You might remember her from 1-800-NEW-FUNK. She had that song "Standing at the Alter".

What ever happened to her? She has one of my favorite voices ever, and thats the only song of hers I know!

"Standing At The Altar" is an excellent song

You can catch Margie Cox every Monday Night at Bunkers in Minneapolis playing with the Combo. If your in Minneapolis, check it out, the band kicks ass and Margie is extremely approachable and loves talking with her fans. But do get there a little early unless you dont mind standing.
http://www.bunkersmusic.com/
http://www.bunkersmusic.c...combo.html

BTW - The Combo also features Michael B and Sonny T in the band.

Wasn't Margie also Tamara from Tamara and the Seen.. ?

yes she was, then she did her album with Prince as MC Flash that was never released...but did leak, but I suspect, there is much more Margie/Prince material that hasn't surfaced.. and also a few years ago, Margie released her own solo album called Margie's Little Demo, that came out..and apparently sold out and has never been available since...yet CD Baby lists it as coming back in stock soon, but its said that for damn near 2 years
http://cdbaby.com/cd/margaretcox

her cdbaby page also has a excellent history on her...

Margaret Cox Career Highlights

1975
While in only ninth grade, Margaret helps form her first band, Split Rock, with her friend Shine and her music teacher, Morrie Dunow. The group evolves into her first gigging band, Perception. Although she is too young to drive, let alone drink, Margaret sings at Bootlegger Sam's bar at night and attends Marshall U. High by day!

1976
Still under the legal drinking age, she is invited to join Sweet Thing, the house band at The Mermaid Supper Club. Singing the funk of the day, Margaret really starts building her chops.

1979
St. Paul's notorious Raggs invites Margaret to join the band, and they rock the house at clubs such as The Cabooze, The Hideaway, Thumper's, Boyd's on the River, and The Pain Reliever.

1980
She joins forces with her hot singing buddy, Melanie Rosales, and they blow away the Twin Towns with The Doug Maynard Band. The group wins the first of its many Twin Cities' Yammie Awards at Uncle Sam's in Minneapolis. They also pack places like Mr. Nibb's, The Union Bar, Moby Dick's, Duffy's and Bootlegger Sam's.

1982
Grammy Award winner Bonnie Raitt recruits Margaret, Melanie and the rest of The Doug Maynard Band to tour the country as her backup group. R&B fans everywhere love Bonnie's runaway hit single Green Lights. After the tour, the group returns to Minneapolis and forms the TC Jammers.

1983
Funkytown creator Steven Greenberg enlists Margaret and Melanie to sing on Lipps Inc.'s fourth album. The record gets lots of radio and club play, and results in a sizable U.S. tour.

1983
Still gigging with The T.C. Jammers, Margaret joins up with Patty Peterson and her brother Paul to form the Peterson-Cox Band.

1983
After a brief stint with Inside Straight, Margaret then joins Metropolis with Sean LaBelle, frequently appearing at Williams Pub in Uptown Minneapolis.

1984
Margaret links up with Rupert's Orchestra, and performs regularly at the elegant nightclub for a couple of years.

1985 - 1986
Jesse Johnson of The Time changes Margaret's name to Ta Mara and produces her solo album for A&M Records, Ta Mara And The Seen. The first single, Everybody Dance, spends several weeks at #1 on the R&B charts before crossing over to #21 on the Pop charts. The two subsequent singles, Affection and Blueberry Gossip also do well on the R&B charts.

1986
As Ta Mara, Margaret pens I Need You with Jesse for Paula Abdul's multi-platinum selling Forever Your Girl LP.

1987
Margaret teams up with Melanie Rosales, Cynthia Johnson, and Debbie Duncan and they start a band with Tim Emerson called Dr. Mambo's Combo. (Now called The Legendary Combo, the band is currently celebrating its 16th year of playing the house gig at Bunker's in Minneapolis.)

1990
Prince signs Margaret to Paisley Park Records, changes her name to Margie Cox, and records over 25 songs for her still-unreleased LP called M.C. Flash.

1990s
Margaret is a frequent nominee and winner of the prestigious Minnesota Music Award for Best Female Singer, while The Combo often wins Best R&B Band.

1997
Prince includes Standing at the Altar, one of Margaret's songs on his 1-800-New-Funk CD. It's the first single released from the platinum-selling album.

2002
Margaret finishes writing, recording and mixing her own CD, Margie's Little Demo. The CD is released in September 2002, on Margie's Baby Records.

EVEN THOUGH SHE "WORKED" WITH PRINCE, JESSE MADE HER A STAR AS TA MARA & THE SEEN:

"TA MARA & THE SEEN" (1985)

"BLUEBERRY GOSSIP" (1988)

didn't prince screw her by keeping her locked up in a "CONtract"?

I saw her and Combo play when I was in MPLS two decembers ago...they were great. one of favorite nights of music...great music and great company.

twistedeargasm said:

that's correct

Questions:

1. Did Tamara/Margie sing on Lipps INc "Funkytown"? or just join the band later?

2. Why did Jesse change her name to Tamara? it's not tht different..... it's not like going from Denise to Vanity or Patty to Apollonia!

GaryMF said:

I don't think she had anything to do with Lipps, Inc. until '83. Cynthia Johnson (MPLS native and one-time lead singer for Flyte Tyme in the '70s) was the vocalist on Funkytown.

I've often wondered about the TaMara/Margaret name change too. Maybe Jesse and/or A&M Records didn't think Margaret's name was that marketable and wanted a stage name for her and the band. Unfortunately, TaMara & the Seen wasn't that odd for '85. Certainly beats the name Da'Krash (another Jesse produced band).

pzlyprk said:

Thanks. I need to stop telling people she sang FUnkytown then!

I had Tamara & The SEen's 1st album on a tape someone made me but i lost it . I think I have Blueberry Gossip on cassette too. WEird how back then it seemed more "innovative" to buy them on cassette in the clear shiny cases, rather than vinyl. Although now vinyl probably would be better so I could convert to a CD (assuming it didnt' break).

I have most of the 1st album on Mp3 from my old Napster days but I wish they woudl release this stuff on CD or at iTUnes.

GaryMF said:

Not a bad thing to have the cassettes. It just depends on what shape they are in. I can transfer (to digital) from cassette the same way I would from vinyl. I've got both of those TaMara albums on cassette. Thankfully they are both in pretty good shape. The problem I've had with some of the older cassettes is that they either leak sound from the other side of the tape or they've acquired a squeak/squeal that's audible on any of the players that I've tried. The squeal thing happened after only one or two plays on two of my classic Andre Cymone tapes -- Livin in the New Wave and Survivin in the 80s. That's when it sucks. I'd much prefer to have found those on vinyl (in hindsight).

pzlyprk said:

I'VE GOT BOTH ON VINYL, AND HAVE TRANSFERRED THEM TO CD!!!!! I HAVE 2 SAY I LIKE THE FIRST LP BETTER THAN THE SECOND, BUT I'M GLAD I HAVE BOTH!!!!

sosgemini said:

YOU CAN'T KEEP TRUE TALENT DOWN!!!!!
GO, MS. COX!!!!!

Great rawking voice. Bet she's a bit of a screamer