nursev said:

I always thought that when Rick died a big part of Lady T went with him

Yea that's what my dad said.

Timmy84 said:

babybugz said:

At first they didn’t want to reveal she was white right?

Right. They were afraid it would result in a backlash.

Who was there to fear?

The late Debbie Dean was the first White solo female artist on the label. Did the label think the public had a short memory?

[img:$uid]http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn246/themotownbandit84/Rock%20Stars/MV5BMTUwNjE0OTI5M15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMzkwMDU4Mg_V1_SX258_SY400_.jpg[/img:$uid]

Least these musical soulmates are now reunited...maybe not in the way we wished they weren't reunited...

[Edited 12/26/10 21:21pm]

Identity said:

Timmy84 said:

Right. They were afraid it would result in a backlash.

Who was there to fear?

The late Debbie Dean was the first White solo female artist on the label. Did the label think the public had a short memory?

Debbie Dean wasn't a success though, neither was Kiki Dee (until she got with Elton John and his label). The only white act that found success in Motown prior to Teena Marie's arrival in 1975 was Rare Earth but only because they fit in that psychedelic soul sound but were really simply a rock act. But even Rare Earth wasn't totally embraced by blacks when compared to Teena. It wasn't that Motown was worried about what the public would think, it was just deemed unusual for a "white act" to be at Motown. Chris Clark hardly got promoted either. I think Motown really worked on making Teena Marie successful because she had something Motown's other white artists didn't have. Plus the Motown acts that were white was Motown's attempt to conquer the pop market but when that didn't work, Motown began a bigger campaign to bring its black artists to white audiences. They did quite the reverse with Teena because her voice defied her color. And they wanted to test them to see if they would like her. Despite the advances Motown made in the '60s and '70s, times were still rough even as white rock-based artists were being played on R&B radio and classified under blue-eyed soul. Teena stood out. I could hardly put her in the "blue eyed soul" category because she didn't even "try", she just was that soulful.

[Edited 12/26/10 21:30pm]

Man, so sad

musicjunky318 said:

nursev said:

I always thought that when Rick died a big part of Lady T went with him

Yea that's what my dad said.

I remember seeing her on an award show think it was BET and they were giving a tribute to Rick and you could hear the sorrow in her voice She genuinely loved that man and I think his death took a huge toll on her I hope she is resting in peace.

Timmy84 said:

[img:$uid]http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTUwNjE0OTI5M15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMzkwMDU4Mg@@._V1._SX258_SY400_.jpg[/img:$uid]

Least these musical soulmates are now reunited...maybe not in the way we wished they weren't reunited...

Can't see the pic

Timmy84 said:

Identity said:

Who was there to fear?

The late Debbie Dean was the first White solo female artist on the label. Did the label think the public had a short memory?

Debbie Dean wasn't a success though, neither was Kiki Dee (until she got with Elton John and his label). The only white act that found success in Motown prior to Teena Marie's arrival in 1975 was Rare Earth but only because they fit in that psychedelic soul sound but were really simply a white act. But even Rare Earth wasn't totally embraced by blacks when compared to Teena. It wasn't that Motown was worried about what the public would think, it was just deemed unusual for a "white act" to be at Motown. Chris Clark hardly got promoted either. I think Motown really worked on making Teena Marie successful because she had something Motown's other white artists didn't have. Plus the Motown acts that were white was Motown's attempt to conquer the pop market but when that didn't work, Motown began a bigger campaign to bring its black artists to white audiences. They did quite the reverse with Teena because her voice defied her color. And they wanted to test them to see if they would like her. Despite the advances Motown made in the '60s and '70s, times were still rough even as white rock-based artists were being played on R&B radio and classified under blue-eyed soul. Teena stood out. I could hardly put her in the "blue eyed soul" category because she didn't even "try", she just was that soulful.

Anyone remember this one that was written and compose by Lady T for the band Ozone?

Such a groove...indeed!

Damn, my heart is just breaking...Lady T and her incredible one of a kind voice, has gotten me thru many phases in my life, as I am 43 and her music was a huge part of my world. I can't stop crying, ...soul heaven's choir is even greater with the edition of her incredible voice. GONE TO SOON....My condolences and prayers to her family, especially her beautiful daughter. Teena Marie will be forever missed as there is no other like her and there won't be another.

Timmy84 said:

Listening to "Deja Vu" now... her songs take on a real different meaning now it seems...

I was just playing that song earlier in the week, while everyone else was pumping Christmas music. Also was playing "Square Biz" a few days ago also, JUST BECAUSE.

I just woke up from a post-Holiday nap a few moments ago and began to get an uneasy feeling when I checked my PC and found so many people with Teena Marie songs posted on their Facebook accounts, talking about how they were in tears as they were listening to the songs. And I thought: "Uh oh, I've seen this pattern before...". Then I quickly checked my news sites, and I'm just learning the news like 20 minutes ago. Of course I came directly to The Org next.

This is one of the few times where I took the time to read EVERYONE's comments before adding my own to a story this big. Everyone has already expressed everything I feel in my heart right now; disbelief, sadness, heartache. They say the first step in dealing with someone's death is DENIAL. While I understand it to be true, this is some pretty hard news to take, especially one day after Christmas. Everyone had their eye on Aretha, but then we lost Lady T instead (...so unexpectantly). I feel similar to how I felt when I woke up Christmas morning to learn James Brown had passed away.

I don't know what I'm gonna do now. I guess there's nothing for me to do, but to accept it. We all have our stories of how Teena has affected our lives, and how we've enjoyed her music. I guess I have nothing more to add. I am extremely sad. "Fire And Desire" will EXTRA difficult to listen to for a while now, and EXTRA powerful when I finally do.

May Teena be resting peacefully.

Plus while Debbie Dean may have been the "first", she was hardly promoted either. None of her records were hits so she found success on Motown elsewhere as a songwriter. Same with Chris Clark though I believe she was more of an associate of Berry Gordy's and later became a screenwriter (she was nominated for a screenwriting Oscar for her work on Diana's "Lady Sings the Blues"). I think she left Motown after it moved to L.A. in 1972.

Then we have Rick James' own group Mynah Birds, which technically was one of the first interracial rock groups (them and Arthur Lee's Love and of course the Jimi Hendrix Experience) prior to Sly Stone forming Sly and the Family Stone in 1967, and Rick was unusual even then because while he had a natural R&B voice, he was gearing for the same rock crossover success of the Byrds, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. Of course, Rick's problems with the Navy (AWOL) let to an early disbanding of the group. When he returned, they tried again with Neil Young in the lineup but the label dropped them.

In the early 1960s, we also had a white male singing group, the Valadiers, but have you heard of them? Probably not because they disbanded. I think one white male singer got signed and had only one hit with them, but his name escapes me at the moment. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Rare Earth signed and briefly had success on the charts but I think it was because they were promoted as a ROCK act. Debbie Dean and the Valadiers were not R&B anyway. Chris Clark was, but technically I think it was because she was influenced by Jackie DeShannon and Dusty Springfield. But she was hardly promoted either. It was a running joke that a white act on Motown was at best a novelty because Motown didn't struggle to have crossover success with its black acts. And even WITH that, Motown was still called a "black label" by the time Teena joined.

Then in the early 1970s, we had Kiki Dee (no success), Charlene (no success until some disk jockey played "I've Been Good to Me" some seven years after it was released) and Stoney & Meatloaf (yes that Meatloaf) but all three of them were pop-rock. Again no success. Before Judas Priest became who they became, they were on Motown's short-lived Prodigy label, to build a rock/heavy metal base but again that failed. Then we had Bobby Darin in Motown briefly (again no success). Some country artists joined the label (Chris Clark herself attempted comebacks in both rock and country but failed miserably).

Ironically as that was going on, here comes Teena Marie but she stood out because her thing wasn't pop or rock or heavy metal, it was R&B, which I would think SHOCKED Motown. For a minute it seemed Teena would join the list of other white artists who didn't get success as Motown singers. They tried different producers and writers (nothing clicked), then she joined a group (which included Benny Medina and one of Berry Gordy's sons) and that bombed. I have to say had Motown NOT made that decision to Rick James to NOT produce Diana Ross' next album (and instead give her four songs), we probably wouldn't have heard about Teena Marie. Rick James took a chance but he knew Teena was a prodigy that needed to find her voice and she found it through Rick and was able to chart her own path and that led to groundbreaking success in Motown. Never had a white act on Motown's label had a huge R&B hit or went gold and Teena did just that.

That explains why the media has said Teena was the first white artist Motown signed. Technically that wasn't accurate but she WAS the first white artist to find SUCCESS as an artist on Motown. When you think about it, that's real deep.

nursev said:

Timmy84 said:

[img:$uid]http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTUwNjE0OTI5M15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMzkwMDU4Mg@@._V1._SX258_SY400_.jpg[/img:$uid]

Least these musical soulmates are now reunited...maybe not in the way we wished they weren't reunited...

Can't see the pic

It was Rick James and Teena Marie from a 1979 picture.

silverchild said:

Anyone remember this one that was written and compose by Lady T for the band Ozone?

Such a groove...indeed!

I have that album on vinyl.

Ok now I feel it. It took a while to set in but it finally hit me.

I'm in tears.

JabarR74 said:

Guess nobody cares about this tribute.

Im young and Im old

Im rich and Im poor

I feel like Ive been on this earth many times before

Once I was a white gazelle

On horseback riding free

Searching in the darkness for a piece of me

I can feel this for sure...Ive been here before

I used to be a Queen you know

On an island by the sea

With rainbow colored people happy as can be

We never had a problem

Never was a care

Love was overflowing and the feeling shared

I can feel this for sure...Ive been here before

My soul feels like the universe

The feeling never ends

The stars to me are children, the babies are my friends

My heart is like a galaxy

Within my spirit flys

Ive felt this way a million times...please dont ask me why

The question of our lifetime

That's my point of view

They say it all was karma...call it Deja Vu

If hate is on your mind

And you cant give love in kind

If anger is your friend dont you know when you die you'll come back again

In the master's plan

You will come back woman or man

If your life is full of sin dont you know when you die you'll come back again

I thank God, I thank God, I thank God!

Im not coming back no more

Ive been here before

I dont want to come back no more

Identity said:

Timmy84 said:

Right. They were afraid it would result in a backlash.

Who was there to fear?

The late Debbie Dean was the first White solo female artist on the label. Did the label think the public had a short memory?

Kiki Dee is another white female artist that was sign to Motown for a short time.

Timmy84 said:

[img:$uid]http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn246/themotownbandit84/Rock%20Stars/MV5BMTUwNjE0OTI5M15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMzkwMDU4Mg_V1_SX258_SY400_.jpg[/img:$uid]

Least these musical soulmates are now reunited...maybe not in the way we wished they weren't reunited...

Wow Family ...we're getting OLD! We're losing all the music legends of our time .

StonedImmaculate said:

I thank God, I thank God, I thank God!

Im not coming back no more

Ive been here before

I dont want to come back no more

Those last lines of this classic are even more eerie and realistic tonight than they were 30 years ago when this cut first came out. Those lines just hit me hard, very hard.

PDogz said:

Timmy84 said:

[img:$uid]http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn246/themotownbandit84/Rock%20Stars/MV5BMTUwNjE0OTI5M15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMzkwMDU4Mg_V1_SX258_SY400_.jpg[/img:$uid]

Least these musical soulmates are now reunited...maybe not in the way we wished they weren't reunited...

Wow Family ...we're getting OLD! We're losing all the music legends of our time .

This can't happen like this! Send up prayers for the rest of the musical masters we love to stick around!

silverchild said:

StonedImmaculate said:

I thank God, I thank God, I thank God!

Im not coming back no more

Ive been here before

I dont want to come back no more

Those last lines of this classic are even more eerie and realistic tonight than they were 30 years ago when this cut first came out. Those lines just hit me hard, very hard.

Deep lyrics throughout that song. That woman was G.I.F.T.E.D.!

Oh Teena

Rest In Peace....till we meet again.

Timmy84 said:

silverchild said:

Those last lines of this classic are even more eerie and realistic tonight than they were 30 years ago when this cut first came out. Those lines just hit me hard, very hard.

Deep lyrics throughout that song. That woman was G.I.F.T.E.D.!

oh and I can just feel the enormous grief her young daughter must feel. She was only 19, one day after her birthday and Christmas. She has to feel so lost without her mom.

for Alia. I hope her extended family is able to emotionally help her cope.

This one hurts.

Oh, Teena.

Thats what you get for signing with cash money

I wonder what happened, I can't say that I was much of a fan but I do like some of her songs

RIP.

Timmy84 said:

silverchild said:

Those last lines of this classic are even more eerie and realistic tonight than they were 30 years ago when this cut first came out. Those lines just hit me hard, very hard.

Deep lyrics throughout that song. That woman was G.I.F.T.E.D.!

Didn't Rick write those lyrics ??? She was Gifted though...

the seizure she had in November was it the first she ever had or did she suffer from them, i know a few people that have had them sometimes mild and sometimes they can cause hospitlization, there is a surgery that can eliminate what causes seizures, i had an ex girlfriend that had it, despite it being a life threatening brain surgery. So i wonder if she suffered them often.

minneapolisFunq said:

Thats what you get for signing with cash money

I wonder what happened, I can't say that I was much of a fan but I do like some of her songs

RIP.

what is that suppose to mean ?