 She is married to her music. It has always been her first love. This becomes increasingly apparent to any visitor who walks up the steps and enters the stately Encino, California home of Teena Marie. Inside, keyboards sit at the end of her bed, a saxophone rests on the right, a guitar on the left. On the night stand, where most people would put a good novel or a spouse's picture, sits a tambourine. Underneath the bedroom is the living room area, which has been appropriately converted to an eight-track studio. This is where she makes her demo tapes before recording the masters at another studio. Where the study would have been is an office with two gold records on the wall, for her Irons in the Fire and It Must Be Magic LPs. This is the T.M. Productions office. Rick James' youger sister, Penny Johnson, is Teena's roomate and manager. To this day, Rick remains her friend and mentor.
"He was in the hallway at Motown Records," Teena fondly remembers. "I was in one of the piano rooms before I even had an album out. He heard me sing. Rick came in and said he wanted to produce me. He did produce my first album. Rick was also the first person who convinced me I could produce myself."
Teena wrote, arranged, and produced her next five albums; she also played guitar, keyboards, and sax on many of the tracks. After four albums and a messy court drama, she wound up leaving Motown, claiming that Motown executives didn't give her the money or respect she was due.
Teena popped on her own cassette, Starchild, turned the volume to 10 and offered to show her video for the song "Lovergirl." It was sing-along-with-Teena time. Teena has a little frame, yet a bold presence. She is 5'1", but has a voice as powerful as large ladies like Jennifer Holiday or Cheryl Lynn.
"My voice is a blessing, God given," Teena explained. "I don't allow myself to think anything else. I've never taken voice or music lessons."
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Mary Christian Brochert (sic), as she was born, has come a long way from the days she spent playing congas with street musicians in California's colorful Venice Beach.
"I grew up a mile from the beach," she reminisced. "There were all different nationalities down there. I absorbed all kinds of music: Crosby, Stills & Nash, Motown, Led Zeppelin, and surfer music."
Teena recalled her neighbor was Mexican: she would wake to the rhythmic sounds of Latin music. When asked of her heritage, she describes herself as a mongrel. Specifically, this green-eyed redhead claims to be Portuguese, Italian, Scotch, Irish, Indian, and French.
Now 25, dressed in faded blue jeans and T-shirt, she looks more like a camp counselor than the glamorous Lady T seen on her album covers. Her right nostril is pierced with a tribal-looking gold hoop and a diamond studded Star of David hangs from her left ear lobe. The star is the same one displayed on the cover of her Starchild album.
"I was Catholic by birth, but I don't believe in one set religion," reflected Teena. "I like to take all religions together. My belief is the six-pointed star was Jesus. He was the Star of David."
One of the songs on Starchild is "My Dear, Mr. Gaye," a tribute on which Marvin Gaye's former musicians appear.
"I recorded my first album in Marvin's studio," remarked Teena. "It's a love story from me and all the women who loved Marvin Gaye. I wanted to write a positive song about him after I found out about his death."
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Like Rick James, who has taken band members and produced them in their own bands, Teena has taken on the role of producing her own band members, who go under the name Q.T. Hush. She secured them a record deal and she says they're hot.
Teena and Q.T. Hush are about to tour the United States. If you should happen upon this little dynamo, be polite and smile, but don't get too close. Remember, her heart has already been captured by her music, and she's beating the odds: hers is a working and prosperous relationship.
"I never get overly lonely, because I love my music. If things get depressing, I write," she explained. "I'm very much a loner. I don't have to step outside my house. I don't think I'll ever get married. I like guys, but not husbands."
For now at least, her immediate ties are her friends and her pets. She has a black and white Shitzu pup named Frances, after Frances Farmer (or more precisely, after Jessica Lange's movie portrayal of Farmer), and a cat, Robbery, after the title of her 1983 album. The pets act as a substitute for children, perhaps.
"I'm adopting a child from Guatemala," Teena then confided with an anxious smile. "I want a little girl. Eventually, I want six or seven children of my own."
And that's Teena Marie.
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