She was Rick James’ muse for a while.. Fire And Desire and Lover Girl. She was 54.
She was a big part of the soundtrack of my late teens/early 20’s. Who doesn’t remember getting ready to go out with *Lover Girl *blaring on the stereo? RIP, Teena.
Touche Ole 
My mother had all of her albums when I was growing up. Ooo La La La, Lsdy T. Your voice lives on.
CNN.com confirms it: Singer-songwriter Teena Marie dies at 54 - CNN.com
I have to admit, I only knew her from the Top Gun soundtrack, singing “Lead Me On.”
Everybody who thought she was black, raise your hand.
raises hand
Really, I had no idea till reading the linked article that she was " a black voice trapped in a white body."
Her debut album didn’t have her picture and everyone just assumed she was black. After all, who else could sing R&B like that.
Fire and Desire with Rick James is easily one of the top 10 slow jams of all time.
If that report is on the level and square biz, I am gonna be playing a lot of Teena today. R.I.P. to one of those cool ass white girls who really did get an inside ‘pass’.
ETA: We’re gonna miss you, Vanilla Chile’
The local NBC station this morning was confirming it. They also reported that the cause of death is not yet known/being mentioned. They did say that she’d had a grand mal seizure about a month ago.
As a child she appeared in an early ‘Beverly Hillbillies’ episode as . . . a dancer.
That great voice was put out way too soon. She grew up not far from me and was one of the more famous alums from my High School.
I woke up this morning hearing “Square Biz” playing on NPR and thought “Oh shit. Lady T must be dead if they’re playing that.” And sure enough, I was right.
I love me some Teena. She could blow, she had pipes, she put the stank on it… whatever metaphor you want to use, it applies.
I will always insist her rap on “Square Biz” is the best to flow out of a white woman’s voice. But you know what? She never liked all the attention on her race, so I’m going to respect her wishes. She wasn’t a white girl who could sing “black”. She could sing, period.
Bye, Lady T.
I do not like this. Not one bit.
Edit: Hockey Monkey, ha. We all thought she was black until we saw her in videos. “Holy shit, that’s a white girl?!”
I had a thread a couple years ago about the illest female rappers. I was remiss in not mentioning The T. Shame on me.
In Square Biz, she drops a rhyme that is funkier than anything a sista ever dropped. When she gets to the part that drops the soul food line up, even I don’t have a clue what the hell she is saying. Anyone care to interpret?
My husband and I are really trying our best to figure it out, and we just can’t tell exactly what she is saying after ‘greens’. The part of the rap I’m talking about starts at 4:10, but I linked to the whole song, because the whole song is win.