Teena Marie, best known for her 1984 Motown hit ‘Lovergirl’, has been found dead in her Pasadena home at the age of 54.
Teena Marie was born Mary Christine Brockert in 1956 and became a protégé of Rick James after signing to Motown Records in 1976. James had been working on the project album ‘Wild and Peaceful’ originally for Diana Ross but then switched the focus to Teena Marie. It became her debut album. The record featured her first R&B hit ‘I’m Just A Sucker For Your Love’, a duet with James.
Richard Rudolph, who had lost his wife Minnie Ripperton to cancer a year earlier, produced her second album ‘Lady T’. The third album ‘Irons In The Fire’ featured ‘I Need Your Lovin’, Teena Marie’s the first Top 40 hit.
Her biggest hit came in 1984. Teena Marie had left Motown and moved to Epic Records. She released the album ‘Starchild’ and the single ‘Lovergirl’ reached number 4 on the Billboard chart.
In 1994, Teena Marie opted out of the music biz and raised her child Alia Rose and in 2004 made her comeback via Cash Money Records. In 2005, she was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal for the song ‘Still In Love’.
Her last album ‘Congo Square’ was released through Stax Records in 2009. It features collaboration with her daughter Alia Rose and well as appearances from Faith Evans, George Duke and MC Lyte. However, the album was a failure and only sold 20,000 units in the USA.
It was reported last year that Teena Marie had been fighting an addiction to prescription drugs. Authorities say Teena Marie appeared to have died of natural causes.
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