 The only thing missing from Teena Marie's first album, Wild & Peaceful, was her picture on the cover. "Motown wouldn't allow it," says the soul-jazz prodigy, who's part Portuguese, part French, part Italian and all white. "They were nervous because at the time, there weren't any white artists totally accepted by blacks."
Motown should've had more faith in the fans, who packed the halls during Teena's tour with label-mate Rick James. "We broke Elvis' record in Memphis," she says. "It was amazing to see that many black people there and realize my skin color had nothing to do with it. They were there because they liked the music -- which is why I got into the business in the first place. I always felt that music could bring people together, and I always dreamed of singing on Motown. It was just manifest destiny, I guess."
Or just your everyday breaking-down-the-barriers act. Whatever, the diminutive 27-year-old belter has now followed "I Need Your Lovin' " and "Square Biz" with her biggest crossover success to date -- "Lovergirl," from her hit Starchild album. She's in the middle of her first headline tour, has made her first impact on MTV and has fans of all races ignoring the sticker on her LP: "Caution, the Surgeon General has determined that this album is hazardous to your feet."
For Santa Monica-born Lady T (real name, Mary Christine Brockert), sings of talent surfaced early. At age 2, whe broke into a loud chorus of Harry Belafonte's "Day-O" in church, inspired by the priest chanting Dominus vobiscum, et cum spiritu tuo. "My mother freaked out," she remembers. "She pushed me under a coat and out the door. But she knew that her little girl really wanted to sing."
Within a few years, that little girl was performing with a 36-piece orchestra, forming her own group and getting gigs on TV commercials and The Beverly Hillbillies At home, she was listening to Motown records, writing out the lyrics to Diana Ross songs. "Friends and family would come over and say, 'Sing this one, sing that one.' I was a big ham," she recalls, "but that's when my dream to be on Motown began."
That dream was realized during her first year of college, when she signed with the recording giant and followed 1979's Wild & Peaceful with three more Motown albums. But show-biz dreams have a way of turning sour. Teena's curdled when she realized that her contract -- signed when she was a teen and without legal consultation -- paid her the same small amount each year, even when she had a hit record. She defected to Epic, but Motown claimed she owed them one more album. The legal battle kept her at a recording standstill for two years. Last October, a court found in her favor.
"It was rough," says Teena, "and it still hurts to talk about it. Then again, what every good artist probably needs is a lawsuit." Maybe so. Because of her suit, an effort is being made to establish an industry-wide "Teena Marie bill," stipulating that an artist under contract must be paid at least $6,000 a year.
But Lady T came away from the ordeal with more than a proposed bill named after her. At Motown, she formed an alliance -- professional and possibly personal -- with the bad boy of punk funk, Rick James. "One day, he was walking down the hall and heard me," she says. "They'd asked him to produce another artist, but he said, 'I want to do her.' He pushed me to produce myself when I was afraid." As a result, except for her first, she's arranged, produced and written all of her LPs.
She's also picked up other mentors along the way -- Berry Gordy, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye. Starchild contains "My Dear Mr. Gaye," her lyrical tribute to the slain soul singer. And no matter how many sensual duets she's done with James, Teena remains deeply religious. Starchild is dedicated to "Jesus Christ, who makes it possible for me to thank the rest."
The Lord might also have a hand in her next project. The unmarried, unattached Teena wants to bring a real star child -- in the form of a Guatemalan adoptee -- into her Encino, Calif., home. "Nancy Wilson, the jazz singer, is a good friend of mine," says Teena. "Her husband's a minister, and he's going to help me adopt the child. It's something I've thought about for a long while. It'll add one more dimension to my life." Now that's a crossover act.
|
