 Like so many entertainers, Teena Marie has lost time because of lawsuit hassles. It has taken her the last two years -- and close to $1 million in legal fees -- to detach herself from Motown Records. She had made five gold albums for the label, but didn't feel properly compensated and was thus willing to put her career on hold while she stood up for her principles.
The story has a happy ending, however, since Marie has a new deal with CBS Records and they've released her hottest album yet. Starchild, which has sold more than 800,000 copies and spawned the pop and R&B hit, "Lovergirl," with its sexy comeon of "Baby, let me groove you, let me groove into your love."
Marie, who last played this area as opening act for Rick James at the Providence Civic Center four years ago, made up for lost time in a hurry last night. Lending new meaning to the word dynamic, she stormed all over the stage, rivetting the near-sellout crowd of 2500 with her sassy, Bette-Midler-are-you-watchin bump 'n' grinds, and a voice that took off like a panther about to strike.
Yes, she cavorted like a sex symbol -- and dressed in tight, leopart-spotted pants and a suggestive, open-sided top -- but she was talent personified. Of Portuguese descent, the jazz-schooled vative of Venice, Calif. did it all -- from searing funk to pleading soul ballads to scat passages that had the crowd shrieking and owed an obvious debt to Sarah Vaughn and Ella Fitzgerald.
Her backup band, Q.T. Hush, opened with a defensive, uninspired set of generic funk, but once she came out (after an endless delay which saw most of Prince's Purple Rain album played on the soundspeakers), she took command and elevated the mood considerably. "Some people say I don't know who I am, but I don't give a damn!" she bellowed right off, while a fog machine sent up a cloudy swirl behind her.
Now 29, and a show business veteran since she debuted at age 8 as a singing niece on The Beverly Hillbillies, Marie showed her experience in the expert way she related to the crowd (coolly inviting men up to dance and staring them in the eye when she sang torchy love ballads), but also had a newcomer's enthusiasm in the way she held nothing back and sang her heart out. "Won't you say it to me, say it to me, baby, say you love me!" she screamed as her ample voice rocketed through the hall.
Old songs like "I Need Your Lovin' " and "Sucker For Love" boiled her message down in a nutshell. To top it off, she played some great funk guitar to show her versatility. Truly, Teena Marie is a talent whose comeback can't be denied.
|
