TEENA MARIE: Lovegirl! On Parade!
For all the extremely pleasurable flesh pleasures in her music, Teena Marie is devoutly religious. Up until 1985, she probably drew a lot of comfort from the fact that the Lord tends to taketh away every time he giveth. He’d sho’nuff given her plenty: psychic powers; a gospel/ soul/jazz singing voice with more depth than the Grand Canyon; songwriting skills with incredible range; instrumental prowess on keyboards, bass, percussion and almost anything else she cared to try; a sense of groove that could move James Brown; and an eminently lovable personality to boot.
TEENA MARIE: Lovegirl! On Parade!
by
Laura Fissinger
FEATURES
For all the extremely pleasurable flesh pleasures in her music, Teena Marie is devoutly religious. Up until 1985, she probably drew a lot of comfort from the fact that the Lord tends to taketh away every time he giveth. He’d sho’nuff given her plenty: psychic powers; a gospel/ soul/jazz singing voice with more depth than the Grand Canyon; songwriting skills with incredible range; instrumental prowess on keyboards, bass, percussion and almost anything else she cared to try; a sense of groove that could move James Brown; and an eminently lovable personality to boot. The down side was almost as formidable—Teena Marie was a tiny white female that did big black boys’ music. For five albums of good-to-great bigblackboys’ music, she watched while people with half the talent walked away with twice the record sales, media attention and general respect.