from:
http://au.news.yahoo.com/.../jfqr.html

FEATURE-Singers Rick James, Teena Marie hope to tour again

Soul singers Rick James and Teena Marie, two of the 1980s' best-known performers, have traveled vastly different paths since they made hits together, but they hope to collaborate again on a joint tour this year.
In the 1980s, James, 54, and Marie, 46, sustained solo careers driven by a knack for both floor-shaking funk jams, such as his "Give It To Me Baby," and touching love songs.

James produced her 1979 debut album "Wild and Peaceful" and wrote most of its songs, including their hit duet "I'm Just a Sucker for Your Love." Their most popular collaboration was "Fire and Desire," a heartbreaking 1981 ballad about a failed relationship.


Both enter 2003 optimistically, fueled by new projects, all the while hoping to leaving behind decades of record industry troubles and, in James' case, illness and prison.

"We are back together again. We have two things on her new album and a tune on mine, and we are going on tour," James told Reuters in a recent interview.

Despite their enthusiasm for what would be their first joint tour in almost two decades, no firm plans exist yet. A spokesman for Universal Music, the current parent of Motown Records, was not aware of dates for any joint concerts.

FOREVER LINKED

While they each scored numerous solo hits, rhythm and blues history links them forever. Marie, a white, 4-foot-11-inch guitar player gifted with a robust bluesy voice, was signed while still a teen-ager by Berry Gordy to join his legendary Motown label, where she joined a roster made famous by its African-American soul artists.

Her debut album was a hit, even though Gordy and James decided that her picture should not appear on its cover because they thought audiences would be less willing to accept her if they knew she was white.

Today, Marie says her memories of Motown are mixed.

"I don't think that I could have had the career that I had were I not there," she said by telephone from her Los Angeles home. "I understood what they were saying and it kind of made sense. Rick and Berry are brilliant individuals and I felt they probably knew what they were talking about."

James and Marie's potential 2003 return comes on the heels of the release of remastered versions of critical 1981 Motown albums for both: "Street Songs," James's biggest seller, and Marie's "It Must Be Magic."

Ironically, "Magic" was Marie's last album for Motown. Money woes drove her away from the place where she recorded hits like "Portuguese Love" and rubbed elbows with greats like Stevie Wonder. Legal action yielded the "Teena Marie law," which protects artists rights, and she eventually won a suit against the label for nonpayment of royalties.

"There were certain things that happened back then that make me feel a little funny sometimes," she said. "Rick and I had the No. 1 and No. 2 albums that summer, and we were selling out on tour, but I didn't make any money."

STAYING CLOSE

Marie and James did not work together again after she left Motown. But despite ups and downs in their friendship, they have stayed close and she sang at his mother's funeral in 1991.

Her fate improved after she moved to Epic Records, where Marie, born Mary Christine Brockert, went on to string together more hits, such as "Lovergirl."

Her luck turned again, for the worse, in 1994 when she tried to record, produce, press and distribute an album without the help of a major label. To put it mildly, "Passion Play" was a business disaster.

"I have 40,000 CDs in my garage," she said as she cooked a meal at home. "We sold about 100,000 copies, but I learned not to do it by myself again."

Since then she's been touring sporadically, recording when she can and raising her daughter, Alia. She has been grinding out songs for her new package of original songs, "Black Rain," for almost four years but won't try to publish it on her own.

This time she is paired with an unlikely group -- the gold-teeth-flaunting hip-hop crew at Cash Money Records, home of the Grammy-nominated duo the Big Tymers. It's a savvy deal: Cash Money broadens its roster to rhythm and blues, and Marie gains a machine that has proven it can sell records.

James applauds Marie's decision, but said he wants to go it alone with his plan to sell a double-album of new cuts later this year.

"She feels comfortable with a company: I don't, and I have the intelligence and I do the due diligence," he said. "I know what it takes to make a record happen."

'SUPERFREAK'

In the late 1970s, James first used that winning formula to help resuscitate Motown after its star had begun to fade, with his flavor of brash, no-holds-barred funk. Created with his Stone City Band, James melded his percussive bass with disco's energy to make "let-me-hold-you-tight" grooves.

The height of his wining streak was "Street Songs," whose party-life themes, such as "Superfreak," reflected the rascality of James and his crew.

"It was the best time of my life," he said. "We were doing groundbreaking tours, and a lot of drugs and drank a lot. We didn't know anything about Betty Ford or addiction in those days. It's hard to reflect and remember those times, they are very vague to me -- a lot of it is a haze."

Misfortune followed for James. He served two years in prison for a 1993 conviction on charges of assaulting two women while under the influence of cocaine and suffered a stroke in 1998 caused by a condition known as rock 'n' roll neck, brought on by whiplash-like motion of the head and neck on stage.

And in November, Los Angeles police began probing allegations that James sexually assaulted a woman at his home. James contends he was the victim of a financially motivated smear campaign.

Still, his music, like Teena Marie's, has remained in demand, a sign they hope that audiences will want their live shows as much as they want to perform them. Their baselines thrive in the hip-hop genre, which has borrowed from each to make hits, such as The Fugees reworking of her "Ooh La La La," and his "Superfreak," known best as the key to MC Hammer's 1990s phenomenon "U Can't Touch This."

"She's ready and I'm ready and people are ready for it," said James. "They are ready for some love."

Great news huh!

I read about it a while ago on Rick's site, and it's great to see it getting a little press.

Just hope they come to the UK

YEP YEP.

I hope Rick will once and for all get it together. Their voices always sounded so good together LIVAE!!!

queen627 said:

Get what together? Rick's music has never suffered substantially from his legal and health issues.

MYNAMEISFACE said:

Rick will be alright.

mistermaxxx said:

oh, so for some reason, ya'll think Rick has hope, but ya'll want to dump over PRince...right

FirstAvenue said:

I think if Rick can drop some Funk he has a Chance but I ain't putting no Money on Him though.Prince drops the Funk then the same thing.people got spoiled by past Greatness don't be madd.