena: You bet it was -- this happened about 10 years ago, and I ended up talking with her for about an hour that night . . . It was a trip, man, I'll say that much. At first I couldn't say much, but then they called her up to the stage to sing with Count Basie. And she brought me up with her -- she took her shoes off and handed them to me and then she sang. I held her shoes during the entire number. I was floored! That was something I'll never forget. I love jazz and I see myself potentially ending just singing jazz one day.

DJ Times: Quite different than the funk/dance stuff you're doing now.

Teena: But if you notice, I always have a jazz number on my albums.

DJ Times: How do you see yourself eventually making that transition into a full-fledged jazz artist?

Teena: That's why I've included jazz material on all my albums, because I can't see myself being 50 or 60 years old and singing dance tunes. No way. That's just not going to work. Most people, when they think about Teena Marie, think about the ballads anyway. I have such a big catalog of ballads and jazz that one day I see myself singing in smaller places with a smaller band, rather than in big concert halls.

DJ Times: What was your upbringing like in Santa Monica, California?

Teena: I hung out in Venice Beach. I was a beach kid. I was always at the beach, always singing. I grew up in an area that was predominantly black and Hispanic. So I was exposed to a lot of different kinds of music, from the "Oakland Stroke" with Tower of Power to the doo-wop groups like the Dramatics and the Moments. This was like in 1975. I was also listening to [Led] Zeppelin and Grand Funk Railroad. All that stuff.

DJ Times: You had a serious accident a few years ago. What happened?

Teena: I fell through the stage. Not off, but through. This was at a show in Dallas, Texas, and there was a hole in the stage that was supposed to be covered and, well, it wasn't. And so I fell through it during the performance. I don't really remember much of what happened, because I was unconscious. I got real lucky because I went to the side of the stage by the speakers where people sit, but don't have the greatest view. I went over there to talk to them and say hello, and, luckily, this security guard was holding my hand, telling me to watch my step. But it was totally dark -- no lights -- and I'm thinking that I'll take a step up or down, but not a step through. Suddenly, I went through this hole, but the security guard caught me. I was very lucky.

DJ Times: What is your attitude about the business of music?

Teena: Sometimes I hate it. I think just like any artist hates it. You just get tired, but there's nothing else that I would rather do.

DJ Times: The record business is competitive, especially the dance music side of it -- how do your make sure that your career gets the utmost attention?

Teena: You can't always do it. At any given time, it depends on who's in charge at the time and how much they're into you.

DJ Times: So what happens when they're not so into you -- what do you do?

Teena: There's not much you can do. You can bitch and scream, but you're usually powerless to change things. I mean you're not going to go out and push the record yourself. What are you going to do? You have to take the bitter with the sweet. Sometimes it's good and sometimes it's bad. Right now, everydody's lovin' me, you know. Next year it might not be like that. But hopefully, that won't be the case.