Happy Birthday Teena Marie

 Image courtesy of the That Grape Juice site.

Music is meant to inspire/To elevate you and to take you higher/Like the prophets spoke words to my soul/Letters of love like silver and gold/...Sign myself to you forever. ~ Teena Marie, "Luv Letter," Beautiful (2013) 

I spent countless days spinning Teena Marie LPs as a child.  Funny how not much has changed even as an adult.  Her performances on songs like "Cassanova Brown," "Shadow Boxing," "Portuguese Love," "Deja Vu (I've Been Here Before)" and "If I Were A Bell" held me captive.  Her sophisticated funk on "Square Biz," "Lovergirl," "Playboy," "Midnight Magnet," "It Must Be Magic," and "Behind The Groove" rocked me deeply.  There was something about her that was so special and unique, that it emanated from every note she wrote, played, and sang.  You could feel her soul in each musical thread from 1979's "Wild and Peaceful" to 2013's "Beautiful" (her final studio album).  These threads wove a beautiful tapestry that will live on beyond her years.

Her artistry is/was amazing.  Known as the "Ivory Queen Of Soul," her music, with its poetic lyricism, encompassed so many genres—R&B/Soul, Funk, Hip-Hop, Latin, Jazz.  It transcended categorization and race.  If her mission was to bring people together with her gifts, she accomplished it quite well.

Inspired by Smokey Robinson, Al Green, Aretha Franklin,  "Sarah Vaughan, Johann Sebastian Bach, Shakespeare, Maya Angelou, and Nikki Giovanni just to name a few," Lady Tee's music was as diverse as her inspirations.  If you listen to her catalog, you'll hear that she placed no limits on herself or her music.  She went where the spirit moved her.  In a career that spanned over 30 years, the progression was astounding.

While Motown was not initially on board with giving Teena Marie complete creative control, they changed their tune after two successful albums produced by Rick James, Wild and Peaceful (1979), and Richard Rudolph, Lady T (1980).  Marie wrote, produced, and arranged her third and fourth studio albums, Irons In The Fire (1980) and It Must Be Magic (1981).  These albums are regarded as some of her best work, and featured the hit singles "I Need Your Lovin'" (her first top 40 hit), "Young Love," "Square Biz" (one of the first songs to bring hip-hop to the forefront by melding it with contemporary R&B/Soul music), "It Must Be Magic," and "Portuguese Love."  Legal disputes with Motown would later hinder Marie from releasing music.  A lawsuit ensued, resulting in the creation of "The Brockert Initiative," which made it illegal for record labels to withhold releasing music from their artists while still under contract.

Marie would later leave Motown for Epic Records, where she would go on to release five studio albums—Robbery (1983), Starchild (1984), Emerald City (1986), Naked to the World (1988), and Ivory (1990).  It was with Epic that Marie would achieve her greatest commercial and crossover success, with her platinum-selling Starchild album and its lead single "Lovergirl" (#9 R&B/#4 Pop/#6 Dance).  Naked to the World featured her biggest R&B single "Ooh La La La" (#1), a song that would later be sampled on The Fugees' 1996 hit single "Fu-Gee-La" (from The Score).  Her final Epic release Ivory, featured the R&B hits "If I Were A Bell" (#8) and "Here's Looking At You" (#11).  

 Image courtesy of Last.fm

In 1994, Marie independently released the fan-favorite Passion Play on her Sarai Records label.  Though she continued to perform, she devoted most of her time to raising her daughter Alia Rose, a singer and songwriter in her own right known as Rose La Beau (featured on Marie's Sapphire, Congo Square, and Beautiful albums).  It would be 10 years before releasing her next studio album.

Marie later signed with the Cash Money Classics label, and released two stellar albums, 2004's La Dona and 2006's Sapphire.  The gold-selling La Dona was her highest charting album on the Billboard 200 (#6), and featured the Grammy-nominated single "Still In Love" (#23 R&B/#70 Pop) and the sultry, Quiet Storm jam "A Rose By Any Other Name," featuring the late great Gerald Levert (#53 R&B).  Sapphire featured "You Blow Me Away," a tribute to Rick James, two duets with Smokey Robinson "God Has Created" and "Cruise Control," a tribute to Hurricane Katrina victims "Resilient (Sapphire)," and the funky, mellow-smooth lead single, "Ooh Wee" (#32 R&B).

Image courtesy of the Soulbounce site.

Marie's final studio albums 2009's Congo Square and 2013's Beautiful (released posthumously) are arguably two of the finest and most accomplished efforts of her career.  Congo Square featured collaborations with George Duke, Howard Hewett, Shirley Murdock, MC Lyte, Faith Evans, and Rose La Beau (to name a few).  When discussing Congo Square in an interview with Blues & Soul magazine, Marie said,

I wanted to do songs that reflected the things that I loved when I was growing up. Every single song on the record is dedicated to someone, or some musical giant that I loved. 'The Pressure' is dedicated to Rick James; 'Can't Last a Day' is dedicated to the Gamble & Huff sound – the Philly International sound. Then 'Baby I Love You' and 'Ear Candy' are dedicated to Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield – with memories of riding down Crenshaw in LA in jeeps and bumping to music on the 808. While 'Miss Coretta' is, of course, dedicated to Mrs. Coretta Scott King, the late wife of Martin Luther King. 'Solder' is for the soldiers. 'Congo Square' is for Congo Square - it's for the slaves and the great musical geniuses and giants that have come out of new Orleans, and the great Jazz era. And Louis Armstrong...

Beautiful, the album Marie was working on prior to her passing, is everything the its title implies.  It's practically a perfect artistic depiction of who she was—an amazing woman and mother, and a versatile, passionate, soulful, ever-changing, multi-talented singer, songwriter, musician, arranger, and producer.  She was a musical genius.

Though she didn't always get the kudos she deserved from the mainstream, Lady Tee will always be regarded by fans, musicians, and contemporary R&B/soul critics alike as one of the best to ever do it.  Here's to you Teena Marie! The Tee lives on!

   

Related Post:
"Beautiful," Teena Marie's Final Album To Be Released 1/15/2013

Influences: Sonia Sanchez - Catch The Fire

Image courtesy of the Black Bird Press News & Review blog.

Where is your fire?  I say where is your fire?

Can’t you smell it coming out of our past?

The fire of living. . . . . . Not dying

The fire of loving. . . . . Not killing

The fire of Blackness. . . Not gangster shadows. 

~ Sonia Sanchez, "Catch The Fire" (1997)

Sonia Sanchez is a phenomenal writer, poet, playwright, storyteller, educator and activist.  Sanchez, one of the most influential poets of the Black Arts Movement, has written nearly 20 books of poetry and prose.  Her poetry is rich with imagery, history, culture, and emotion.  Her words have the ability to incite the mind, warm your heart, and touch your soul.  And she makes it look so easy.   

Sanchez doesn't take the past struggles or the current plight of our people lightly.  In her poem "Catch The Fire" (written for Bill Cosby), she honors our ancestors and encourages our youth to find themselves, love themselves, go after their dreams, and live up to the promise and passion of their "fire."

Sonia Sanchez originally published "Catch The Fire" in Wounded in the House of a Friend (1997).  "Catch The Fire" was also featured in (and inspired the title of) Derrick I. M. Gilbert's Catch The Fire: A Cross-Generational Anthology of Contemporary African American Poetry (1998).

For more information about Sonia Sanchez, please go to: www.soniasanchez.net.

Influences: Billie Holiday "Lady Day"

I had to be about 11 or 12 when I discovered the the Original Decca Masters Billie Holiday compilation album.  My mother and I were at my grandmother's house for the weekend.  I was on the search for some good music.  For this, I could always depend on my grandmother's collection of cassette tapes, LPs, and CDs.  She had music from the 1930s up to present day.  Around this time I was really digging jazz.  Much to my delight, I came across this Billie Holiday album.  I remember my mouth was agape upon seeing the album cover.  I was floored by Billie Holiday's beauty.  She had to be one of the most stunning women I'd ever seen.  Couldn't say I'd heard (or remembered hearing) much of her music at the time.  So you know I was dying to put the CD in for a spin.  I don't think anything could've prepared me for the experience.

Image courtesy of MTV's website.

The Original Decca Masters album changed my life.  After one listening, my whole perspective about music had changed.  My appreciation and love for music grew exponentially.  As a music fanatic, singer, and lyricist (even then), it widened my interests and expanded my knowledge.  After hearing Billie Holiday's voice I knew why she was considered one of the best vocalists ever.  The timbre of her voice, the way she'd bend notes and sing behind the beat, her sense of rhythm, swing, timing, and phrasing--she had it all (and then some).  In her voice I could hear the influences of her favorite singers, Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong and Bessie Smith.  Yet her style was extraordinarily distinct.  From her (and a few other vocalists), I learned how to truly get inside of a song and make it believable.  With Billie Holiday, there was no doubt that she knew what she was singing about it.  She felt it.  And you, as a listener, couldn't help but feel it too.

Image courtesy of the More Than Just Wine blog.

In remembering Billie Holiday and her voice, singer Annie Ross said, "There's a whole life in that voice."  Listen to songs like "Solitude," "You're My Thrill," "Good Bless The Child," "Keeps On Rainin'," "Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do," "Lover Man (Where Can He Be)," and "Good Morning Heartache" and that life unveils itself.  In fact, you'll be able to glean something new and different each time you listen to her music.  This is why Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughan (amongst others) remain the blueprint for song (of any genre), period.

Image courtesy of A Liberal's Libretto site.

After hearing the Original Decca Masters album, I devoured as much as I could about Billie Holiday.  Books, documentaries, videos, music, you name it.  She was one of the best and I committed myself to learning as much about her as I could.  I thought it sad her passing so early.  But the richness of the legacy she left behind is eternal.  Her influence is limitless, boundless.  Billie Holiday will forever be one of my favorite vocalists.

Influences: Maya Angelou and Her Poetry in "Poetic Justice"

Image courtesy of Maya Angelou's Official Website.

Maya Angelou's poetry didn't hit me immediately when my mother and I went to see John Singleton's Poetic Justice during the summer of 1993.  It would be one year later (after seeing the film several times on cable) when Angelou's poetry moved me in ways that were like revelations.  I was 12 then.  At that point, I was writing song lyrics mostly.  Hadn't given much thought to writing poetry.  But there was something about Angelou's poetry (in particular the poems featured in Poetic Justice — "Alone," "Phenomenal Woman," and "In A Time" to name a few) that spoke to me and gave me an even deeper appreciation for the world of arts and letters.  Shortly thereafter, I used my allowance to get a paperback copy of Maya Angelou's Poems.  I committed myself to reading it (and occasionally reciting and memorizing selected poems from it) everyday for months.

Angleou's poetry speaks about the human condition in a language that is universal.  Her work often has a consciousness that is (always) socially, politically, culturally, and historically relevant.  The sincerity and candor of her words continue to draw me in.  The lighthearted, comedic tone of poems like "Seven Women's Blessed Assurance" (from I Shall Not Be Moved) consumed me with laughter and delight.  With poems like "Still I Rise," "Amazing Peace," "On The Pulse of Morning," "Human Family,"  "Mother - A Cradle To Hold Me," and "Our Grandmothers," Angelou has left me with a hefty sense of pride and a better understanding, love, and respect for the human race and our shared experiences.

To say that Maya Angelou's work has been a source of inspiration and influence would be an understatement.  Angelou's writing (along with a few others) fueled my fascination with the human condition and my desire to write about it in a unique yet relatable (and at times, unconventional) way.  While it was never my desire to write like or copy Angelou, if my writing can (one day) have the slightest feeling, impact, and influence of her writing—that would truly be amazing.

Check out the following snippets from Poetic Justice featuring Angelou's "Alone" and "Phenomenal Woman" (as voiced by the character Justice, played by Janet Jackson).

Day 91: Happy Birthday Michael Joseph Jackson

Image courtesy of the Eurweb site.

Today would've been icon Michael Joseph Jackson's 54th birthday.  It's been over 3 years since his untimely passing.  His presence and influence are just as strong now as they were before.  Jackson was a supremely talented being that blazed trails and inspired generations of fans and stars alike.  With each release, he delved deeper and deeper into himself.  He bared his soul, opened his heart, and provided us with what many would consider the soundtrack of our lives.  His albums went beyond music and entertainment.  They were events—monumental, genre-bending, shape-shifting events.  I don't know how many fits I had in the record store as a child because I wanted latest Michael Jackson album.  

Aside from Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, Prince, and Jody Watley, his music shaped much of my childhood and young adulthood and love of the arts.  Jackson's (along with the aforementioned artists) videos changed the game, revolutionizing the visual presentation of musical artists (with everything from fashion, style, choreography, overall stage presence, special effects, and cinematography to name a few).  I, like many I'm sure, would break my neck to see Jackson’s music videos.  Glued to the screen, I was totally in awe of the sheer talent, artistry, and ingeniousness of it all.  Still to this day, I can't help but be pulled in completely whenever one of his videos comes on TV or one of his songs is played on the radio.  The feeling, the soul, the spirit just goes right through you.  

Jackson gave so much of himself to us through his art and philanthropic efforts.  It's unfortunate that he had to go out the way he did.  But he was called home.  He fulfilled his destiny.  But the legacy he left behind will be cherished for decades to come. 

So today, let's celebrate the icon that Michael Joseph Jackson was/is.  The King lives on!!!

Also check out, Day 1: MJ's This Is It and Day 58: In Remembrance - MJJ (Repost).