Teena Marie

Teena Marie

Teena Marie, an award-winning singer-songwriter known for her R&B
performances, has died, her manager Mike Gardner said Sunday, December 26, 2010. She was 54. She was popular as “Lady T” or “Lady Tee”.

She died in her sleep and So far it's unclear what caused the singer's death.

Teena Marie was nominated for a Grammy four times ... her first top ten hit was "I'm Just a Sucker for Your Love."

She had a daughter named Alia Rose who sings under the name Rose Le Beau.

No white artist has sung R&B more convincingly than Teena Marie, whose big, robust vocals are so black-sounding that when she was starting out, some listeners wondered if she was a light-skinned African-American. 

The singer/songwriter/producer was in her early twenties when, around 1977, she landed a job at Motown Records. It was at Motown that she met her mentor Rick James, who ended up doing all of the writing and producing for her debut album of 1979, Wild and Peaceful. 

Some of her hits include "I'm Just a Sucker for Your Love”,  “Lady T”, “Irons in the Fire”, “It Must be Magic”, “Robbery” and “Starchild etc”.

Teena Marie grew up in west Los Angeles in a neighborhood that was nicknamed "Venice Harlem" because of its heavy black population.