So, I've always wondered about this, but since Lady Tee has passed I've been wondering more. What have been Teena Marie's connections to Prince?

Even without knowing anything about her personally, back when Lovergirl came out you knew she listened to lots of Prince. It was straight up Minneapolis sound on that track. Right down to the chicken scratch guitar lick and the synth horns. Even the video for the song ape the Automatic video a bit. Even more recent live videos of her she'll ad snippets of I wanna be your Lover into her set.

This last three days I've seen a few more things. Wendy and Lisa posted on Twitter that they were on the road with her way back when. I wondered if they meant the Rick James tour, or did Teena Marie tour with Prince?

Also I noticed that Jill Jones wrote a song on one of her early Motown records. I knew that Jill had been a back-up singer for Teena Marie.

What other Prince / Teena Marie connections are there. She seems to have been deeply influenced by him, but Wikipedia doesn't mention Prince on her page; just Rick James.

Post stories, interviews, pics/info!

I heard a live version of 'Lovergirl' where she played 'I wanna Be Your Lover' at the end.

QuasarOfRock said:

I heard a live version of 'Lovergirl' where she played 'I wanna Be Your Lover' at the end.

OMG! Is Lovergirl a song about wanting to fuck Prince?

JudasLChrist said:

QuasarOfRock said:

I heard a live version of 'Lovergirl' where she played 'I wanna Be Your Lover' at the end.

OMG! Is Lovergirl a song about wanting to fuck Prince?

I don't know about all that, just saying I heard a live version that combined the two.

Teena's Emerald City album is definitely inspired by Prince's Purple Rain. You can hear the MPLS vibe in tracks like Once Is Not Enough & Lips To Find You.

JudasLChrist said:

QuasarOfRock said:

I heard a live version of 'Lovergirl' where she played 'I wanna Be Your Lover' at the end.

OMG! Is Lovergirl a song about wanting to fuck Prince?

Lovergirl was Teena's counter-response to Billy Ocean's Loverboy.

Teena's backing band (which can be seen online in the live-clips of "Lovergirl") recorded on their own

as the band Q.T. Hush which Teena co-produced : Q.T. Hush - Q.T. Hush (Vi...at Discogs

Their leadsinger/guitarist is Nikki Slick (2nd from the left) and rocks somewhat elements of the Minneapolis look,

and the bassplayer is Allen McGrier (2nd from the right) who was also part of Rick James' Stone City Band after

former bassman Oscar Alton left. I think it's Allen also thumping the bass on the studio-recording of "Boys" by the Mary Jane Girls.

[Edited 12/29/10 3:49am]

Teena Marie was opening act for 11 concerts of Prince' Dirty-Mind-Tour in the year 1980.

My friend emailed me this article yesterday:

yeahthatsthe1 said:

Jill Jones & Teena Marie were cousins.

i dont know about that....but Jill Jones' mother was Teena Marie's manager.

Perhaps Prince might throw in a Teena Marie song in the setlist @ tonight's MSG show.

Similar to what he did with Shake Your Body.

Shango thanks for posting that info. I always thought that was a "put together" band just for that video. Ya learn something new everyday on the org.

QT HUSH! Awesome. Love the Rick James steals Prince's synths story. That one inspired my friend and I to sit down and re-listen to Street Songs for Prince Keyboards.

Keep it coming, ya'll.

chocolate1 said:

My friend emailed me this article yesterday:

Teena Marie on Prince and Rick James[Rick] James’s charisma was matched only by his audacity and Teena [Marie] was able to see these sides of the

King of Punk Funk both on-stage and off. In 1980, Prince opened for James on the Fire It Up tour. James complained that Prince stole his stage moves and according to Marie, Rick paid Prince back by stealing his gear. “Back then people weren’t really programming their own synthesizers,” says Teena. “Prince - you know – he’s a genius... he was one of the only one’s who could really do that – probably him and Stevie [Wonder] were the only one’s really doing it…[Prince] was programming all his synthesizers and setting the presets with his own sound and …at the end of the tour [Rick] took [Prince’s] synthesizers.” Teena cannot help but chuckle as she recounts the story. “He took them to Sausalito and he actually used them on the Street Songs album and then he sent them back to [Prince] with a thank you card. He was a piece of work…and a brilliant genius, too!”

Teena later found herself wedged between the two future legends when she went on the road with Prince. “We were on the Dirty Mind tour together… [Prince and I] never had a problem. We would kick it…neither one of us drank so after the concerts we’d go and sit and have our little orange juice or whatever. He had a lot of respect for me. There were some nights that I would come on stage and I would kick his butt, you know, and [afterwards] he’d walk by me and go “Whew! I have to work hard tonight’ and there were some nights that he would come by and say ‘I whooped you! I whooped you tonight!’ so it was really awesome and he’s always been really wonderful to me.”

For James, however, it was a different story. “I don’t think Rick really liked the fact that [Prince and I] were friends but you know….The rivalry to me as I look back on it - it was really Rick. It wasn’t really Prince. It was more Rick than anything. I never really saw Prince feeding into it too much. It really actually saddened me because I think the two of them would have made some amazing music together. It would have been ridiculous…but you know…it was what it was…I’m not really sure why it started. Rick always said it was because Prince snubbed his mother.” Indeed, James claimed that Prince had insulted his mother at the 1982 American Music Awards by refusing to give her an autograph. The mood should have been celebratory - Teena was nominated for Favorite Soul R&B Female Artist and Rick won Best Soul/R&B Album for Street Songs - but Rick was having none of it. Backstage, Prince’s manager at the time (the late Steve Fargnoli) hastily arranged for Prince to apologize but James ignored him. Even today, Teena views the story skeptically. “I really find that hard to believe and if it did happen, I don’t think it was intentional because Prince just isn’t that kind of guy. So it could have just been unintentional where she was around and he didn’t see her, you know what I’m saying? And Rick really knew how to take stuff and run with it…but from everything that I know [Rick] really, really did like [Prince’s] music….” Laughing, Teena adds one more caveat: “Although he would never admit to it. He would never admit to that.”

http://mrberre.posterous....ick-james

Rick was a trip

JudasLChrist said:

QT HUSH! Awesome. Love the Rick James steals Prince's synths story. That one inspired my friend and I to sit down and re-listen to Street Songs for Prince Keyboards.

Keep it coming, ya'll.

That's a interesting take. Even if Rick jacked his boards I doubt you'd hear a "Prince sound" on the album. lol Y'know Bruce Springsteen played the same Hohner guitar Prince had on 1999/Purple Rain, but they sound nothin alike. Prince even gave Jesse Johnson the same console he used on 1999 that Jesse used on Shockadelica, but aside from their connections they still sound nothin alike. The thing is that no matter whos gear you're usin you're not gonna sound like them. Every musician has their own personal touch, and Prince and Rick James were both doin their own thing so tough they couldn't sound like anyone else much less each other.

teiemka said:

diamondpearl1 said:

JudasLChrist said:

QT HUSH! Awesome. Love the Rick James steals Prince's synths story. That one inspired my friend and I to sit down and re-listen to Street Songs for Prince Keyboards.

Keep it coming, ya'll.

That's a interesting take. Even if Rick jacked his boards I doubt you'd hear a "Prince sound" on the album. lol Y'know Bruce Springsteen played the same Hohner guitar Prince had on 1999/Purple Rain, but they sound nothin alike. Prince even gave Jesse Johnson the same console he used on 1999 that Jesse used on Shockadelica, but aside from their connections they still sound nothin alike. The thing is that no matter whos gear you're usin you're not gonna sound like them. Every musician has their own personal touch, and Prince and Rick James were both doin their own thing so tough they couldn't sound like anyone else much less each other.

I literally meant Prince Oberheim keyboard patches. If I use a prince horn patch on something, it actually is going to sound like a Prince horn patch. No matter who uses it. How people use it a whole 'nother issue.

RICK JAMES WAS A MAJOR A HOLE JUST ASK ASK ANYONE WHO WAS AROUND HIM AT THE TIME

jokocur said:

RICK JAMES WAS A MAJOR A HOLE JUST ASK ASK ANYONE WHO WAS AROUND HIM AT THE TIME

As was Prince, so what's your point?

Jill Jones was Prince's girl and she is Teenas sister

I read somewhere that Teena always wanted Prince. That was what made Rick jealous, she told Rick that she thought Prince was sexy. I think its all hilarious, I can't see Teena being Prince. But I would have loved to hear her sing with him! She and Prince have mad vocals!!!

SPYZFAN1 said:

Shango thanks for posting that info. I always thought that was a "put together" band just for that video. Ya learn something new everyday on the org.

You're welcome

JudasLChrist said:

QT HUSH! Awesome.

chocolate1 said:

My friend emailed me this article yesterday:

Teena Marie on Prince and Rick James[Rick] James’s charisma was matched only by his audacity and Teena [Marie] was able to see these sides of the

King of Punk Funk both on-stage and off. In 1980, Prince opened for James on the Fire It Up tour. James complained that Prince stole his stage moves and according to Marie, Rick paid Prince back by stealing his gear. “Back then people weren’t really programming their own synthesizers,” says Teena. “Prince - you know – he’s a genius... he was one of the only one’s who could really do that – probably him and Stevie [Wonder] were the only one’s really doing it…[Prince] was programming all his synthesizers and setting the presets with his own sound and …at the end of the tour [Rick] took [Prince’s] synthesizers.” Teena cannot help but chuckle as she recounts the story. “He took them to Sausalito and he actually used them on the Street Songs album and then he sent them back to [Prince] with a thank you card. He was a piece of work…and a brilliant genius, too!”

Teena later found herself wedged between the two future legends when she went on the road with Prince. “We were on the Dirty Mind tour together… [Prince and I] never had a problem. We would kick it…neither one of us drank so after the concerts we’d go and sit and have our little orange juice or whatever. He had a lot of respect for me. There were some nights that I would come on stage and I would kick his butt, you know, and [afterwards] he’d walk by me and go “Whew! I have to work hard tonight’ and there were some nights that he would come by and say ‘I whooped you! I whooped you tonight!’ so it was really awesome and he’s always been really wonderful to me.”

For James, however, it was a different story. “I don’t think Rick really liked the fact that [Prince and I] were friends but you know….The rivalry to me as I look back on it - it was really Rick. It wasn’t really Prince. It was more Rick than anything. I never really saw Prince feeding into it too much. It really actually saddened me because I think the two of them would have made some amazing music together. It would have been ridiculous…but you know…it was what it was…I’m not really sure why it started. Rick always said it was because Prince snubbed his mother.” Indeed, James claimed that Prince had insulted his mother at the 1982 American Music Awards by refusing to give her an autograph. The mood should have been celebratory - Teena was nominated for Favorite Soul R&B Female Artist and Rick won Best Soul/R&B Album for Street Songs - but Rick was having none of it. Backstage, Prince’s manager at the time (the late Steve Fargnoli) hastily arranged for Prince to apologize but James ignored him. Even today, Teena views the story skeptically. “I really find that hard to believe and if it did happen, I don’t think it was intentional because Prince just isn’t that kind of guy. So it could have just been unintentional where she was around and he didn’t see her, you know what I’m saying? And Rick really knew how to take stuff and run with it…but from everything that I know [Rick] really, really did like [Prince’s] music….” Laughing, Teena adds one more caveat: “Although he would never admit to it. He would never admit to that.”

http://mrberre.posterous....ick-james

Thanks for posting. Nice read indeed

I esp. like this part:

Sweet. I can picture them sipping orange juice talking quietly after the shows.